In a remote town called Bellforest lived a 14-year-old boy named Renton Thurston, who's basically bored with his life. He dreams of joining the "Gekkostate", a mercenary group that engages in a hi-tech sport called "reffing", among other things. One day, a giant robot called an LFO barges into Renton's grandfather's workshop for repair. Incidentally, the LFO's pilot, a beautiful girl named Eureka, turns out to be not only a member of the Gekkostate, but also on the run from the military! Renton goes along with her, and as you can expect, his life's never the same from that moment on.

Similar to Classroom Crisis, Eureka Seven revolves around science-minded characters bound together by a grand goal. Specifically, you have human engineers/ace pilots living on an alien planet, trying their best to survive in their respective environments. Eureka Seven, in particular, has a gripping plot, excellent characterization, jaw-dropping animation, and everything else you'd expect from a top-class anime. Seriously: If you miss this, you're missing out, big time.

Two young brothers, Mutta and Hibito Nanba, swore that they would become astronauts someday. After 20 years, only Hibito is able to make his dream come true. Meanwhile, Mutta gets fired from his company for manhandling his boss, and becomes near-unemployable as a result. Dejected, Mutta remembers his childhood promise after a talk with Hibito, and decides to reach for the stars — literally and figuratively — one more time.

Aside from the science element, Classroom Crisis and Uchuu Kyoudai have one more thing in common: the theme of perseverance. No matter how much the higher-ups get in A-TEC's way, and no matter how much the odds are stacked against Mutta, they don't give up. It makes us want to root for them, and hope that things work out in the end.

And even if you're not a big fan of astronauts, you'll still be amazed at how skillfully this show is crafted. From the accuracy of the details, to the mature handling of themes like family, everything falls into place snugly, like pieces of a universe-sized puzzle.

At first glance, this anime's plot is a little too familiar: Aliens invade Earth, humans use giant mecha to repel them. In Dai-Guard's case, though, the giant mecha is about as useful as a sieve for collecting water. Also, the pilots are salarymen, whose bosses take forever to get anything done.

Classroom Crisis' characters have pretty much the same dilemma. The A-TEC students want to get things done, but the head honchos are in the way, so it's up to them to figure out a way around this. Unlike Dai-Guard, though, Classroom Crisis takes this problem more seriously.

Still, Dai-Guard is a brilliant and hilarious commentary on corporations, as well as the mecha genre itself. The characters are believable, and Dai-Guard the giant mecha is charming in spite — or because — of its failure to be a cool robot. Prepare to split your sides one moment, and bawl your eyes out the next, while watching this one.

Another show about giant mecha, Robotics;Notes focuses on high school students instead of salarymen.

Specifically, it focuses on Kaito Yashio and Akiho Senomiya, who struggle to keep their robotics club alive because of them being the only two members. When Akiho recklessly demands that the school's vice-principal give them an exorbitant increase in budget, the vice-principal fires back with an ultimatum: Win the Robo-One tournament, or dissolve the club permanently. Meanwhile, Kaito uncovers a conspiracy that could plunge the world into chaos, and the plot thickens.

Both Classroom Crisis and Robotics;Notes are about engineering students forced to go against their superiors to survive. Both also involve a mystery bigger than what any of the characters can imagine. Finally, on a meta level, the two series share staff members, like Kenji Nagasaki on storyboards and Yuki Hayashi on the soundtrack. Whether you're an engineering geek or not, give these two a shot.

On a planet called Aqua ("Mars"), there's a city called Neo Venezia. As the name implies, it's a replica of the famous Manhome ("Earth") city of Venice, where people can enjoy the sights and sounds by riding gondolas piloted by Undines. One of these aspiring Undines is Akari Mizunashi, a cheerful wide-eyed girl who works for Aria Company and wishes to share Neo Venezia's beauty with anyone lucky enough to ride with her. Along the way, she meets friends, learns important life lessons, and encounters a supernatural incident once in a while.

Despite the sci-fi premise, ARIA has a mellower tone than Classroom Crisis does, though both of them take place on a terra-formed Mars. Regardless, it'll make you want to ride on Akari's gondola — as well as the gondolas of the other, equally beautiful Undines — because the show's just that wonderful. The characters are likeable, the setting is well-thought out, and the music will make you want to curl up in a sofa and drink a nice, warm cup of tea.

The premise of this show can be summed up as "garbage men in space". If that sounds boring, rest assured that the way PlanetES handles said premise is far from boring. In fact, some would even say this is one of the best anime ever made.

The first half has plenty of laughs, while the second half delves into more serious territory. Despite these diametrically opposed themes, the show somehow manages to balance them with panache. Also, you may be tired of hearing the phrase "character development" by now, but PlanetES does a great job with this by fleshing out everyone on the space debris crew — which is no mean feat in a 26-episode series.

Like Classroom Crisis, PlanetES is a hodgepodge of genres that don't normally go together, but the combination works out anyway. For example, Classroom Crisis manages to be a slice-of-life and thriller at the same time, while PlanetES is an odd blend of comedy and drama. The two series also share the same basic conflict, where different factions have different ideas on what space technology means to them. If plots revolving around rocket engineers and space debris collectors appeal to you, Classroom Crisis and PlanetES are worth watching.