is a Japanese mecha anime series and the fifteenth mainline entry in Sunrise's long-running Gundam franchise. The series is directed by both Hiroshi Kobayashi and Ryō Andō and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi, and aired from October 2022 to July 2023.
Set in a world where numerous companies have advanced into space and constitute a huge economic zone, the story concerns the Mobile Suits known as "GUND-ARMS" ("Gundams" for short), weapons that were developed out of diverted health technology "GUND" which compensates for physical disabilities caused by living in space.
The Witch from Mercury marks the first mainline Gundam series to air during Japan's Reiwa era, the first mainline production in seven years since Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, and the first TV series in the franchise to feature a female and LGBTQ protagonist. The anime revolves around capitalism and political corruption, stylistically inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest with elements from witch trials, which inspires the titular Gundam technology.
Story
Setting
The series is set in the new calendar system dubbed Ad Stella (AS). In this timeline, humanity has advanced into space yet a conflict occurred that caused a split between the inhabitants of space colonies, also called "Spacians" and the Earth-born "Earthians", with a vast economic inequality between the two. These conflicts revolved around the material named Permet, which was mined due to its information-linking properties. Various technologies have been developed by mixing Permet with other materials or propellants for control purposes, including Mobile Suit development. Several megacorporations are established in this timeline which all focus on the development of technology for Spacians but also caused the social and political divide between them and the Earthians.
Plot
In the year Ad Stella 101, researchers at the Vanadis Institute created "GUND", an advanced brain–computer interface that enabled the human nervous system to control artificial appendices and organs. The purpose of GUND was to enable humans to survive in the harsh environment of space. After receiving funding from mobile suit manufacturer Ochs Earth, the technology was developed into the "GUND Format" and employed for military uses, leading to the creation of "GUND-ARMS": mobile suits that use the GUND Format to increase the performance of their pilots. However, extensive use of GUND-ARMS resulted in pilots being crippled or even killed.
In response, the Mobile Suit Development Council, led by the top mobile suit development companies, ordered a permanent ban on the GUND Format and all its applications. Council member Delling Rembran deployed the special forces team Dominicus to destroy the Vanadis research facility Fólkvangr, killing everyone aboard to erase all traces of the technology. Only two people survived: mobile suit test pilot Elnora Samaya and her four-year-old daughter Ericht Samaya. In the aftermath, those responsible for the development of the GUND Format were ostracized, and because the team was primarily composed of women, they became known as "witches".
In Ad Stella 122, 21 years after the Vanadis incident, Suletta Mercury transfers from Mercury to the Asticassia School of Technology, an academic institute run by the megacorporation Benerit Group. Upon arrival, she encounters a girl escaping the institute, Miorine Rembran, who wants to escape from the control of her father. As their paths cross in the academy with different ambitions and goals, Suletta will have to prove her worth as a pilot as she steps into the academy alongside the Gundam Aerial, a mobile suit built with forbidden GUND Format technology.