Following up my discussion on [https://lemmy.world/post/24254749](0080 War in the Pocket), I’ve recently watched 08th MS Team and the Witch from Mercury, both for the first time in anticipation of the new Gquuuuuuuux Gundam series.
Overall, I quite liked it.
It wasn’t perfect and the story was a bit hit-or-miss for me personally. I also felt it occasionally got a bit lost in the sauce of the whole meaningless corporate school battles thing. But at it’s best the drama was really engaging and good.
The Good
Suletta and Miorine were great characters that were really well acted. I think a lot of my positive feelings for this show rely on the fact that Suletta was just a very likeable and relatable character, a true underdog who got brutally fucking bullied and manipulated, and definitely went through some shit, but ultimately tried hard and elevated herself. Where this show really shines above all else is the drama around these two characters in particular.
The Bad
I think the plot could have been more effective and meaningful had it been a little bit simpler.
In the first half of the show I felt like Prospera had a strong and simple motivation for what she was doing–revenge. But over the second half she turned into a weird overly complicated Gendo Ikari facsimile. I liked the somewhat Armored Core nature of a solar system governed by corporate oligarchy (and it’s a good reflection of the times we live in), but multiple times throughout the series I found myself wondering who people and corporate names were referring too.
Complexity doesn’t always equate to depth, and I feel like this story could have been more effective to me if it had been simpler. Suletta works well because her motivation is simple; to be accepted and loved by family and friends, and to stop needless killing.
The UGLY
Dystopian corporate oligarchy is bad… or is it good?
At the start of this series I was really excited to see a modern anime story dare to be critical of the mega corporate Japan and Earth that exist today, and the oligarchs, investment and business politics that govern almost every aspect of our lives. After all, this series starts off with the idea that corporate dynasties are using kids to essentially demonstrate the power of weapons in order to gain shareholder value and conglomerate clout. Surely these kids would eventually realize that all of this company bullshit was not only against their personal interests, but also against the interests of everyone in the solar system, right?
Unfortunately by the end I lost any sense that there was an overarching message. The premise was interesting and good, but I feel like this series completely backed away from saying much about the world they lived in at all. We see characters like Guel learn and grow from his experiences on Earth and the conflicts within his family, only to at the end revert into the same system that tore his life apart for no reason.
I won’t spoil the ending, but I felt that the show never really puts its foot down on whether the corporate oligarchy that they all live under is BAD or GOOD for society, and whether it’s worth saving or not?
I think there’s a simpler and better version of this story that could have existed, in which Prospera uses Suletta and Ariel to usurp the corporate structure of the Benerit Group (purely in the name of revenge), only to throw the entire solar system into war and chaos as the Earthians rise up against a weakened Spacian oligarchy.
But with all that said, I did like the show. Mainly because I liked Suletta, Miorine and the drama that unfolded around them. It’s certainly an entry that’s worthy of the other Gundam series that I’ve checked out so far.
I agree that this show got too complex for its own good. I’ve seen a lot of speculation that maybe it was originally intended to have more episodes and that’s why the second season felt so rushed.
As an aside, The Witch From Mercury has some of the best budget model kits Bandai has ever made. Something like the High Grade Aerial kit, which can be found for <$20 USD, would be a great choice if someone wanted to give building gunpla a try. If there’s another suit you liked more, well, pretty much all of the high grade Witch From Mercury kits are both affordable and great.
Cool news about the Gunpla. I’ve never made a model but I’m getting dangerously close to getting into it after watching all of this Gundam stuff recently. I wonder how the GQuuuuuuuuuux models are going to be?
So far I think they’ve only announced a model for the GQuuuuuux itself, though others will doubtless follow. A few youtubers have gotten their hands on the kit, and impressions seem mostly positive. It looks like it’ll have great articulation, but some of the finer details will be achieved with stickers rather than increasing the number of plastic pieces. That isn’t unusual, and the stickers are decently nice so it’s not a huge deal, but it’s nice to not need to bother with them. Of course you can paint those parts instead, but there are plenty of people who won’t want to do that.
It’s actually been out in Japan for a few days now, so hopefully we’ll get some English reviews soon.
On one hand, it’s a very affordable hobby. $20-30 for a well made kit is an absolute steal in the modeling realm, and puts most actions figures in that price range to shame.
On the other, it’s a very expensive hobby… there’s just… so… much. If you’re someone who leans towards completionnaire’s disease, consider this your warning lol.
But it really does bring another level of appreciation and immersion to the shows. The newer kits especially let you inspect all the little details that just flash by on the screen. Gunpla is a big part of why Gundam both took off and persisted this long. It’s not required, but it adds so much.
The other day I stumbled upon this 3 year old Tested video where they put together a “Perfect Grade” Gundam and they were really impressed by the intricate level of design and engineering that went into it, and I have to say I was too.
To see all of the moving parts underneath the outer armor/shell and the engineering involved to making it all work (not to mention have it stand up even under pretty extreme poses) was damn impressive. At this point I’m more worried about clutter than anything I think. lol
That kit is the pinnacle of Bandai engineering… for now. They’re eventually going to top it because that’s what they do. It’s really amazing how much they’ve innovated over the years.