I'm a long time Gundam fan boy, got started on Wing on Toonami as a kid and then 0079, G, and a few other series. But I had never gotten around to watching anything after the one year war in the UC timeline, until now.
The lines are so blurred. Zaku's launching from Fed ships? Titans beating up on Capt. Bright of all people. Char has assumed a fake identity in the AEUG faction to continue fighting for his ideals. OH YEA AND WHAT ABOUT THE FEDS GASSING AN ENTIRE COLONY. The whole thing is a giant mess and I love it. Camille legitimately makes me frustrated so much and I love that he just keeps getting slapped multiple times every episode.
I personally love the spacenoid sentiment that since they have the technology to live off of earth, they wish to do so and let earth return to its natural processes.
Side note, if anyone wants to talk about the series with me here, please avoid spoilers, I'm only about 9 episodes in currently.
OK, so late response to this, but I just finished ZZ 5 minutes ago. And you're 100% right about the intro being hard to deal with, it finally picked up halfway through the series, thankfully because it was reaaaally painful to get through that first half. But God damn did that ending feel good. Camille is alright, the argama crew is intact, bright is also the such a damn good character I love him to the moon and back. It's honestly a bitter sweet feeling having finished it, I must consume more gundam.
I'm glad you stuck with it! There have been a few series that didn't click with me at first. ZZ obviously, and that turned out fine. I did not like G the first time I tried to watch it, only made it like 5 eps in. I eventually picked it back up and I was glad I did, it gets so much better once the story gets going. Age didn't grab me or my partner, and we've yet to get back to it. It is still on the radar, just gotta give it time.
If you're going in production order,I Char's Counterattack is up next. Then some excellent OVAs. Enjoy!