Naives in space. If we have to hear another story of noblesse oblige at least it’s by way of ignorant liberal children thinking they can reform the military industrial complex. Helps they are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with representatives, token as them may be, of the receiving end of war for profit. Suletta, the fish out of water, crosses the two with a heavy, writerly hand as a child of war and daughter to power broker in a show about back room dealings first and everything else second. This is a high school anime for the same reason it is (arguably) a yuri romance: like James Bond, the decades old Gundam franchise needs to justify its continued presence. That and there’s merch to move.

And they largely do that. Built on a tradition of complex world building and interpersonal conflict, G Witch has an elegance & propulsion modern anime lacks. Nothing is extraneous, every motive met with a fitting obstacle that serves as another’s mode of being. The meat of that drama is with a cast of women and girls attempting to balance the spinning plates of their morals as they’re challenged or shattered. Satisfyingly, most of them do not receive affirmation in their values as plans (so many plans) explode in front of them. My absolute favorite example of this being episode 15 where the consequences for one character’s conceptions of responsibility are as deadly as they are well rehearsed. 

This clear eyed perspective doesn’t seep into everything, such as violence. The show wallows in the losses of the one in a million terrorist attacks against the wealthiest factions. Suletta’s low to nil body count feels especially off until the denouement where the brats of war profiteers pledge themselves to make amends for the crimes of their fathers. This bull shit even handedness suggests the politicking of the show was never more than sport. Suletta and Miorine’s relationship is benched by all this and I was never invested in them as a unit and especially not Miorine solo. Seeing their worlds upended separately is fun in rote sort of way, but also makes their shared screen time seem even less consequential, not more. 

The quality of the production (despite the usual power levels, butt shots, filial piety) puts this sturdily above most modern anime, which isn’t terribly impressive.