UrsusArctos: The umbilical cable-switching sequence that follows is interesting from both a tactical and a logistical standpoint, and treats the Evas much in the vein of "real robot" series where mecha are treated as machines with machine limitations rather than "super robot" series where the mecha are more like superheroes or gods. The Evas are, of course, biological mecha, and this is the very episode where the secret to their power is revealed.
Dr. Nick: All mecha shows of course have some super robot DNA in them, but the term "hybrid robot" has been coined as the third subgenre to house all the weird in-between things. It contains a lot of the wild oddities that sprang from NGE's success, but one could also argue that Evangelion's daddy Ideon should belong there - the titular robot is powered by soul magic, sure, but the hostiles are all just Buff Clan military vehicles. Alternatively, one could also argue that both Ideon and Evangelion belong to a very minor sub-subgenre of horror mecha.
