Warning: Contains spoilers for Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury.The latest Gundam series, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, has faced a big criticism since it first started, but that criticism makes no sense. The Witch from Mercury episode 1 ended with protagonist Suletta Mercury accidentally becoming the fiancé of Miorine Rembran by beating her previous fiancé in a duel, and that ended up sparking discourse among some people because of how they’re both girls. Because of that, there’s been a lot of criticism about the anime being too “political” for seemingly having a same-sex couple as the main couple as opposed to a straight couple or simply foregoing romance, all together, and focusing on action.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury has received a lot of criticism for being “political”, but that criticism makes no sense, especially for a Gundam anime. The Mobile Suit Gundam franchise has famously had heavy political themes from its conception, so the idea of criticizing The Witch from Mercury for that doesn’t make any sense. Dropping the metaphor also doesn’t work because The Witch from Mercury isn’t the first Gundam anime to have LGBTQ+ characters, which makes the criticism hold even less weight as a result.
Gundam Has Had Political Themes From The Very Start
The criticism of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury being “political” is a metaphor for it having a same-sex couple, but even if someone tried to ignore that, it doesn’t hold up because Gundam has always had political themes. According to Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino, the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime was created specifically because he wanted to tell a story about war, and the heroes and villains were all humans in order to give it a sense of realism (via Anime News Network). Every Mobile Suit Gundam anime to follow has kept to that idea and focused on subjects like war, political corruption, and the effect it has on innocent people caught in the crossfire; The Witch from Mercury’s immediate predecessor, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, was especially explicit about this by being centered on child soldiers. Politics have been part of Gundam since it was first created over forty years ago, so criticizing it for that now doesn’t make any sense.
Gundam Had LGBTQ+ Characters Before The Witch From Mercury
As previously stated, the main reason there’s been discourse surrounding Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury has been because the show seems to have a same-sex couple as the main couple, but that criticism doesn’t work because this isn’t the first time Gundam has had positive LGBTQ+ representation. Gundam Build Divers, for example, had the character Magee who, based on their mannerisms and how they were okay with being addressed as a woman, could be seen as a trans woman or genderfluid. Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans went even further with it by having Shino and Yamagi be attracted to each other over the course of the series and having Mikazuki, Kudelia, and Atra enter a polyamorous relationship that ended with Kudelia and Atra getting married after Mikazuki’s death to raise his and Atra’s son, Akatsuki.
Criticizing Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury for being too “political” is a bad faith criticism. It’s hardly the first Gundam anime to have LGBTQ+ characters, and beyond that, the franchise’s long history of being unsubtle with its political themes makes it impossible for something like that to hold any weight. The only truly new thing is Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury not being as upfront with the war elements as other Gundam anime to try and appeal to younger viewers, but even so, it doesn’t make sense to criticize it as if it completely goes against the Gundam franchise.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury releases new episodes Sundays on Crunchyroll.
Source: Anime News Network