Iron Blooded Orphans - Orphans employed by a PMC manage to seize control of the company and fight for themselves.
The Witch from Mercury - Country bumpkin goes to fancy space school where students gain standing and settle their grievances in mecha duels. Also yuri.
00 - A mysterious organization seeks to end all war on Earth by fighting with their fancy robots.
Note: While the Gundam IP is huge, the ones mentioned are spin-offs and can be watched separately of other Gundam series.
Other:
86 - The Republic fights against a mechanical empire using their own mechs which are totally autonomous and definitely not piloted by undesirables.
Turn A Gundam: Moon country bumpkin visits earth, gets adopted by the military-industrial complex, gets forcefemmed while fighting against a rogue moon military in an ancient robot
Mobile Suit Gundam:
Iron Blooded Orphans - Orphans employed by a PMC manage to seize control of the company and fight for themselves.
The Witch from Mercury - Country bumpkin goes to fancy space school where students gain standing and settle their grievances in mecha duels. Also yuri.
00 - A mysterious organization seeks to end all war on Earth by fighting with their fancy robots.
Note: While the Gundam IP is huge, the ones mentioned are spin-offs and can be watched separately of other Gundam series.
Other:
Turn A Gundam: Moon country bumpkin visits earth, gets adopted by the military-industrial complex, gets forcefemmed while fighting against a rogue moon military in an ancient robot
A favorite of mine in the Gundam world is in the Universal Century. Gundam War in the Pocket. It’s a mini series that tells a small scale human story.
I genuinely forgot about 86, but I only watched S1. Thank you for your recommendations!
I second 86. Had me in tears of sorrow once and (much more shocking) tears of joy at one point. It might be the only anime to have achieved that.
Edit: just went and watched the part I was talking about and holy smokes what a good show. Looks like it’s time for a rewatch.