Kikou Senki Dragonar

If you want to see an anime with a striking resemblance to Mobile Suit Gundam's story formula but with good humor and light hearted atmosphere, then give this a try. 

Dragonar is the first and one of the best AU Gundam's... unofficially that is! Dragonar was an attempt by Sunrise to make another franchise to surpass Gundam and well, it's obvious how that turned out but regardless it's still an excellent series on its own right. The tone is very comparable to ZZ but with more consistent storytelling and characters, with an all around more enjoyable main cast. There's also many parallels to the original Gundam. Basically if you're a classic 80's mecha fan and haven't gotten to Dragonar yet, definitely check it out.