Protein for your Eyes and Ears — Audiovisual design in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury
This piece contains light spoilers for the first episode of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (G-Witch) “The Witch and the Bride.”
Continuing my thoughts regarding Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. For the time being the Prologue and first cour of the show remain free to watch on YouTube outside of Japan . The second cour started unlocking as of 8th July 2023, with new episodes premiering every Sunday.
In the Director’s commentary for his 2013 mecha/kaiju live-action movie Pacific Rim, Guillermo Del Toro discusses the importance of providing the audience with not just “eye candy” but “eye protein” during the introductory sequence where one of the movie’s signature Jaeger mechs is deploying against an invading alien monster (Kaiju). This is a process he described in a 2015 interview as “I go hard at trying to design, visually and aurally, a narrative experience.”
I’d like to invite you to watch the scene that sold me on G-Witch. Knowing the full context of what leads to this point isn’t necessary, but a very rough summary is that Suletta, the titular “Witch” has challenged a brash school bully, Guel, to a formal duel, to force him to apologise for damaging a greenhouse belonging to his fiancée, Miorine. Suletta has sortied in her personal mobile suit, Aerial, which she has been piloting since childhood:
I have watched the above scene over and over, since the show began airing back in October of 2022. Of course, there is undoubtedly a hefty dose of deliberate “Wow!! Cool Robot!!!” being employed. However, what brings the outstanding work on Aerial by designer JNTHED to life is the intricate animation and sound design lavished on the show, and its 3D sequences in particular.
Let’s dissect some of the additional narrative elements we can gather just from the above clip.
Closing in on Aerial, Guel, in his flamboyant, magenta mobile suit, a custom model of a Dilanza, fires a series of shots across the battlefield. Aerial is a stationary target, and from the win-loss graphic displayed at the start of the clip, we can see Guel is an established duellist, with an unbeaten winning streak. If he is missing shots, it is on purpose, in a manner designed to unsettle and intimidate what he considers to be an unworthy opponent.
Suletta remains calm and untroubled. As she describes her personal mantra to Miorine, we see red lights flash across circuit-like panels on Aerial’s limbs, torso and crest. It is clearly charging to do something very special, and inside the cockpit, we see a circular array of icons come to life on the side-screens. One notable visual choice throughout the entire show is that all text appearing on-screen is legible.
Every scribbled note, datapad screen, mobile suit heads-up display — down to tiny details like the operating system version, can be read and is not just “Lorem Ipsum” type gibberish. Instead, as the story unfolds, this provides watchers with interesting tidbits of extra information about the world and the characters who inhabit it. This level of visual attention to detail is what put me in mind of Del Toro’s philosophy of “eye protein” very early on in the show’s run and it is borne out right the way through to the finale.
As Aerial strikes a pose and then dramatically separates a cluster of drone components (this type of swarm weaponry has had numerous names in various Gundam timelines, but the chosen moniker in G-Witch is “Bits”), which swirl and almost hypnotically orbit around Aerial. Guel, sensing that his opponent has not fallen for his intimidation tactics, takes purposeful aim with his beam rifle and fires dead on target, a shot sure to sever Aerial’s antenna and win him the duel, putting the interloper, Suletta, back in her place.
There now follows the greatest sound, in my opinion, of the entire show. A high-pitched, reverberating “thunk” at the last possible second, Aerial’s Bits arrange themselves into an impenetrable shield. It’s not dissimilar in quality to when a perfectly aimed bowling ball blisters into a freshly racked set of pins for a strike. It is a sound I can only describe as having “weight” and feeling very three-dimensional. It represents the confidence of a very mediocre man being shattered entirely, and as the diffused beam skitters into the safety fields, rage flares across Guel’s face.
Guel draws his beam saber and charges. The framing of the shots changes from a low angle of Guel’s Dilanza at the opening of the duel, designed to look intimidating, to a higher one, putting it more on an even level with the Aerial. However, as the Bits swarm around Aerial for a second time, the perspective shifts again, and now Aerial towers over the viewer, fully in control of the situation. Guel has over-committed to a reckless charge.
To accentuate the tension, there is a brief second of silence. The triumphant crescendo of Takashi Ohmama’s orchestral score (accompanied by cinematic vocalist Clara Sorace) is abruptly hushed —
And then broken by a cacophony of laser beam blasts, expertly reducing years of corporate investment, custom paintwork and the finest private pilot school education money can buy to scrap and heartbreak in milliseconds. A single bead of sweat falls down Guel’s face behind his flight helmet visor. Suletta draws Aerial’s own beam saber, ignites it in a confident two-hand grip and delivers the coup-de-grace, severing the plume of the Dilanza in a cloud of white feathers.
Classically, this is a visual metaphor for reaching truth or understanding.
In Guel’s case, it is that he never truly stood a chance against Suletta. She has undone, in under a minute, his entire life’s experience and shattered not just his mobile suit, but his pride. His defeat was not the result of a lucky hit, it was a humiliating rout. His reactions run the full spectrum of confusion, anger and the slightest eye twitch conveying even fear of his opponent; emotions he is clearly unaccustomed to feeling.
For Suletta, it is further confirmation that the mantra she has come to inherit from her mother about always moving forward, is correct. It has taken her from the isolation of her fugitive existence on Mercury to a place she has always wanted to experience, and it has allowed her to gain the trust of a friend.
The consideration that has gone into the visual and sound design of G-Witch is what, in my opinion, elevates it from a good anime to a great piece of prestige television. I sincerely hope that the artists, animators, sound effects and musical teams have been well-compensated for their efforts and can take pride in what they have accomplished here, which is frankly, a generous feast for your eyes and ears.
Next time: What made Suletta Sunday special.
Thanks again to KC for proofreading help!
