This article is part of a directory: Anime Fall 2022 – Complete Guide
Table of contents

Although we’ve only seen the first five episodes of the series, it’s safe to say that Gundam: The Witch From Mercury is quite a decent addition to this beloved franchise. It’s not stellar by any means, but it’s not the worst either. And its attempt to bring new stuff into the franchise has been relatively successful to say the least.

However, the fans still yearn to see the thrilling political intrigue and the devastating military conflicts that we’ve all come to love from the franchise. Episode 5 seems to try to flirt with this old formula for quite a bit. So will the series fully commit into its current school drama approach, or will it venture back into the familiar territory that has been the trademark of all the previous Gundam series? Episode 6 is the key to answer this question.

RELATED: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Episode 5 Review - The Enhanced Man Makes His Move

Previously on Gundam: The Witch From Mercury

Gundam Witch From Mercury E05 Gundam Aerial

The previous episode focuses on the interaction between Suletta Mercury and Elan Ceres. He invited Suletta to spend some time together with him, and asked her to bring Aerial along. Elan himself is apparently an enhanced human that was created by the Peil Technologies in order to be the perfect Gundam pilot. Not only that, the only reason why he wanted to meet Suletta in the first place is so that he can get into the cockpit of Gundam Aerial. But when he finds out that Suletta is able to easily control Aerial without having to undergo an excruciating process like him, Elan was visibly upset with her.

Elan received an order from his handler that he needs to fight a strong opponent in order to test the capability of a new mobile suit from Peil Technologies. So he challenged Guel Jeturk to a duel. When the battle begins, Elan appears in a new Gundam called Pharact. It uses a similar swarm weapon system as Aerial. Thanks to Elan and Pharact ability, Guel is easily defeated. So Elan set his sight onto the next opponent, Suletta. And the bet this time around is the Aerial. If Elan can beat Suletta in an official duel, then Aerial will be his.

A Gloomy Song

Gundam Witch From Mercury E06 Aerial Crouching

There are a couple of interesting things happening in episode 6, such as Suletta’s mother's encounter with Elan’s handler who turns out to be her fellow Vanadis Institute researchers. There’s also the revelation that the gloomy Elan that we all know is actually a clone of the real Elan Ceres. Or to be precise, he was a regular boy who underwent massive surgery in order to obtain an identical face as the real Elan, and also became an experimental subject in order to harness the power of Gundam. As a result, he now has no memory of his life prior to being the fake Elan Ceres.

Other than that, episode 6 focuses mostly on the duel between Suletta in Gundam Aerial, and Elan in Gundam Pharact. Unlike the previous episode, the location of their duel is on the open space outside the academy now, where Pharact with its superior maneuverability should have a clear advantage over Aerial.

However, it is clear from the beginning of the fight that Elan was not his usual calm and collected self. He was clearly upset with Suletta, and wanted to beat her badly. Both Gundam engaged in a deadly and drawn-out fight. Any other pilot in any other mobile suit would have been destroyed by Elan ages ago. But the deep connection between Suletta and Aerial allowed them to pull off a mind-blowing move that encircled Pharact, and destroy it into tiny chunks of metal.

The Story Took A Dark Turn

Gundam Witch From Mercury E06 Elan Ceres

We asked at the beginning of this review about whether Gundam: The Witch From Mercury will stick to its current school drama approach, or will it veer into the usual thrilling path of politics and military conflicts? Well, this episode basically confirmed that the series is indeed planning to venture into its usual territory. It seems that the showrunners intended to give us a glimpse into the peaceful life of a school drama while slowly but surely taking us into the treacherous path of warfare. Because the story certainly took a dark turn in this episode.

Most of it comes from the information that we have regarding Elan Ceres. As if him being an enhanced human is not already surprising enough, we now know that he was actually just a regular boy that the Peil Technologies snatched from somewhere, surgically changed his face, and then used him like a tool. And once he is no longer useful to them, they simply get rid of him. That is just a glimpse into some of the nasty things that happened in the world of Gundam: The Witch From Mercury. With how the story is centered around rampant capitalism and Corporate greed, it’s not surprising if there are more messed up things that we’ll encounter in the future.

Back to The Usual Gundam Formula

Gundam Witch From Mercury E06 Suletta Elan Space

As mentioned earlier, we get closer and closer to the usual Gundam formula with every episode. Sure, we would still spend some time within the confine of the slice-of-life school drama storyline, but it is safe to say that the insatiable greed of the members of the Benerit Group will soon close in and threaten the daily life of Suletta Mercury.

After all, turning up at the academy with a Gundam was a sufficient reason for them to pay closer attention to her, but then she went ahead and defeated two of the best pilots in the academy. Not to mention all of her battles are being recorded for everybody to see, including the people from the Benerit Group. So it’s only a matter of time before Suletta gets tangled in all sorts of problematic and dangerous situations. And that is what we’ve been waiting for all this time.

Conclusion

Episode 6 is the day that Gundam: The Witch From Mercury confirmed to the fans that they don’t have any intention of abandoning the formula that made the fans fall in love with this franchise in the first place. Which is thrilling political intrigue and mind-blowing armed conflicts. They simply tweaked it a bit so that it can have its own unique identity, but it is safe to say that the familiar chaos will happen soon. Can’t wait to see the next episode.

More: The Best Mecha Anime (November 2022)