Vandread

Light novel adaptation of Vandread: First Stage. Life sucks for Hibiki. Intergalactic society has broken into civil war between males and females; he's stuck on the assembly line for war mecha, relentlessly teased by his co-workers and unable to pursue his dreams of building his own mecha one day. He finally decides he's had enough though, and attempts to break in and steal a mech for his own purposes; this turns out to be a bad idea, thrusting him into the middle of a fever-pitch space battle that brings him face to face with the enemy and launches him into an adventure that will change his mundane life forever.