Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury

Episode 8

There's no sugarcoating it: This is the worst-looking G-Witch episode by far. Being a downtime episode, the lackluster character animation isn't a huge detriment to the story just yet, but some of the plot developments in this episode do come across as underwhelming because of it.

For example, an early conversation between Prospera, Suletta, and Miorine shows Prospera convincing Suletta that her lies about the Gundam were for her own good. Suletta's off-model expressions in this scene make her reaction come off as stilted rather than naïve or guileless. A similar problem applies to a group scene with the Earth House, which has such little movement that the direction resorts to a fade-in effect between two separate frames. In a show which has always strived to portray a sense of visual grounding in its setting, such a cartoonish transition feels like resource preservation rather than a stylistic decision.

To be fair, this episode did still have some fun examples of visual storytelling, most notably the ill-conceived PR video. Suletta's dance is purposefully awkward in a way that expresses her obvious discomfort with the task. Like the infamous "Episode 0" of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, the accomplished filmmakers here evidently had fun capturing a poorly-edited student film. The goat grazing in the background was a nice directorial touch—at least, it would be if it were properly composited against the grass and didn't look as if it were pacing through a green screen. Also, seeing the Aerial move in 3D did take me out of the story because its closeups have always been animated in 2D thus far.

Regardless of anything else, however, the plot beats are still solid. By focusing on the practical problems of forming a business, this episode makes it clear that our characters are in over their heads. Suletta unwittingly makes a great point as she rides with Miorine at the end: It's like they've just started a school club. When an arbitrary new school rule forces Miorine to turn her business over to the school, it's a pertinent reminder that students can only ever play at being adults. For all the kids' feel-good ideas about using the Gundam technology for medical science instead of weaponry, there are shadows moving around them. Shaddiq is finally showing his ambitions, and his method for breaking free of his father's influence may end up being more cunning and crueler than anyone's.

While this episode wasn't great in its own right, it does a good job of building up anticipation for the next one. So I'm not too mad about it, even if it does make me a little more pessimistic about what to expect from the show's presentation going forward.

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Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.