Bandai Namco Apologizes for Gundam: Witch from Mercury SuleMio Interview

Bandai Namco issued an apology in regards to an interview about Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury in the September 2023 issue of Monthly Gundam Ace regarding “SuleMio,” the relationship between Suletta and Miorine. It apologized for “causing confusion” over a line in regards to the characters and their relationship.

Editor’s Note: This article will touch on spoilers regarding Suletta, Miorine, and the SuleMio pairing in the ending of Gundam: The Witch From Mercury.

In the digital version of an interview with Kana Ichinose, the Japanese voice actress for Suletta in Gundam: The Witch From Mercury, she said that the scene of Miorine leaning her head against Suletta in the epilogue was really good. She also talked about how close the two of them became after three years and that she felt touched to see the “married couple” act in this way. Because of Ichinose’s status and the interview appearing in an official Gundam magazine, many viewed this as Sunrise’s confirmation that SuleMio is canon. However, the physical version of the interview did not include Ichinose’s comment about the two of them being married. After fan reaction online, Bandai Namco explained that it asked an editor to remove the line. The reason for the request was because it was conjecture. However, the editor kept it in and it went online on July 26, 2023. The official stance is that it wants to leave things up to the viewers’ interpretation. This is why it did not want to include a statement on a canon ship. The digital version of the article also no longer contains the SuleMio reference. Fan reaction online to the interview has been largely negative. Many accused Bandai Namco of homophobia and cowardice. Some argued that if SuleMio is “open to interpretation,” then certain lines and scenes from the Gundam: Witch From Mercury epilogue should not even exist because of how blatant their ship status is. Other comments noted they can see why Bandai Namco chose to cut the line from the interview and issue this apology. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury is readily available on streaming services such as Crunchyroll.