Gundam’s Best Series in Years Is Releasing Its Spinoff Soon

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury is one of the recent crowning achievements of the franchise. It was the first anime in the series to star a female protagonist and feature heavy LGBTQ themes, becoming one of the more popular modern entries in the franchise. The worst thing about it was that it only lasted for 24 episodes and an OVA, leaving fans with an empty spot in their heart. Fortunately, a new spin-off manga of the series that takes place in an alternate timeline will be released to Comic Newtype in Spring 2025. The spin-off title is called Mobile Suit Gundam the Witch from Mercury: Seishun Frontier (Frontier of Youth).

The main show takes place in a sci-fi future with giant mechas and space colonies, whereas Seishun Frontier will be set in near-future Japan. The anime’s co-protagonists, Suletta Mercury and Miorine Rembran, are re-imagined as normal high school students in Japan. Writer HISADAKE, who served as the Setting Assistant for Witch from Mercury, will serve as the author for Seishun Frontier. The Seishun Frontier art will be handled by Hiro Hato, an artist known for their work on Misumi-san wa Misukasenai and Inu to Yuusha wa Kazaranai. Hato has expressed being a fan of the Witch from Mercury anime and is looking forward to working on the spin-off.

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Witch from Mercury is One Of the Most Successful Gundam Shows.

While Gundam shows tend to do well, especially in their home country of Japan, Witch from Mercury‘s success still outpaced many modern-day Gundam’s popularity. The main Gundam of the series, the Gundam Aerial, became one of the best-selling Gundam Model kits (Gunpla) in the franchise’s history. The Gundam series hit its biggest sales milestone, USD 783 million, in 2022 during the airing of the first season. Bandai Namco confirmed that the Gundam franchise’s profits increased by two billion yen, equivalent to 15 million USD, during its 2023 Fiscal Year. The Witch from Mercury, specifically the Gundam Aerial, contributed to the high profit margins of that year.

The show proved a critical success, having some of the most talented animators working on the anime. However, despite the series’ obvious popularity, The Witch from Mercury only lasted half as long as a typical mainline Gundam anime. Most mainline titles in the Gundam franchise usually last for 50 episodes, often split between two seasons of 25 episodes each. In contrast, The Witch from Mercury only lasted for 24 episodes, which were split into two cours and one OVA. Oddly enough, the next Gundam series, Gundam GQuuuuuuX, will also star a red-headed girl.

H/T: Crunchyroll, Oricon