Gunparade March

It began in 1945, at the end of the Pacific War. Alien invaders filled the earth's Skies, and mankind was forced to confront an unprecedented threat. For the first time in human history, people of all cultures came together under one banner. This war has now been raging for over fifty years. Countless lives have been lost, and the Japanese military is now forced to rely on young people such as Atsushi Hayami and his high school class, also known as Unit 5121. This new generation fearlessly struggles on with the aid of the HWT humanoid combat machines and the devastating PBE bomb.

If you like this, try

Muv-Luv Alternative 85%

12 eps · 2021

It shares that same desperate humanity-versus-aliens war fought with real robots, but leans harder into political scale than classroom intimacy.

Blue Gender 83%

26 eps · 1999

Swap the school desks for a lone survivor's wasteland, but you keep that same suffocating sense of humanity losing a war it can't win.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation II - Lovers 72%

1 eps · 2005

You get the same weary soldiers falling in love mid-war, though this one trades classmates for seasoned Federation pilots.

Neon Genesis Evangelion 70%

26 eps · 1995

Traumatized teenagers piloting machines against alien invaders while their relationships fray is exactly the ache you fell for.