Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury

Suletta proves herself – As Suletta Mercury bumbles between various upper tier students of the Asticassia School of Technology in Gundam’s first non-prologue episode, it feels like the school is just going to eat this poor naive girl alive. Nowhere is this more true than when she faces off against the school’s top mech pilot, Guel Jeturk. But the girl comes into her own once inside her Aerial mech, showing Guel and those watching their bout what she and her Gundam—mechs which were outlawed and destroyed when Suletta was just an infant—are capable of. Watching Aerial’s drone lasers slice up Guel’s mech and hearing Elan Ceres say the word “Gundam” as the score swells carries a ton of significance, even for viewers who had zero knowledge of the franchise beforehand. For all that Witch of Mercury has to offer, the closing battle to its first episode will always be a standout.

Aerial vs. Pharact – The Witch From Mercury’s first big Gundam vs. Gundam fight is one of the most gorgeous action moments of the fall anime season, a tense, heartbreaking duel between Elan (piloting the sinister, EMP-laden Gundam Pharact) and Suletta and her “sister” in the Aerial. Stunning action, real big stakes, and the epic moment Suletta unlocks even more of her Gundam’s potential to overwhelm the Pharact’s systems and claim victory are all great highlights… even if they heralded a darker turn in the series’ story.