A Quokka Dreeds its Weird

While reviewing my Netflix queue, I noticed a bunch of anime series that I either didn't remember adding at all and have no idea what they even are, or I do know what they are but have no idea what made me think I'd like them, or I do know all those things but am curious what others think, or am currently in the mood for particular things and am not sure which series should be bumped up to the top of the queue.

If you've seen any of the following, please describe them and tell me if you like them and why. Also, regarding what I'm in the mood for, please say so if they feature strong female characters and/or female protagonists (not necessarily the same thing!), insanity, cracktasticness, hot bishounen, slashy vibes, and/or mecha.

Samurai 7
Paranoia Agent
Gantz
Macross
Scrapped Princess
Mirage of Blaze
Otogi Zoshi
Chrono Crusade
Kaleido Star
Gankutsuoh
Gungrave
Peacemaker
Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok
Pretear
Shingu, Secret of the Stellar Wars
Shura no Toki
Tactics
Spiral
Some Day's Dreamers

Since we’ve only got a couple more discs to go and we had such fun with Gundam Wing, Yoon and I are considering watching another Gundam or even non-Gundam mecha series. We have two questions:

1. What are the other Gundam series like? There seem to be tons of them— G Gundam, Gundam Seed, Gundam Seed Destiny, Turn A Gundam, 00 Gundam, and so forth, and I have no idea what any of them are about or which I’d be likely to enjoy.

seshat did recommend and attempt to describe Gundam Seed, but she did it while I was reading adorable Duo/Quatre doujinshi, and I was a little distracted. And then yhlee watched a few episodes and disliked it. But maybe I'd like it and could watch on my own time, so don't take it out of the running. And I hated the character designs and English dub (subs not available) of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, but maybe Yoon would like it, so ditto.

2. What about non-Gundam mecha series? We have both seen Evangelion and Escaflowne, and Yoon has seen Nadesico. Are there any shoujo mecha series other than Escaflowne?

What we enjoyed about Gundam Wing was the cracktasticness (clown-pants Trowa! Heero and the produce of D00M! Heero attempting suicide every thirty seconds!), the characters, the pilots being insane, the hilarious angst, the affecting angst, the space battles, the Gundams that drive their pilots insane, the intimate relationships between the crazy pilots and their Gundams, the crazy pilots interacting with each other, the way that the war drives everyone crazy, the sometimes excellent plot twists, and the pacing in the sense that a lot of stuff happened pretty quickly.

What we did not enjoy were the endless board meetings, the endless talk about pacifism, the lack of female pilots, Relena, Zechs, Treize, and the pacing in the sense that sometimes very little happened at great length.

So, what we’re looking for is something with at least some of what we liked about Gundam Wing, but ideally with less pacifism and more kick-ass women. Crazy kick-ass female pilots with motivations that aren’t about being in love with some guy would be awesome. Coherent plotting and worldbuilding would be nice but is probably not essential.