Anime

the tl;dr is not at all, but i've been hyperfixating on gundam for the past year ever since getting into it with witch from mercury so i'm going to go into more detail

gundam is a longrunning franchise that started in 1979, and was created by yoshiyuki tomino. the "main timeline" is called the universal century, and was what the franchise was focused on for the first 15 years or so. the anime mobile suit gundam (1979) (aka 0079, because it takes place in year 0079 of the universal century), zeta gundam, gundam zz, and char's counterattack are the core of that timeline, with plenty of spinoffs and sequels having been made over the last 40 years. in 1993 tomino made victory gundam, a show that was a big flop for a lot of reasons, but one of them was that it was simultaneously very connected to the lore of the series that had been building up over hundreds of episodes but also didn't have any familiar faces in it. there was no char, no amuro, the earth federation barely shows up in it and there's no zeon. kinda similar to the problems a lot of modern hollywood franchises face tbh

so in 1994 they decide on a new approach. they make mobile fighter g gundam. this is the first alternate universe gundam, and it wouldn't be the last. au gundams are mostly 50 episodes (sometimes 25) and then done, with some side stories in manga and maybe a movie. they take place in entirely new settings with no real relation to prior entries beyond thematic similarities and being about mobile suits, at least one of which is called a gundam, fighting. what makes a gundam a gundam depends on the show, sometimes they have special technology that only gundams have, sometimes it's literally just that they have the v-fin and they're otherwise identical to other mobile suits.

the two au's that i really love are turn a gundam and iron blooded orphans. turn a was the last cel animated gundam, and it's gorgeous. it's very studio ghibli aesthetically with a killer yoko kanno ost that i can't stop listening to. it starts in a place roughly analogous to pre ww1 europe when people from the moon come down to earth and announce that this is their ancestral home and they want to come back to live there. the people who already live there aren't pleased, but initially can't manage to fight back because of the vast technological gulf. but when a young person* from the moon who's lived on earth for long enough to want to prevent the violence finds a gundam sealed within a statue and other mobile suits are unearthed by archaeological digs they start to be able to fight back. that's only scratching the surface, but this is long enough as is. it's quickly become one of my favorite shows of all time, just an incredible work of art

~*i~ ~cannot~ ~get~ ~into~ ~my~ ~thoughts~ ~on~ ~loran's~ ~gender~ ~rn.~ ~not~ ~cis~ ~tho~

iron blooded orphans is somewhat more traditional, in that it's a story about a boy getting in the gundam to protect his friends who ends up in a larger conflict beyond his control, but most gundam main characters didn't start out as child soldiers who were already part of a pmc. this has kind of the structure of a mob movie, it's gritty and violent and has some sick action scenes that you cheer for and some incredibly shocking violence that made me gasp. it's just a really well executed show with some really neat political intrigue

tl;dr: if you're curious about more gundam the 3 places i'd recommend starting are 0079 (the first one, the one that all the others are in some ways in conversation with. if you like it then you can get into other universal century stuff), turn a (the best one, looks great, sounds great, feels great to watch. benefits a lot from having seen other gundams, but g-witch is probably enough for that) or ibo (have you ever thought a linkin park amv went hard but also like it when you can think about the politics and themes and enjoy that too?)

Is the rest of the franchise like, related chronologically?

Kind of, but not really (unless you're obsessed). There's a main "Universal Century (UC)" continuity that branches off from the first Mobile Suit Gundam show, and a handful of alternate universes that will echo motifs and elements from the original story.

If you're looking for more, I'd recommend Mobile Suit Gundam. It's old, but it's a classic for a reason. From there, you can watch Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, and the Char's Counterattack movie for the core of the UC.

If that makes you think "Oh god, that's a big commitment. This is just a scam to get me to buy plastic toys, isn't it?" Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans and Turn A Gundam (this is literally the best one) are great standalone alternate universe shows to watch.