The Mobile Suit Gundam series are at their best when they’re showing exactly the political sides and consequences of war, mechs, corruption, and power on individuals and society. The Gundam: The Witch from Mercury anime and tie-ins are great at not holding back while still offering very human characters we can root for, and the Vanadis Heart mangais no different. I mean, within the first few pages, we’re reading lines like, Dr. Cardo Nabo’s “The sin of taking another life can only be paid by a human being, not a machine!” Or maybe the narration, “With our strengthened bodies and scarred limbs, let us continue onward on our journey, curse and all. But there is one other thing we need, which we should nurture as it grows, heart.” But what makes things interesting here is we have a more serious individual who seems well aware of the consequences in Dr. Vilda Miren and the kid Kiyu Lavot who is more willing to use Gundam Lfrith Jiu with all the impulsiveness and innocence of a child.
While Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Vanadis Heart is connected to that storyline, complete with a cameo from Elnora Samaya and another familiar face early on, it does work as a stand-alone piece that someone can pop into without prior experience due to the shift in leads. The story begins with the Vanadis Incident massacre in Ad Stella 101. The Mobile Suit Development Council freezes development on suits, shutting down and repossessing them, attacking the Folkvangr Base in the process. It’s an establishing moment and another view of events that we saw referenced in the Prologue novel and episode 16 of the anime.
But from there, the scene shifts to focus on former Vanadis Institute member Dr. Vilda Miren and her child assistant Kiyu Lavot. She’s one of the “witches” now villainized due to her role at Vanadis and research into GUND and Gundam technologies. Which she’s still doing, mind you, as well as getting involved in things that will allow her to keep engaging in such work. The manga begins with her engaged in research, before the two head out on the road in what is essentially a mobile lab. While her explanations for Kiyu make it seem a little more innocent, excusing their route by saying they’re avoiding terrorist attacks, it’s soon made blatantly obvious that she and the researchers like her are the very suspects and she’s engaging in subterfuge while remaining on the move.
That said, we see attempts by Vilda to help shape and educate Kiyu. So even though he’s an enthusiastic helper assisting her in a personal assistant role by doing things like waking her up, running errands, and clearly involved in other kinds of research, we see attempts by her to guide and teach him. There’s a lesson about moderation after he’s run an errand, for example, and suggestions of films to watch.
At the same time, we can see the sort of social commentary we expect from a Gundam series in Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Vanadis Heart. We are left with the impression that the “terrorists” are dangerous. And then… that’s not exactly disproven. We see the fear can be valid. Vilda and researchers like her are seen as committing some sort of great sin, but GUND is revolutionary and could make positive changes. There’s also a firsthand example of what happens when an enthusiastic child, one who is very attached to their mentor/employer, acts with their heart instead of head to react to a situation he doesn’t realized is being handled in a certain way. It also highlights exactly how dangerous something like Gundam Lfrith Jiu is, even when placed in the hands of a pilot who is capable of using it, because of the capabilities and impulsive nature. Likewise, it highlights how a young child’s ideas of right and wrong can lack nuance, and they might not grasp the gravity of situations. Especially since this keeps coming up throughout the first volume.
Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Vanadis Heart proves to be an interesting start to another story in that time period while still very much feeling like a Mobile Suit Gundam manga. It features a lot of the hallmarks we expect from the series, showing the gravity of the situation while also maintaining some heartfelt and human moments. It’s a promising start.
Volumes 1 and 2 of the Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Vanadis Heart are available now via Yen Press, and there’s no release date for future volumes yet.
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