Have you folks been enjoying Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury? The show has turned out to be one of my favorites of this star-studded season, offering a unique take on the Gundam formula, a delightful cast of characters, and of course, some exceedingly satisfying giant robot battles. Personally, my enjoyment has been further enhanced through picking at the show’s apparent textual parallels, as it seems to draw on classics from both anime and literature alike. 

Through its potential allusions to these classic texts, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury seems intent on expanding its own thematic scope, drawing on rich existing mythologies to inform its narrative reach. Of course, that effect only really hits home if you can actually see what it’s doing, so let’s explore how Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury seems to draw from both Revolutionary Girl Utena and Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

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In broad narrative terms, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury’s system of a top duelist “Holder” who is automatically betrothed to Miorine, the daughter of the school’s overseer, feels like a direct echo of Revolutionary Girl Utena’s own duelist system and “Rose Bride” prize. Both Miorine and her Revolutionary Girl Utena parallel Anthy begin the series trapped in systems beyond their control, forced to act as prizes and brides for whoever proves their worth in combat. Even the structural system of Suletta fighting off one duelist after another for Miorine’s hand echoes Revolutionary Girl Utena’s episodic foundation.

In broad narrative terms, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury’s system of a top duelist “Holder” who is automatically betrothed to Miorine, the daughter of the school’s overseer, feels like a direct echo of Revolutionary Girl Utena’s own duelist system and “Rose Bride” prize. Both Miorine and her Revolutionary Girl Utena parallel Anthy begin the series trapped in systems beyond their control, forced to act as prizes and brides for whoever proves their worth in combat. Even the structural system of Suletta fighting off one duelist after another for Miorine’s hand echoes Revolutionary Girl Utena’s episodic foundation.

Beyond these broad narrative strokes, the similarities to Revolutionary Girl Utena continue on the micro level through conceits like Miorine’s greenhouse and tomato garden. Just like Anthy had her private flower garden, Miorine has a private sanctuary that she is fiercely defensive of, a small patch of earth where she can express her own will. Even the temperament of each story’s first top duelist seems similar with Holder Guel effortlessly evoking the violent masculine insecurity of Utena’s Saionji. And I’m frankly not sure which series’ version of Chuchu would be more offended by a comparison to their doppelganger.

That said, there’s so far been little indication that Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury will follow Revolutionary Girl Utena’s path on a thematic level, diving into specific questions of adolescent identity-forming and gender relations. While the scaffolding is similar, the new Gundam’s active drama seems far more concerned with the economic machinations of its overseers than any sort of intimate social critique. Miorine seemed to affirm this herself in the very first episode, stating that a relationship between her and Suletta would only parse as scandalous to someone from a distant backwater. Still, the possibility is certainly there for future parallels to emerge in time.

Speaking of backwaters, while Miorine’s character has largely been framed through touchstones reminiscent of Revolutionary Girl Utena, Suletta’s backstory seems far more indebted to Shakespeare’s The Tempest. This is most glaringly apparent in the choices of Suletta-adjacent character names: the wily sorcerer Prospero has here been shifted to Prospera (maintaining their role as the heroine’s single parent), while the magical spirit Ariel has kept its name largely intact, only shifting one letter to become Suletta’s mobile suit Aerial.

Beyond their suspiciously similar names, Prospera’s plan also echoes the mechanics of Prospero’s own scheme. Like him, she has been “deposed” from her rightful authority (this time framed in terms of corporations rather than a dukeship) and banished to a remote outpost. From there, both Prospero and Prospera eventually hatch a plan to have their child get close to the child of their nemesis, thereby returning them to their rightful glory. Thrust out into this strange world on her mother’s orders, Suletta’s every word and action seems to echo the baffled, frightened, yet deeply curious words of her Shakespearian counterpart: “oh brave new world, that has such people in it!”

Given the absurd density of adjacent names, concepts, and visual touchstones, it seems hard to deny that Okouchi is deliberately evoking the specter of both Revolutionary Girl Utena and The Tempest. But while it’s easy enough to point to areas of commonality, deciphering precisely why he’s making such strong allusions to these secondary texts is a significantly trickier question. So what can we actually draw or decipher from these references?

First off, one natural consequence of these choices is precisely what we’re doing right now: noticing these textual links, and thereby keeping them in mind when engaging with and analyzing Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. This is one of the great and most obvious powers of intertextual references; through signifiers like charged name choices or familiar imagery, a thoughtful writer can overlay an entire secondary text’s web of meanings on their own work, creating a more robust thematic conversation through the interactions between them. One work can only contain so many ideas and themes without toppling upon itself; by skillfully employing references to key secondary texts, great fiction can stand on the shoulders of giants, engaging in a conversation that expands beyond its own boundaries.

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Additionally, seeing what these texts currently draw from their reference points can also give us some idea of what they might later draw in. In this case, the cruciality of Ariel to The Tempest’s drama, as both a force of magic and a captured soul, could well be echoed through the technological significance of Suletta’s Gundam. Suletta has already been put on trial for the allegedly heretical technology of her Aerial, with both Prospera and Delling clearly squabbling over the power to control this technology. But given we already know this technology was initially designed for medical work, it’s not unreasonable to assume that Aerial’s advances might eventually be offered freely to the people, much like The Tempest’s Ariel was eventually set free.

Of course, that’s only one of the many interesting conjectures you might draw from Mobile Suit Gundam: Witch from Mercury’s various textual reference points. With two such rich narratives to draw upon, the series’ ability to either embrace referential resonance or complicate and comment on its influences seems practically boundless. Revolutionary Girl Utena’s commentary on youth and identity feel as urgent today as when the show was first released, while The Tempest’s vivid imagery and fantastical narrative make it no surprise that authors through the ages have drawn on its magnetic appeal. Seeing Okouchi embrace such charged points of connection fills me with excitement for what might be yet to come. I’ve been fascinated by Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury’s progress so far, and can’t wait to see what Okouchi has in store for us.

Nick Creamer has been writing about cartoons for too many years now and is always ready to cry about Madoka. You can find more of his work at his blog Wrong Every Time or follow him on Twitter.