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Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury really took fans by surprise when it premiered in 2022. The fun characters, and the awesome action, combined with the war crimes and corporate greed captivated longtime fans of Gundam and new fans alike.
Suffice to say, there have been plenty of comparisons and contrasts between Witch from Mercury and the rest of the Gundam franchise. Several of the similarities include war crimes and the Gundam-based mobile suits being superior to others, whereas the contrasts include Witch from Mercury being the first to center the female protagonists.
This article will compare and contrast Witch from Mercury to the rest of the Gundam franchise, with 5 differences and 5 similarities.
Disclaimer: This will contain spoilers across the Gundam franchise, including recently released Witch from Mercury episodes. The opinions therein are only those of the author.
5 ways in which the Witch from Mercury is similar to the rest of the Gundam franchise
1) The horrors of war/war crimes
Well, it wouldn't be Gundam without this. The Gundam franchise has had at least one "War is hell" moment. Whether it's the colony drop in the original One Year War in the original Mobile Suit Gundam, the gassing of the colony and multiple deaths in Zeta, or Iron Blooded Orphans' usage of mobile suits on civilians, there's always one moment that emphasizes how hellish combat can get even with giant robots.
Witch from Mercury is no different. The prologue shows a space station under attack owing to a black-ops style corporate ordered "liquidation," complete with people being graphically shot and Eri destroying three of the enemy pilots as if they were candles. Episode 6 has one of the main characters in Elan Ceres being revealed to be a clone and then vaporized by his owning corporation.
After nearly an entire season of nonlethal duels between students, Witch from Mercury takes the gloves off and exposes true combat to a cast of teens and also showcases how messy things get. This is showcased during episodes 11 and 12 of season 1, with a terrorist attack on a repair port that features Suletta messily killing one of the terrorists via splattering him into a bloody paste with Aerial's open hand in front of Miorine, with Suletta being dissonantly serene about it.
2) The superiority of Gundam-based Mobile Suits
On a much lighter note, the superiority of Gundam-based mobile suits to other mobile suits is heavily pushed in this series. For series veterans, it shouldn't be a surprise to see Suletta Mercury pilot the XVX-016 Gundam Aerial and cut a swath through other mobile suits even when given a challenge.
This has happened throughout Gundam history, Witch from Mercury is just the latest version of it. The original RX-78-2 Gundam carved through Zakus like butter, with Char Aznable only able to keep up because of Amuro Ray's lack of combat experience. From the Unicorn Gundam to Wing Zero to Aerial, all of the Gundam models are either top-of-the-line machines, or experimental robots freshly unleashed and have a significant edge over their competition.
It's worth noting that the machines are only as good as their pilots, as a Gundam ended up nearly destroyed due to the pilot's incompetence in Stardust Memory.
3) Really traumatized teens
When teenagers are shoved into the front lines, there's bound to be problems later down the road. Amuro became a recluse after the One Year War, Kamile lost his family and was effectively comatose after killing Paptimus Scirocco and remained so until the end of ZZ Gundam, and the cast of Iron-Blooded Orphans died or lost themselves to depression one by one.
The trauma and horror that the characters in Witch from Mercury face are only different for one crucial reason: these kids, mostly, aren't soldiers nor they are in an overarching conflict like a massive Solar System or planetary war. They still get traumatized by years of discrimination (Chu Chu), abusive parents (Miorine), the act of being a double agent (Niika, Patricide (Greul), and bloody combat (Suletta).
Much as some mecha fans may hate Shinji Ikari for "never growing out of his depression" to become some kind of super soldier (?) It's fair to say Witch From Mercury and other subsequent Gundam series take cues from Neon Genesis Evangelion in depicting how war devastates children mentally and emotionally.
4) Setbacks in psychic-based systems
Speaking of NGE and other Gundam series, psychic-based systems that interface with the human mind and body do not work perfectly in either Witch from Mercury or Gundam as a whole. The Psycho Gundam in Zeta literally drove its pilots insane with how much it demanded from them and the AMA-X7 Shamblo in Unicorn responded to the increasing insanity of its pilot by firing all of its weapons heedless of civilians in the way.
Witch from Mercury continues that particular theme, though with a key difference from the Universal Century (UC for short). Whereas everyone in the UC from the Federation to the Neo Zeons used psychoframes due to the existence of Cyber Newtypes, in Witch From Mercury the technology is technically outlawed. It's a technicality because several corporations like the Benerit group wanting an arms race and Peil Technologies forcibly engineering cyber newtypes like Elan flout these laws.
There's also why Gundam tech was banned in the first place: the system used in it, if pushed to its limits, would kill the pilot outright as it relied on what the human mind and body could take. Witch from Mercury shows this with Elan nearly dying from it in Episode 6, Eri's father dying in the prologue, and Sophie dying from it in episode 14.
5)The evils of corporations/capitalism in general
This theme is also a given, as many Gundam series have dealt with the issue of greed, corporations, and capitalism in general. The original One Year War, from Char's father's death and attempts on his life to Amuro's involvement, was pushed by the greedy Zabi family. The entirety of Iron Blooded Orphans is one big hostile political takeover, Zeta has the Titans as a capitalistic death squad, and Witch from Mercury is not subtle about the evils of capitalism.
From a zealot like Delling Rembran being given power since it fed corporate profits, to protestors on Earth having mobile suits shoot tear gas at them and the discrimination against Earth-born humans in general, to other corporations putting Suletta on trial as a witch, Witch from Mercury follows in the other Gundam series footsteps in showing just how depraved the so-called "better half" of society is.
