The Witch from Mercury director confirms same-sex marriage between Suletta and Miorine
Hiroshi Kobayashi, the director of the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury anime, has confirmed that the series does in fact end with the female protagonists Suletta Mercury and Miorine Rembran getting married. This statement ends a long period of fans’ frustration over the characters’ homosexual relationship being made vague and open for interpretation.
As spotted and shared by X user @sgk_123, the interview with Kobayashi in the Blu-Ray booklet of the final season of The Witch from Mercury reveals the directors’ thoughts about the epilogue of the anime. Kobayashi states, “I knew I was going to make an epilogue, but it was a while before I decided upon the exact number of years that should pass in-between. The ending itself follows “The Tempest,” and depicts Suletta and Miorine getting married and becoming partners.”
The Witch from Mercury was the first Gundam series anime title to feature a female protagonist – Suletta Mercury, and fans were even more excited when she also turned out to be the first LGBT protagonist of the series, developing a meaningful relationship and reaching a happy end with Miorine Rembran.
However, although the anime ended on a satisfying note for most viewers, a series of decisions by the production side soured things for fans later on, making them feel cheated out of a canonical same-sex relationship and marriage.
First, there was a difference in how Japanese official sources and US official sources treated the fact, as the US sources were very open in referring to Miorine as Suletta’s “wife” and similar, while Japanese sources made no explicit clarifications (Related article).
Then, things further escalated in July this year, when the digital edition of the Gundam Ace magazine’s September issue was revised so as to not include the word “married.” Suletta’s Japanese voice actress had given a statement for the magazine in which she described Suletta and Miorine as a “married pair,” but this was edited into just “pair” a few days after initial publication. After numerous inquiries from fans, Bandai Namco Filmworks released a statement in which they apologized for the “inconvenience caused” but stated that they want everyone to be free to interpret the story to their liking. This obviously did nothing but anger fans further, and most gave up any form of official confirmation from the production side.
This is perhaps why news of Kobayashi confirming the marriage has caused so much excitement worldwide, with the words #スレミオ結婚 (jp: SuleMio marriage) even trending on X/Twitter, together with an outpouring of fanart and words of celebration.
So, now we are so open about the fact that shipping was the only selling point and the theme of this inclusion in the franchise, that their ship and the shippers’ reaction to it is declared the only feedback from viewers from the show?
It wasn’t the only selling point. Did you watch the series?
Also, you’re totally missing the point if this is your reaction.