History Anime / MobileSuitGundamTheWitchFromMercury

** Although Prospera is not the franchise's first female CharClone in a broader sense (Katejina from ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Victory]]'' beat her by decades), she is the first one that wears the mask.

* CharClone: The classic Gundam trope is played with a little more than usual.
** The first female example in a main Gundam series since ''Victory'''s Katejina. Lady Prospera, head of Shin Sei Development Corporation, a company under the Benerit Group, and Suletta's mother. Unlike traditional Char Clones, she's neither a pilot nor TheRival to Suletta, and is broadly on Suletta's side à la the Quattro variant -- [[spoiler: instead like OYW-era Char she's sworn revenge against the heads of the group she's a part of, and there's a little ''Char's Counterattack''-era Char in there too, as Prospera manipulates Suletta for her own ends through Suletta's devotion to her]].
** Further PlayingWith the trope, the show does have a mobile suit clearly meant to be a "Char Machine" in the form of the MD-0064 Darilbalde, a fast mobile suit with a red paintjob and a single antenna. However, the machine belongs to Guel Jeturk, and while Guel does fill the role of TheRival who gradually gets outclassed by the Protagonist's supernatural ability, he only holds that role for the first handful of episodes and he doesn't fit the emotional mold for any of the Char achetypes.

* StealthPun: Prospera Mercury is a CharClone. "Suisei", phonetically, is Japanese for both "Mercury" (水星) and "Comet" (彗星).

*** GUND is phonetically similar to the Old Norse word "gandr" (as in Jörmungandr), typically associated with supernatural entities or beings. It can also mean "magic", "magic staff", or "magic wand".

** Another LoveTriangle is briefly formed between Suletta, Miorine, and Elan, thanks to Suletta's persistent interest in getting to know Elan, something that annoys Miorine. [[spoiler:It's brief because, right as it seems Elan4 has opened up to Suletta, he is executed for his failures. Albeit, while Elan Prime keeps her convinced he’s the same person, Miorine rescues Suletta and Aerial so spectacularly that Suletta’s focus starts to shift to Miorine anyway.]]

** Another LoveTriangle is briefly formed between Suletta, Miorine, and Elan, thanks to Suletta's very unsubtle crush on Elan, something that annoys Miorine. [[spoiler:It's brief because, right as it seems Elan has opened up to Suletta, he is executed for his failures.]]

* CharClone:
** The first female example in a main Gundam series since ''Victory'''s Katejina. Lady Prospera, head of Shin Sei Development Corporation, a company under the Benerit Group, and [[spoiler:Suletta's mother]]. That said, unlike most examples, she isn't a pilot nor TheRival to Suletta, and seems to actually be on her side, ala, the Quattro variant.
** Further PlayingWith the trope, the show does have a mobile suit clearly meant to be a "Char Machine" in the form of the MD-0064 Darilbalde, a fast mobile suit with a red paintjob and a single antenna. However, the machine belongs to Guel Jeturk, and while Guel does fill the role of TheRival who gradually gets outclassed by the Protagonist's supernatural ability, he doesn't fit the emotional mold for any of the Char achetypes.

* ForWantOfANail: At the end of Episode 9, following [[spoiler:Shaddiq's defeat against Suletta and the Earth House, he muses to Miorine about how if he had tried doing something earlier and became the Holder things could have been different. Miorine merely comments any intentions he had are 'too little, too late'.]]

** The second opening goes through a couple changes.

* HideYourLesbians: Suletta and Miorine are engaged for most of the show's runtime, their romantic arc is the focal point of the show, they openly discuss a potential marriage with clear joy, and [[spoiler:during the DistantFinale the two are shown wearing rings and Suletta's sibling refers to Miorine as "sister-in-law."]] Despite this, a magazine that referred to them directly as "married" (quoting a statement from one of the voice actresses) had this mention edited out of the digital version, and an official statement from Bandai could be read as saying that their relationship is "up to the viewer." The release of the final BD disc as commentary by the series director confirms that the conclusion was decided from the beginning and will follow Theatre/TheTempest, with Miorine and Suletta marrying and becoming partners.

