With over 45 years of history, there’s no denying that Gundam is one of the biggest and most influential anime of all time. The imagery and storylines of nearly every installment have become some of the most iconic parts of anime, as have its signature Gunpla model kits, and if a story of any medium decides to reference a mecha anime, odds are it will reference Gundam over anything else.

Few anime franchises can match Gundam’s legacy, but that doesn’t mean there are no anime with similar appeals. Gundam is hardly the only anime to have a good balance of intense action and rich, character-driven drama, and as such, there are countless great anime that do a perfect job of capturing the same sort of appeal that made Gundam such an iconic part of anime. A few of those anime, in particular, are especially worth highlighting, and they’re perfect for anyone who might be a fan of Gundam, but would love to add something new to their library.

5 Code Geass

Anime Series By Sunrise; Directed By Goro Taniguchi

Sunrise’s Code Geass stars Lelouch vi Britannia, the former prince of Britannia who his father banished to Japan, now the Britannian colony Area 11, for calling him out on his failure to save his mother from death and his sister, Nunally, from becoming paralyzed. When Lelouch gains a Geass, a mysterious power that lets him brainwash anyone he looks at, Lelouch decides to use his power to become the vigilante Zero and slowly take down Britannia to avenge his mother and create a better world for Nunnally.

Sunrise is famous for its bombastic mecha anime, and Code Geass is one of the best examples. Not only do all of the mechs in Code Geass have creative designs that only get more over-the-top as the story progresses, but the original anime, at least, is great at maintaining fluid 2D action, despite the complicated nature of the designs, a frequent highlight of Gundam anime. Code Geass has some of the best mecha action of any anime outside of Gundam, and it’s always great to watch, even if it’s more super robot genre than real robot genre.

What best sells Code Geass, of course, is the writing. Every series is filled with great character and political drama that continually evolves with the story, and with that being another major hallmark of Gundam’s success, there’s a definite overlap in that area, as well. Between its action and its writing, Code Geass is one of the best mecha anime to watch and the closest thing anime has to a spiritual successor to Gundam, and any Gundam fans would be remiss not to give it a chance.

4 Symphogear

Anime Series By Satelight; Created By Akifumi Kaneko & Noriyasu Agematsu

Satelight’s Symphogear opens with the concert of the popular idol duo Zwei Wing interrupted by alien monsters called Noise and, surprisingly, Zwei Wing donning suits of armor to fight them. Zwei Wing, as it turns out, was chosen to wield mystical relics called Symphogears to protect the world from Noise with the power of music, and when one half of Zwei Wing, Kanade Amou, tragically dies, it falls onto Hibiki Tachibana, accidentally given a piece of Kanade’s Symphogear, to step up and help protect the world.

Symphogear might be a magical girl anime, but fortunately, it has no shortage of action. Every season of Symphogear is filled with creative and all-around great action complemented by incredible animation and music, with each season finding new ways to effortlessly escalate in scale. Add in how a lot of the Symphogear designs and powers reference Gundam and other mecha anime, and Symphogear’s intense action makes it the perfect anime for any Gundam fan.

The writing for Symphogear is also a big draw. While it doesn’t typically have the same level of seriousness as the average Gundam anime, it always does a great job of selling its drama, but more importantly, every season of Symphogear more than succeeds with its writing thanks to its engaging plots and likable characters who always get plenty of great character development. Symphogear might be somewhat removed from Gundam’s core aesthetic, but it still has plenty to offer that’s sure to appeal to Gundam fans, old and new.

3 Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha

Anime Series By Seven Arcs; Created By Masaki Tsuzuki

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is a long-running magical girl franchise centered around Nanoha Takamachi, a young girl who awakens to magical abilities after an encounter with a talking alien ferret named Yuno Scrya. Nanoha starts off helping Yuno retrieve powerful and dangerous artifacts called Jewel Seeds, and as the series evolves, with Nanoha aging alongside it, she constantly takes on bigger responsibilities in the wider universe, all with her partner, Fate Testarossa, by her side.

Much like Symphogear, Nanoha doesn’t have the same sort of action one would get out of a Gundam anime, but with the mechanical nature of some of the outfits Nanoha and other characters wear, in addition to how many of Nanoha’s attacks involve bombarding people with giant laser beams, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha always finds a great way of putting a magical girl-style spin on Gundam’s iconic action. Nanoha the character has often jokingly been called a Gundam in human form, and overall, it’s easy to see the comparison.

Nanoha’s writing draws another great parallel to Gundam. Between story beats like rivalries, family drama centered around physical and emotional abuse, and a narrative with heavy political elements that become more blatant with every installment, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha has always done a great job of mirroring the story beats of a traditional Gundam anime, whether it’s on a small scale or it’s something that defines the plot, as a whole. Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is probably the anime that best captures Gundam’s aesthetic without being a mecha anime, itself, and that makes it plenty worth watching for Gundam fans.

2 Neon Genesis Evangelion

Anime Series By Studio Khara; Directed By Hideaki Anno

Studio Khara’s Neon Genesis Evangelion stars Shinji Ikari, a reserved young boy who goes to the futuristic Tokyo-3 to see his father for the first time in a decade. There, Shinji is told that he has to pilot a giant robot called an Evangelion and protect the world from monstrous beings called Angels, all of which gradually takes a toll on Shinji’s fragile psyche.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most iconic mecha anime of all time, and it’s easy to see why. Not only are the designs for the Evangelions and the Angels great to look at in both the original anime and the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy, but Neon Genesis Evangelion consistently has gorgeous animation for its fights, resulting in some of the best action scenes in all of anime. That applies to both the anime and the movies, and with the franchise being almost 30 years old, that’s even more impressive to think about.

The biggest draw to Evangelion, of course, is its writing. Evangelion is famous for its deconstructive take on mecha anime just like Gundam, but with Rebuild of Evangelion taken into , Neon Genesis Evangelion’s writing works for how brilliantly it deconstructs the conventions of its genre before reconstructing them on a meta level for one of the most satisfying conclusions in all of anime. That kind of writing, combined with the incredible visuals and direction, has made Neon Genesis Evangelion one of the greatest mecha anime in history, and it’s a perfect anime for any diehard Gundam fan.

Studio Khara is currently collaborating with Sunrise on the next mainline Gundam anime, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, with Hideaki Anno set to co-write the script.

1 Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Anime Series By Studio Trigger; Directed By Hiroyuki Imaishi

In the world of Studio Trigger’s Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, humanity has been forced to live underground for centuries under the threat of murder by the Spiral King and his army of Beastmen, something most people aren’t even aware of. When Simon discovers a mysterious robot called a Gunmen, he and his blood brother Kamina end up ing humanity’s fight against the Spiral King, and Simon’s part in it all has him grow into a man that can take on not only the world, but the entire universe.

As is common with the works of Studio Trigger and its staff, Gurren Lagann has a very goofy art and animation style, almost cartoonish at times, but in addition to always looking incredible when the story decides to take itself seriously, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann’s visual style always lends itself to fluid and bombastic animation that perfectly complements the over-the-top style of the anime, no matter the tone of the scene. That animation is still gorgeous after almost 20 years, and it’s a big part of why Gurren Lagann has remained so iconic for so long.

Everything great about Gurren Lagann’s visuals is perfectly complemented by its writing. From start to finish, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann’s writing does a perfect job of balancing serious and heartfelt character work with goofy and over-the-top drama, and with how much it ups the scale of things in every episode, there’s always something about it that’s fun to watch. Gurren Lagann is far removed from Gundam’s aesthetic, but in a way, the extreme degree to which it has fun with the mecha genre makes it the best anime to binge for anyone who loves Gundam.