Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Overwhelms Through Unrelenting Tenderness
Episode 23 of the series, “Unrelenting Tenderness,” pulls out all the stops for a pure giant robot animation spectacle.
Welcome to this week’s installment of ANIWIRE! This time, we are covering the 23rd episode of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury, the hit new Gundam series. This piece assumes that you have been keeping up with the show so far, so bear in mind that there will be spoilers.
Before that, though, here’s the news from the past week.
News
· The big news this week is a Vulture story alleging mismanagement and frustration on animated superhero blockbuster Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. A reminder that the film was a group effort, and that films are often great despite rather than because of the “big names” involved with their production.
· Meanwhile, a film sequel to fantasy anime Ranking of Kings is on its way. I’m nervous the series has lost some momentum, but WIT Studio has kept putting out bangers recently so I’ll keep an eye out.
· Legend of Hei, a charming animated film based on indie Chinese animated series The Legend of Luo Xiaohei, has a sequel in the works. Also upcoming is a new installment for the stylish Chinese action series Fog Hill of Fire Elements.
· Per Anime News Network, anime and dub producer Hiroe Tsukamoto passed way in mid-June. Her past work involves time at Geneon on beloved series like Trigun and Samurai Champloo, as well as a career at Aniplex handling the likes of Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Demon Slayer.
Bookmarks
· For Polygon, Kazuto Hashimoto wrote about how the term “JRPG,” and its aesthetic signifiers, has done a disservice to the games themselves.
· At Anime Feminist, Camil V. Ristè profiled foundational “boy’s love” manga artist Takemiya Keiko.
· At The Daily Beast, Chris Kindred recapped the past few weeks of anger in the comics industry following the death of cartoonist Chris McGinty.
· For Paste, Autumn Wright reviewed Lonely Castle in the Mirror, the surprisingly lukewarm anime adaptation of a very good book.
· For Anime News Network, Christopher Farris and Nicholas Dupree discussed just how to make sense of Rurouni Kenshin, a popular comics series drawn by noted pedophile Nobuhiro Watsuki with an animated reboot on the way.
· Meanwhile at Anime News Network, Christopher Farris interviewed After the Rain manga artist Jun Mayuzuki about their ongoing science fiction series Kowloon Generic Romance.
AMV of the Week
Relux made a cool showcase MAD for talented animator and storyboarder Kai Ikarashi.
Now, to the episode coverage. There will be spoilers after this point.
Giant robot anime has grown and changed with the times. They were superheroes in the 1970s, unstoppable machines fighting for justice. The original Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979 recast them as weapons of war, and 1983’s Armored Trooper VOTOMS reduced them even further to interchangeable vehicles. Neon Genesis Evangelion split the difference in 1995 between mechanical soldier and unknowable monstrosity.
Throughout these transformations, what kept the giant robot anime engine running was mechanical animation. The shattering of an Armored Trooper; the dramatic assembly of a hero robot from its component parts; the glory of the Brave Perspective. A generation of animators learned how to render these machines as believable, emotive characters within 2D animation. In the process, they pushed the boundaries of what giant robots could be: they could turn into planes, ride on surfboards, and even do the laundry.
In recent years, though, 2D mecha animation has become scarce. Specialist animators are hoarded by the Gundam franchise, or by Trigger’s nostalgic Gridman Universe. The previous generation of animators are dying or retiring. The new generation has not been given the time or education to inherit the expertise of their predecessors. That’s not even to mention the in-betweeners and other members of production that, per Kevin Cirugeda at Sakugablog, keep complex mechanical drawings from disintegrating on screen. 3D robots have become the norm as a result. While 3D offers unique opportunities for expression, there’s still a distinct charm to 2D robots that sets them apart. A hand-drawn robot showdown is water in the desert for mecha fans. Such is the 23rdepisode of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury.
Witch From Mercury’s greatest strength has always been spectacle. Its story is set in a larger-than-life world of boarding schools and company boardrooms. Its characters love, fight and betray each other each week. The end of every episode ups the stakes and shocks the audience, even when it just confirms what they always expected. This is a show that understands the appeal of weekly television deep in its bones. The most important thing, regardless of plausibility, is that the viewers want to know what happens next. They talk about it, the week passes by, and the next episode restarts the conversation. No matter how tough the production became behind the scenes, or how much the character animation degraded, Witch From Mercury retained its ability to surprise.
Episode 23 of the series, “Unrelenting Tenderness,” pulls out all the stops for a pure giant robot animation spectacle. Eri chases her sister Suletta through a procession of Itano circuses. Lauda fights his brother Guel while piloting the Gundam Schwarzette, perhaps the single most stylish machine in a show full of stylish machines. Even the character animation inside Quiet Zero, as Miorine and Earth House race to shut down its destabilizing data storm, is rendered with flair.