* HideYourLesbians: Suletta and Miorine are engaged for most of the show's runtime, their romantic arc is the focal point of the show, they openly discuss a potential marriage with clear joy, and [[spoiler:during the DistantFinale the two are shown wearing rings and Suletta's sibling refers to Miorine as "sister-in-law."]] Despite this, a magazine that referred to them directly as "married" (quoting a statement from one of the voice actresses) had this mention edited out of the digital version, and an official statement from Bandai could be read as saying that their relationship is "up to the viewer." Averted by the release of the final BD disc as commentary by the series director confirms that the conclusion was decided from the beginning and will follow Theatre/TheTempest, with Miorine and Suletta marrying and becoming partners.

* HideYourLesbians: Suletta and Miorine are engaged for most of the show's runtime, their romantic arc is the focal point of the show, they openly discuss a potential marriage with clear joy, and [[spoiler:during the DistantFinale the two are shown wearing rings and Suletta's sibling refers to Miorine as "sister-in-law."]] Despite this, a magazine that referred to them directly as "married" (quoting a statement from one of the voice actresses) had this mention edited out of the digital version, and an official statement from Bandai could be read as saying that their relationship is "up to the viewer."

* MythicalMotifs: In addition to the obvious witch symbolism of Gundams as a whole, the gundams developed by the Vanadis Institute and Ochs Earth seem to follow a Myth/NorseMythology theme.
** The name Vanadis itself is a kenning for Freyja, meaning "The (female) spirit of the Vanir".
** The station that the Lfrith is researched at is called Folkvangr, after the realm of Asgard ruled by Freyja, and where half the honourable dead went after death.
** Norea and Sophie's Gundams, [[spoiler:which were developed by Ochs Earth in secret]], are named Lfrith Ur and Thorn, after Nordic runes representing an aurochs and a jötunn respectively.
** The Gundvölvas, remote-controlled smaller gundams controlled by Norea and Sophie, are named after Völva, a seer in Norse mythology who foretold Ragnarök.
** GUND is phonetically similar to the Old Norse word "gandr" (as in Jörmungandr), typically associated with supernatural entities or beings. It can also mean "magic", "magic staff", or "magic wand".

* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: CGI is used whenever there's a sweeping camera pan, or on the rare occasion when the mobile suits are stationary or out of focus; with the usual hand-drawn animation brought in for general movement and fight scenes. CGI is also used for any instances involving ships, Quiet Zero, or other moving transport, but is done to fit in with the background elements, while the mobile suits, Haros, and smaller vehicles, including Aerial's AttackDrones when flying independent of the main mech, are rendered out in standard CelShaded animation.

** Besides Earth House and the Houses of the three biggest companies, Asticassia is made of many other Houses associated with smaller companies, none of which have a role in the story. The only house besides the main four to have recurring named characters is Burion, the house Secelia and Rouji belong to, but while its name is mentioned in the series, what it does is largely AllThereInTheManual (it's responsible for maintaining Asticassia facilities, and it's the developer of the Demi series, the latter fact not being mentioned in-series until Episode 20). Similarly, you won't even find out what the names of the other companies/houses are just by watching the series.

* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: CGI is used whenever there's a sweeping camera pan, or on the rare occasion when the mobile suits are stationary or out of focus; with the usual hand-drawn animation brought in for general movement and fight scenes. CGI is also used for any instances involving ships, Quiet Zero, or other moving transport, but is done to fit in with the background elements, while the mobile suits, Haros, and smaller vehicles, including Aerial's drones when flying independent of the main mech, are rendered out in standard CelShaded animation.

* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: CGI is used whenever there's a sweeping camera pan, or on the rare occasion when the mobile suits are stationary or out of focus; with the usual hand-drawn animation brought in for general movement and fight scenes. CGI is also used for any instances involving ships, Quiet Zero, or other moving transport, but is done to fit in with the background elements, while the mobile suits, Haros, and smaller vehicles are rendered out in standard CelShaded animation.

** If they aren't treating [[AbusiveParents their own children as pawns in their schemes]] or being killed, they're utterly useless in actually dealing with important situations. In large part thanks to Delling being in a position of power that effectively overrules any opinion the opposition might have against him. The faculty of Asticassia School of Technology is also completely apathetic if not outright hostile when it comes to the safety and well-being of its students.