Though there are good people in the Asticassia School of Technology, the corporations are tightfisted and have a remarkable degree of control. There's likewise the fact that the company raided during the prologue was revealed to have been working on medical technology and being an implied Earth-based company, before being forced to weaponize their technology owing to capitalistic demand.
5 ways in which Witch from Mercury differentiates itself from the rest of the Gundam franchise
1) Female protagonist(s) taking center stage
Female protagonists in Gundam do exist, from Lieutenant Emma Sheen to Fa Yuri to Fraw Bow/Koyashi to Four to Mineva Lao Zabi to Marida Cruz to Kycillia Zabi to Sayla Mass/Artesia Deikun. They may not be center stage most of the time, but they fit every role from ship captains to mobile suit pilots to engineers to bridge crew. They've also been everything from heroes to villains to people caught in the crossfire.
One of the things that makes Witch from Mercury different is that it puts the female characters center stage. From main characters Suletta Mercury and Miorine Rembrant having to learn how to trust each other, to Prospera Mercury's manipulations, to Nika's double agent status for the terrorist group Dawn of Fold, and even Sophie and Norea's actions in episodes 13 and 14 in lethally disrupting the Rumble Ring exhibition, the female characters are always front and center.
Everyone's contributions matter to the overall plot, from Chu Chu's epic punching of bullies who caused Suletta to fail her entry exams repeatedly in episode 4, Earth House clinching the victory by saving Suletta from Shaddiq in episode 9, Nika's saving everyone through Morse Code in episode 11, and the subtle brainwashing and hypnosis Prospera does to Suletta.
2) No big overarching conflict
This one probably needs an explanation, given the status quo shaking events of Witch from Mercury's first season's last three episodes and the first three season 2 episodes. Most Gundam series open in the middle of a major conflict, or the start of one. Whether a Solar System wide war, an interplanetary conflict, or the stories of people caught in the middle, Gundam as a franchise usually has these big overarching conflicts the heroes are stuck in.
Witch from Mercury subverts this particular storytelling trope. The conflict is heavily centered around the goings on at the Asticassia School of Technology, centering around Suletta and Aerial. It's all these corporations, save for the Gund-Arm that she and Earth House establish mid-way through, against her and Aerial citing her being a "witch". On a side note, that's the majority of the series up until the first season's finale: Suletta having to survive school where everyone basically hates her.
The last three episodes of season 1 escalate the conflict from being corporations attempting to sabotage Suletta to outright terrorist action dovetails nicely into the next entry: this anime is more of a personal story.
3) A more personal-centered story
While most other Gundam series focus heavily on their larger-scale conflicts, with the protagonists and antagonists usually tipping the scales or just being caught in the middle, Witch from Mercury doesn't do that. There is a conflict with the corporations and the build-up to the explosion that was Dawn of Fold's terrorist attack, but the majority of the story is tightly centered around Suletta's life at the Asticassia School of Technology.
From rescuing Mirorine to her first duel with Guel all happening on her first day, poor Suletta has a lot on her plate when she arrives. That's before she realizes that she's technically engaged to Miorine Rembran, daughter to the president of the dominant corporation the Benerit Group, Delling Rembran.
Every day is a new duel challenge from rivals like Guel Jeturk, a new friend Suletta makes like Nika Nanaura, having to deal with Miorine's problems with her father, or just the demands put upon her. Then there's working on Gund-Arm Inc. with Miorine, Suletta's feelings of insecurity, and trying to keep her top status and keep the company afloat.
4) LGBT+ Protagonists
There have been Gundam characters that are LGBT+, two specifically: Yamagi Gilmerton in Iron Blooded Orphans and Guin Sard Lineford from Turn A Gundam. Both were men, Yamagi was a side character, and Guin made a Faustian bargin with a villain that backfired.
Witch from Mercury does this better by doing a few things. The main duo of Suletta and Miorine are engaged to wed since the first episode, albeit it comes as a major surprise to Suletta. It's established that LGBT+ relationships are a normal and accepted part of society, with only Suletta being criticized as a "conservative" for finding it unusual.
Quite a step up from the first two examples, and the anime does highlight that they are a couple in many ways. They're mostly seen together, their love language is taking care of each other, there's more than a few relieved hugs, etc. The show is mostly focused on their relationship and relationships in general.
5) A good entry point
The main problem with the mainline Gundam series, specifically Mobile Suit Gundam and the rest of the Universal Century, the Wing series, et al. is that they usually require at least some knowledge of the Gundam universe to truly understand and fully enjoy. Knowledge of in-universe physics like Minovsky particles, Newtypes, and other things usually make a lot of newcomers nervous since it's all quite dense.
Witch from Mercury doesn't have this particular problem. Everything introduced in the series may have some thematic callback to the franchise, such as Elan Ceres' cloning, the discrimination between Earth and Space-born humans, and the Gundams, but nothing tied back to any prior Gundam series. Audiences can go into it blind and enjoy the series without decades worth of continuity to drag them down.
This proves to be a good thing, since the continuity of Gundam tends to differ depending on the timeline. Witch from Mercury was confirmed to be on its own timeline, which is perfect for some people because trying to explain everything is a chore to do.
In the end, this article has shown only five differences and five similarities between Witch from Mercury and the larger Gundam franchise. For a franchise that spans well over 40 years, it's amazing that something like this can still captivate audiences, as the original Mobile Suit Gundam did in 1979.
Witch from Mercury has just started its second cour and the story is escalating. New episodes stream every Sunday on Crunchyroll. The rest of the Gundam franchise can be found on Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll likewise. If any other comparisons or contrasts are not on here, please list them in the comments down below.
