Bandai Wants Gundam’s Lesbian Couple to Be Open to Interpretation, Somehow
By James Whitbrook
Witch From Mercury broke ground for the Gundam franchise with—and sales records spurred in part by—its depiction of the burgeoning romantic relationship between its main characters Suletta Mercury and Miorine Rembran. But while the series itself came about as close to text as it could on their bond, Bandai itself is more hesitant.
This past week the latest issue of Gundam Ace magazine featured an interview with voice actress Kana Ichinose, who played Suletta Mercury, in the wake of the conclusion of the show. The final scenes of the series, set in a flash-forward to three years after the events of the main show, depicted Suletta and Miorine embracing and wearing matching silver bands on their ring fingers.
“After three years, they seem much closer, and to see them married like that really touched my heart,” Ichinose’s comment reads in part, the first explicit confirmation of the characters’ marriage outside of the show itself. News of the confirmation saw “#スレミオ結婚,” or “Sulemio Marriage,” trend on social media, as the characters regularly did throughout Witch From Mercury’s broadcast run.
However, digital copies of the issue of Gundam Ace had Ichinose’s statement edited to remove the mention of marriage—leading to concerns of censorship that eventually saw Sunrise (née Bandai Namco Filmworks) parent company Bandai Namco officially respond yesterday. Not to apologize for the removal, however: to apologize that the reference had made it into the print run in the first place.
