EEEP . . . 

But, what about some of the *other* sci-fi anime? Gall Force, Super
Atragon, Neon Genesis Evangelion . . . 

Bear in mind that I haven't even *seen* most of these (yet), but ID4 might
go better with a story that involves invaders anyway than with BGC.
(Although I have to wonder how the USSD particle-beam satellites would
fare against those city destroyers . . . )

Considering that the aliens in ID4 have some kind of energy based weapons, i 
would assume that their shields are weaker against energy than they are 
against impact (otherwise two id4 tech level ships could fight indefinetly) 
Now, considering the power level of the particle beam sattelites, I'm pretty 
sure the aliens would have to destroy the sattelites with fighters before 
descending to earth or risk annhialation.