Bullbuster

Both have the mc and friends fighting against powerful monstrous foes while trying not to die in the process. 

Bullbuster is basically Patlabor's blue collar cousin, with both follow a mecha fan who joins a company working with hard sci-fi mechas to protect the peace and order, and even sharing a couple of character archetypes in their groups, most notably Tajima/Gotoh. While Patlabor is about a police squad, Bullbuster is about monster control. 

Both attempt at being a down to Earth real robot type of mecha title that focuses more on the everyday life and issues at work of the characters than the mecha fights, which in turn are against monsters with a natural source for their formation. Also, new members and rival companies (actually the army in Dai-Guard) become an issue at some point in both series.