And it is 'boy does something foolish which endangers all of his friends because girl pretty'. Frequently this is followed up with 'girl dies a tragic victim of war, probably for the benefit of boy and not her own, because the story is about boy and not girl'. Think you could even fairly say several sub plots could be called fridging.
Gundam's had a long rocky road in how it writes women to get to Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury's cast of women with complex motivations driving the story.
To be clear, I am still having fun watching the old stuff after having begun watching Gundam with Witch from Mercury and Iron Blooded Orphans. But it's fun of going in knowing it's an old show and the new stuff reflects over forty years of iteration and I'd like to hope various creators reflecting on what is or isn't a great idea. And having friends I can ramble to about while analyzing and critiquing those things.
