Gundam: The Witch From Mercury's Lynn and Kana Ichinose Discuss Difficult Parents and Friendships

ANN's coverage of Anime NYC 2023 sponsored by Yen Press and Ize Press!

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At Anime NYC 2023, the official Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury panel hosted voice actors Kana Ichinose (Suletta Mercury) and Lynn (Miorine Rembran) to discuss their work on the hit mecha series. Members of the press had further questions answered via a joint email interview.

Note, the interview below contains spoilers for Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury

One of the first questions on the panel was what aspects of the series the stars liked most. Ichinose answered, "I think there's a lot of good things about the series, but if I had to pick one, it's the relationships between all the characters. All the characters have some sort of connection with each other." She emphasized the various fraught connections between parents and children in the series, with Lynn adding that the show also addresses siblings, friends, and other types of relationships. "The fact they all come together is a really strong message of the series," Lynn said.

Several questions in the email interview touched upon similar themes. Ichinose reemphasized the parent-child relationships when asked about the series' "main appeal points" for those who haven't watched it yet; Lynn also brought up the school setting as something that can appeal to those who aren't already Gundam fans. ANN inquired specifically about the parent-child relationships, asking who the more "difficult" parent is between Prospera and Delling. Both actors described the question as "hard" to answer, with Lynn elaborating, "It's a hard question because neither character can be viewed simply as just 'difficult.' We later find out that Delling is a loving person, and Prospera was trapped in her depressing, distorted love towards Ericht and Suletta…"

Both Ichinose and Lynn had trouble believing the news when they first found out they were cast in The Witch from Mercury. On the panel, Ichinose said her first reaction was "literally 'WHAT?'" and that since she fell asleep after the phone call, she assumed it was a dream until she checked the call logs. Lynn, a Gundam fan since childhood, got the casting news on her birthday, which made it even more special. Discussing this topic with the press, Ichinose said that she felt "tremendous pressure when I received the call that I passed the audition. After all, Gundam is a big title and one of Japan's nationally known anime. But I knew that if I were preoccupied with feeling pressured, we would be unable to make a good end product, so I tried to reset and enjoy the Witch from Mercury recordings. Then, eventually, I was able to enjoy it naturally."

Producer Takuya Okamoto joined the panel midway through as a special guest, talking about the process of trying to develop a Gundam series that was different from all previous series and talked about how much the story changed from when the series was first pitched in 2020 to its completion. Clips were screened from Ichinose and Lynn's favorite episodes, Episode 21 and Episode 24, respectively. Okamoto discussed how impressed he was with the character development, music, and voice acting in these scenes.

In regards to one big difference between Witch From Mercury and other Gundam series, Ichinose said via email, "I was first surprised thinking, 'The first female protagonist…!', but even in the first Mobile Suit Gundam women were piloting Mobile Suits and fighting on the battlefield, so nowadays it would not have been surprising to see a woman as the main character of a Gundam series. Nevertheless, I am sincerely grateful for the opportunity to voice the role of Suletta Mercury."

In the email interviews, Ichinose and Lynn revealed they knew very little about the show's plot and characters going into the production. "I was able to act out Suletta while feeling the same things she felt," Ichinose explained. "The main character's Mobile Suit, Gundam Aerial, being the final boss, was one of the scenes that surprised me." Lynn received some explanation about her character and "was able to predict a few things about Aerial's secrets," but was also surprised by the final battle.

Ichinose revealed her favorite Gundam anime is the original Mobile Suit Gundam, which was the first Gundam series she watched ("It got me thinking that as long as there are humans, conflict will never disappear and there is no correct answer."), while Lynn is partial to the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED series and Mobile Suit Gundam 00. The voice actors' answers to questions about their favorite characters (other than their own) and about what they wished to see more of were similar, but interestingly flipped: Ichinose's favorite character is the fourth Elan, and she wants more of Shaddiq's backstory, whereas Lynn's favorite is Shaddiq. She wanted more time with the Elans (she also hopes that Miorine's childhood and the three-year time skip in the final episode can be explored more in other media).

In terms of personal connections to the characters, Ichinose said she relates to Suletta's "surprisingly stubborn personality" while also having "a very shy side as well." Lynn described Miorine as "a very hard character to voice" but elaborated on how she could relate to the character, saying, "I think that Miorine's cold personality is a front for her true nature of wanting to be loved. Gradually, she opens up to Suletta and can express her true feelings. I can relate to that feeling."

Overall, it seems the experience of voicing the protagonists of Witch From Mercury has been a wonderful one. At the end of the panel, Ichinose described seeing all the fans at Anime NYC as a "precious memory," and Lynn commented that the audience loves the series "as much as we do." When asked about the most enjoyable part of voicing Suletta via email, Ichinose answered, The year I spent as Witch from Mercury's Suletta was incredibly intense and fulfilling. Therefore, I would say every moment was very enjoyable."