It has been five years since the Vanadis Incident, in which all Gundams became forbidden... These mobile suits were deemed “curses,” but now they're running amok on Earth.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury―Vanadis Heart has a story by and art by Chika Tōjō. The English translation is by Stephen Paul, and the lettering is by Brendon Bovia. Published by Yen Press (July 14, 2026). Rated T.

Erica Friedman
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If you watched Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury, you know that during the Vanadis Incident, corporate forces undertook a brutally hostile takeover of the makers of GUND-Arms, banning the mecha for what can only be seen as spurious philosophical and predatory capitalist reasons. Before Suletta Mercury brings the Gundam back, we follow Dr. Vilda Miren and Kiyu, a young boy, as her companion. Why is she traveling with him? “For whatever reason.” With this trite phrase, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury—Vanadis Heart dismisses its own reason for existence.

Gundam, as a franchise, does many things very well. It often provides a detailed big picture, complete with geo-/astro-political forces, and it does the small, human stories with painful depth and detail. What is left is that huge bit in the middle where the political becomes personal, and right from the beginning, we're not sure if this volume is interested in filling it in. It's not an auspicious beginning. But of course, the story will give us key tidbits to keep us coming back.

We can understand who the Doc is and how she got here, but time and pages that would fill in details of how and why are used instead to discuss a really bizarro theory of childhood development and education. That's okay, it's Gundam. Just look at the pretty robot causing mayhem. Like the survivors of a Gundam attack, we spend a lot of time piecing the remains together. Whether Dr. Vilda Miren's vision of a medical use for Gundams and the Permet needed to pilot them can have a medical application will remain to be seen in future volumes. In the meantime, enjoy a road trip with mecha.

You don't need to have watched The Witch From Mercury to make sense of this, but familiarity helps to recognize the narrative structure.

Kevin Cormack
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If anything, this manga has enticed me to seek out the gunpla kit for the featured Gundam mech, the Lfrith Jiu, because it has a really cool design. That's probably the job done as far as Bandai is concerned, especially as I already have something like six Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury-associated models on my shelf. Thankfully, Vanadis Heart has a bit more to it than being merely yet another toy advertisement.

Only tangentially related to its progenitor anime, Vanadis Heart only features some very brief cameos from familiar characters in its rather lengthy prologue. This prologue is used to re-establish the background of this alternative-universe Gundam series, in which “Gund-Arms” (or “Gundams” for short) were developed as an offshoot of a medical technology, “GUND”, that facilitates the human body's adaptation to space exploration. At this point, it's been five years since GUND technology was banned, under politically suspicious circumstances.

The bulk of the plot is set on Earth in A.S. 106, as former Vanadis researcher Dr. Vilda travels with Kiyu, a very young mecha pilot. Despite his extremely feminine appearance, Kiyu is, in fact, a boy. Much of the volume consists of interactions between the two main characters that help build their personalities. Kiyu is very cute and energetic, while Vilda is significantly more world-weary and cautious.

Vilda hopes to continue researching the application of GUND technology; hence, the trailer she hauls contains a contraband Gundam mech that Kiyu must pilot to prevent other antagonists from stealing it. There's an extended action sequence where Kiyu uses Lfrith Jiu to fight off their enemies, which is well drawn, framing the imposing mech in super-cool action stances that I kind of want to replicate myself in molded plastic form.

As there's so much info-dumping in the prologue and in later flashbacks, it's really not essential to have seen The Witch From Mercury anime. Whether that remains the case in later volumes, I'm unsure. For this first volume, at least, Vanadis Heart is a fun, accessible sci-fi manga with attractive character art and a decent quantity of mecha action.