Gundam

One of the most popular anime ever created. In the year 0079 of the Universal Century, the Principality of Zeon declares war on the Earth Federation. They proceed to drop a Space Colony onto the earth, wiping out most of Australia, but with little effect on the rest of the world. The Zeons have already constructed Mobile Suits (Giant Robots), and the Federation is working on the same. During a recon mission to Side 7, one of the space colonies, three Zeon soldiers (which are named after pants) spot a factory of Federation Mobile Suit prototypes. A civillian boy, Amuro Ray, just happens to find the user manual for one of the mobile suits - The Gundam - and uses it to repel the Zeon soldiers. Amuro eventually joins the Federation army and whines alot, meeting many interesting characters, and killing them. During its original run in Japan, it was basically a failure, but it became popular in reruns, prompting Sunrise to cut the TV series into a set of wildly successful movies. The sequels continue to be made to this day.