Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury makes history with an actual space journey

The success of the Mobile Suit Gundam anime, manga, and toy franchise stems from the futuristic space world that it is set in. Despite the age of the Space Race being long gone, the fascination with the final frontier still exists for people across the world.

Likewise, the Gundam franchise will always have keen and earnest viewers who fantasize about flying into space, piloting a mech, and fighting for humanity’s survival and advancement. Even decades after the franchise’s inception, series like Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury prove that space is still looked at with awe.

It’s likely for this reason that the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise has announced its latest and arguably most unique collaboration yet. JAXA (The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) is partnering with the series in an incredibly fitting way.

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Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury protagonist and deuteragonist exploring the actual planet in new collab

The latest

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury is collaborating with JAXA’s MIO (MMO: Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter) in a new video supporting the project’s efforts. As evident in the name, MIO's objective is to orbit Mercury to conduct comprehensive observations of the planet. The project is also a collaboration with ESA, the European Space Agency.

JAXA and ESA launched an Ariane 5 rocket carrying two probes at the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana on October 19, 2018. The rocket is on track to arrive at Mercury and begin making the aforementioned observations sometime in December 2025.

MIO’s activities are occasionally reported on via the official Twitter account, “@JAXA_MMO.”

This same account retweeted a collaboration post from the Gundam.Info portal site, which features a video message. The voices belong to protagonist Suletta Mercury (Kana Ichinose) and deuteragonist Miorine Rembran (Lynn).

While the video is in Japanese, other sources claim that Suletta points out how “‘Mercury’ and ‘Mio’ sounds like destiny.” A key visual featuring the two characters and the satellite was also released. It is shown in the video.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury aired its first season in Fall 2022, with the second season beginning in the Spring 2023 anime season. Episodes from both seasons were simulcast on Crunchyroll as they aired in Japan. The 24th and final episode of the anime series is set to air both in Japan and internationally on July 2, 2023.

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