SWM seeks Space Opera for fun, walks on the beach.

[Shinn Asuka]

Gundam revolves around the mecha is the thing. There's a background story, like in SEED with Cagalli and Asuran, but the entire first episode is nothing but them trying to steal the Gundams. There are mecha in every single episode. Sure, there are some big battleship battles later on, but they're happening at the same time the Gundams are out doing battle -- which gets most of the main screentime.