Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Anime Reveals Franchise's 1st 'Female Hero' in Main Series

Bandai Namco Group unveiled a new teaser video and visual for Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (Kidō Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo), the first new Gundam television anime series in seven years, during its Gundam Conference on Tuesday. The video reveals the anime's protagonist, the first ever "female hero" in a main Gundam television anime series, as well as her mobile suit, the Gundam Aerial.

(from 15:58 to 16:33 in the below video)

The conference also revealed a prequel project for the anime titled Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Prologue. Bandai Namco described the prequel as a full-fledged project that will feature its own story and mobile suits, including the Gundam Lfrith (first image below) and Beguir-Beu (second image below).

The prologue project will debut this summer, and will debut first at the Gundam Factory Yokohama (the site of the life-size moving Gundam statue), the life-size Gundam Unicorn statue in Tokyo's Odaiba, the life-size Freedom Gundam statue in Shanghai, the life-size RX-93ffν Gundam statue in Fukuoka, and the upcoming Gundam Base Virtual World in Bandai Namco Group's planned Gundam Metaverse project. The project will then debut in events in Japan and around the world at a later date.

High Grade 1/144-scale models for the three newly revealed mobile suits are already in production.

Koji Fujiwara, Bandai Namco Entertainment's Chief Gundam Officer, stated at the "Dai 2-kai Gundam Conference" event last September when the anime was first announced, "We are aiming to create a work that even young generations will support." He added, "We are making bigger developments than ever before."

The series will be the first brand-new television anime series in the franchise since Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. The first season premiered in October 2015 and aired for 25 episodes, and the second season premiered in October 2016 and also aired for 25 episodes.

The anime will premiere in October during the Nichi-5 slot on Sundays at 5:00 p.m. JST (4:00 a.m. EDT/3:00 a.m. EST) on MBS/TBS' network of stations.

Update: Video added from IGN China.

Images © SOTSU, SUNRISE

Source: Gundam Conference, Press release