Gundam The Witch from Mercury Retrospective: The Gundam’s Curse
Gundam the Witch from Mercury is the newest stand-alone Gundam series to be produced. This series was aimed at introducing a whole new generation to Gundam with the relatively recent anime boom and expansion of the media streaming market during the harsher days of COVID-19 when lockdown measures were in place around the world. The show’s narrative revolves around a space country bumpkin from Mercury, Suletta Mercury. Finally getting the chance to attend school, something she always desired, Suletta’s journey unfolds against the backdrop of corporate interests, exploitation, and intrigue. Little does she know that her enrollment there at the school will change her life, and that of those who she will meet forever. During the prologue and later in the story, there’s this thing called the “Gundam’s curse” that is brought up from time to time. While on the surface it looks just to be the fact that Gundam pilots keep dying, it goes much deeper than that.
So What is a Gundam? Typically, a Gundam is a special mobilesuit (that’s the term for humanoid mechs in the Gundam franchise) usually piloted by the protagonist of the show or other significant characters. And in the case of this show what makes a mobilesuit a Gundam is the GUND-Format system. The Gund-format system is a mind-machine interface developed by Earthian(in universe term for those who live on Earth, usually oppressed and exploited by spacians) companies. It was initially developed to be used for medical and perhaps industrial purposes. However, lack of funding meant that for research to continue, it had to be developed into a military product. Thus, it was integrated into mobilesuits, visible in the form of “Shell units” that glow red when activated, and glowing patterns that appear all over the pilot’s body. The benefit of having this system is enhanced kinematic performance over other non-Gundam mobilesuits, presumably sensor fusion (the ability to put fuse many pieces of information from multiple sources into cohesive picture, and the ability to control swarm weapons called Gund-bits, little drones that can mount and use weapons, and on Suletta’s own Gundam Aerial create an energy shield, among other things.
The sensation of connecting to a Gundam was described by a character as “like a hand reaching so roughly into my brain”, followed by a point of view from that character showing him moving the Gundam like his own body, similar to when you put on a VR headset, motion tracking gear, and haptic gloves. Gundam pilots are often seen breathing heavily after exertion when piloting a Gundam. My own speculation is that the information and processing load on the brain causes it to need more oxygen, hence the heavy breathing, and when that outstrips the body’s ability to supply, death. It is possible to operate a Gundam safely by staying under a level of connection with the Gundam as seen in the show with the PERMET score system. Score one grants basic functions, the shell units don’t light up, the pilot is perfectly fine. Score two grants enhanced mobility. This is where the red patterns start appearing on the pilot’s body. Score three increases the kinematic performance further, and grants the ability to control remote weapon systems such as drones and Gund-bits. This stage shows heavy exertion on the pilot but is still safe to operate at. Score four grants greatly increased kinematic performance, and the ability to withstand the ANTIDOTE system which was used to counter Gundams by cutting the connection between the Gund-format system and the pilot. This level will kill the pilot if used for more than a few moments (In league with the previous speculation, “safe” permet score 4 usage time may be extended by breathing in pure oxygen to increase blood oxygen content like divers and pilots sometimes do). Scores higher than this have their own functions but they aren’t relevant to this article so I shall leave them to be explored another time.
So, if it’s negative effects are killing the pilot then why not just stop using Gundams? The answer is profit. The advantage in kinematic performance and remote weapon systems were simply too great to pass up. And so the Gundams were produced and sold with at least 7 machines being visible or plausibly there in the prologue. With the Gund-formate being an Earthian development, and sold by Ochs Earth, an Earthian company, this goes into the second aspect of the Gundam’s curse. The presence of Gundams on the market was a grave threat to the market share of the Spacian companies so they banded together to hamper the development and sale of Gundams and later as seen in the prologue, launch an attack on Folkvangr, the space station where Gundam development was being conducted, and other Ochs Earth facilities with the intent to destroy and ensure the death of the lead developer of the Gund-Format, Dr. Cardo Nabo(albeit the choice to attack was a unilateral one by one Delling Rembran who has special prejudice against Gundams for reasons not entirely explored in the show). The attack was so timed as to cut off any chance of safe Gundams being developed and put to market. After destroying Och’s Earth, the companies took the spoils for themselves and attempted to reverse engineer the Gund-Format. Results would vary, with one company named Peil Technologies deciding to “enhance” the pilot instead of fixing the Gundam by modifying Earthian children and ransoming their life. We see two such “Enhanced persons” in the show with three prior ones implied to have existed.
So what's the point in writing all this? You may draw parallels between the actions of the corporations in The Witch From Mercury to real-life corporations, harming others intentionally or through dangerous products or services for profit. Several incidents come to mind but I feel that this article is a bit long already so I will leave it here for you to do your own research and draw your own parallels.
I know that this article comes several months after the show has sadly concluded at a mere 24 episodes plus the prologue but I just couldn't get this show out of my mind. Hope you like my first article here. Please consider liking and hitting the follow button on my profile for more articles relating to mecha anime and adjacent matters in the future. Thank you for reading.
