Then there is the other side of the spectrum: The military stuff... Looking back on it, i really didn't care about most of it. Surprisingly enough, I enjoyed all the sitcom aspects a lot more than the Mecha-stuff which i'll probably just skip on rewatch. It's just not that interesting, outside of the Mao/Kurtz banter and for the fact that we get to know about what drives Sousuke which IS interesting. The creators just wanted to have their cake and eat it too, but only really succeeded with one.
...And despite how completely unrealistic her being a 16-yo submarine captain is (let that sink in) I like Tessa Testarossa: She's cute and the resulting love triangle makes for some fun moments (see Episode 13) but c'mon - We all know she's just a wacky obstacle in the Chidori/Sagara relationship! We want those crazy kids to get together dammit - The fans demand it!
All in all I award this first season a 7.5/10: The military stuff is decent, if a bit dull, but what makes this series great and so much fun is the characters and their witty interactions!
*I highly recommend watching the English dub sorely because of Chris Patton's hilariously methodical portrayal of Sousuke and his chemistry with Luci Christian as Kaname. In fact all the English VA's do an outstanding job - Check it out!