** Further PlayingWith the trope, the show does have a mobile suit clearly meant to be a "Char Machine" in the form of the MD-0064 Darilbalde, a fast mobile suit with a red paintjob and a single antenna. However, the machine belongs to Guel Jeturk, who has nothing in common with Char.

''Witch From Mercury'' was noted by Sunrise and the creators as being the first ''Gundam'' anime TV series to feature a female protagonist,[[note]]and the fourth overall, as various spin-off media such as ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamEcoleDuCiel'', ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDCE73Stargazer'' and ''Literature/MobileSuitGundamTwilightAXIS'' featured female protagonists before her. Also a few [=OVAs=] of standalone short stories featured a female protagonist for an episode.[[/note]] It is also the first mainline Gundam series to premiere in the Japanese Reiwa (2019-present) period and the first new (non-Gunpla based) alternate universe ''Gundam'' series since 2015's ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans Iron-Blooded Orphans]]''.

''Witch From Mercury'' was noted by Sunrise and the creators as being the first Gundam anime TV series to feature a female protagonist,[[note]]and the fourth overall, as various spin-off media such as ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamEcoleDuCiel'', ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDCE73Stargazer'' and ''Literature/MobileSuitGundamTwilightAXIS'' featured female protagonists before her. Also a few [=OVAs=] of standalone short stories featured a female protagonist for an episode.[[/note]] It is also the first mainline Gundam series to premiere in the Japanese Reiwa (2019-present) period and the first new (non-Gunpla based) alternate universe ''Gundam'' series since 2015's ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans Iron-Blooded Orphans]]''.

* HideYourLesbians: Suletta and Miorine are engaged for most of the show's runtime, their romantic arc is the focal point of the show, they openly discuss a potential marriage with clear joy, and [[spoiler:during the DistantFinale the two are shown wearing rings and Suletta's sibling refers to Miorine as "sister-in-law."]] Despite this, a magazine that referred to them directly as "married" (quoting a statement from one of the voice actresses) had this mention edited out, and an official statement from Bandai could be read as saying that their relationship is "up to the viewer."

* ShownTheirWork: In close ups that show Suletta's hands, you can sometimes see that two of her fingernails are trimmed much shorter and smoother than the others. Yeah.

* BrainComputerInterface: The series makes use of a less invasive version. Mobile suits makes use of a connection with the pilot via Permet, facilitated through either their spacesuit or a simple vest which is then hooked up to the machine allowing for greater control. GUND is a more advanced version, providing Gundams with their name and distinct advantage in battle.

** Suletta intervening against Guel and then beating him in a duel leads to her taking his place as future groom to Miorine. Though Suletta and Miorine's relationship begins as cover to buy Miorine time to escape to Earth, the two girls grow to care for each other more and more. Meanwhile, Guel falls for Suletta after [[LoveAtFirstPunch she beats him twice]], and after some [[BreakTheHaughty growth]] he confesses his feelings to her. She appreciates the sentiment but indicates that she's already devoted to Miorine. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, Miorine decides to [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim drive Suletta away for her own good]] despite her own feelings for Suletta and plots with Guel to have him retake the Holder position.]]

-->''You saw what happened [[spoiler:in Episode 20]] - stop shipping them or else'' 😡

** It's also the first TV series since ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Victory]]'', and the first not directed by series creator Creator/YoshiyukiTomino, to have a female CharClone.

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[ArcWords "If you run, you gain one, but if you move forward, you gain two."]]''[[labelnote:*]]Pictured above: Miorine Rembran (left) and Suletta Mercury (right). Behind them is XVX-016RN Gundam Aerial Rebuild.[[/labelnote]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[ArcWords "If you run, you gain one, but if you move forward, you gain two."]]''\\
[[labelnote:Characters]]Miorine Rembran on the left and Suletta Mercury on the right. Behind them is XVX-016RN Gundam Aerial Rebuild.[[/labelnote]]]]

* DevelopmentHell: [[{{Invoked}} An in universe example with the Schwarzette]]. Supplementary materials reveal that it was originally built as a successor to the Darilbalde, meant to improve on it in all aspects. However it ran into a long string of problems, most notably repeated issues with the control system and eventually those problems lead to the line being put on ice. Once Gundams resurfaced and Vim obtained data from Prospera, the control systems were reworked to use the GUND-Format, turning the Schwarzette into a Gundam.