There’s time for jokes, too. The greatest threat in this episode isn’t a giant robot or a space laser. It’s a fleet of Haros armed with guns. Thankfully Elan saves the day, with a gun that he found…somewhere. All of this, plus new animation in the opening sequence that features every robot that appears in the final confrontation going at it. This is Witch From Mercury at its most decadent, tossing off an action highlight in the opening credits for just the penultimate episode. Anime fans watching the series on streaming services might very well have skipped that section entirely.
The cost, of course, was significant. This episode of Witch From Mercury featured contributions from seven storyboarders and five episode directors. Not just two animation directors, but seven assistant animation directors were required to put the episode together. These are wild numbers, suggesting the lengths that the staff had to go to ensure that the grand finale made it to screen in one piece. On the other hand, the scale of the action in “Unrelenting Tenderness” demanded the best of the best. The episode credits such legendary animators as Jin-Roh’s Hiroyuki Okiura, Eureka Seven character designer Kenichi Yoshida and even the likes of Yoshihiro Umakoshi. The Gundam franchise can afford to attract big names because of its resources and wide-reaching influence. But it’s also a reminder of what Gundam signifies as one of the few “original” science fiction franchises remaining in Japanese anime. “Unrelenting Tenderness” is free to fulfill its own vision rather than respect the demands of source material.
Watching the opening conflict between Eri and Suletta, I was struck by the movement of Suletta’s Calibarn mecha. It maneuvers between drones and laser blasts like a witch riding a broom, or even like one of Eureka Seven’s surfboard-riding LFOs. You can pause the action as many times as you like and still miss expressive frames of the robot navigating space. While 3D animators have recently experimented with frame timing, giant robots are still best able to express themselves in 2D. Of course, Witch From Mercury also uses 3D; a key shot in the episode has Suletta and Eri clash over a 3D rendition of Quiet Zero. Eri’s drones vacillate between 2D and 3D as necessary. These shots are used to supplement the 2D mechanical animation on display, though, rather than replace it.
You may ask: what about the story? Did it live up to the sight of those cool robots? Well, yes and no. I enjoyed the suspense of Suletta’s battle with Eri, in that while she holds her ground long enough to prove her own strength as a pilot there’s only so much she can do. I was happy to see Prospera join the action once more, even if that meant threatening some kids and hapless adults with a gun. Finally, while I frankly don’t care much about Lauda at all, I loved seeing the Schwarzette in action. Guel even pulled off another victory-as-defeat, taking a sword to the chest of his robot to disable his brother’s machine. He remains my favorite character in the series, embodying the best of its drama and silliness. No matter how much he matures, he’ll always be an idiot.
Still, I wanted to see Prospera do more. I wanted to see Miorine do more than just hack into a machine with her mother’s secret password. I wanted to see Eri do more, perhaps even to break away from Prospera and seek freedom for herself. I can’t say I understand, either, why the Benerit Group has been positioned as the underdog compared to the Space Assembly League when we’ve seen over the past several episodes just how irredeemable it is. Next episode may turn things around, but it’s just as possible that this was it, the finale. Everything after this may very well be clean-up. Unless a second season or a movie comes down the bend, there’s just one more Suletta Sunday in our future.
There’s a flashback in this episode to Lauda’s first meeting with Guel. The colors are warm, nostalgic. The lighting has the specific quality of the sun seen through leaves. Guel hugs Lauda in the shadow of his father, and for just a moment I found myself caring about Guel’s relationship with his brother. I never expected that would happen. Witch From Mercury has retained its capacity for shock and awe through nearly its whole run, despite every obstacle in its way. It just has to pull off that magic trick one more time.
This week’s addendum
The Robot Watch: Okay, so not only does the Schwarzette have incredible laser wings, but its big weapon splits into individual drones that shoot lasers? And it has a laser sword? Why didn't they give this robot to somebody more competent, like Felsi?!
The Other Robot Watch: Witch From Mercury has been a showcase for Haro, from its school tour guide incarnation at Asticassia to its role as school guidance counselor. In this episode, it reaches its final form: a robot with a gun. A Gun-dam.
Pelil Stock Market: Pelil Technologies teaming up with the Space Assembly League to backstab Delling continues to be one of the funniest subplots in the ending of Witch From Mercury. Excited to see if they ride this all the way to victory, or get obliterated in some funny way.
The Evangelion Watch: Miorine’s mother is also in Quiet Zero somewhere, right?
