Aggretsuko (August Joint Review)

The Story

Olga: Retsuko is a corporate slave stuck in a boring office job with a chauvinistic boss who rages to metal music to release her from the anguish. The show goes through various painful and funny incidents at her work and her lovely metal renditions in the bathroom, while portraying the questions of the purpose of one's life (or some shit like that. This is Olga writing, and I don't read into themes well, so if that made no sense… you know why)

Our Thoughts

|The character Fenneko is one of my favourites. She, at one episode, looked up social media patterns of this one coworker and this reminded me of me and Meghan stalking Beachbody huns (look up this subreddit if you don't know what we're talking about here https://www.reddit.com/r/antiMLM/)
 Even the smallest shit was relatable to my life. What if the creators were actually tracking my life and hacked into my Internet records and shit???

 Cause Retsuko was a Scorpio Blood Type A, and I'm a Scorpio Blood Type A!!!????

Washimi was also a great character. I enjoyed her assertiveness and the way she manipulated the CEO to her advantage. It's a level of power I aspire to have.

So I'm technically an accounting student in a fairly reputable accounting program, and I deal with some cutthroat students willing to kiss ass to anyone who could help them advance to a career like the one Retsuko has. And this show portrayed it exactly even without ever seeing the students in my year!!! They would all say the nicest shit to them and be willing to work for hours upon hours to get that shit job just cause it sounds good on the resume. The pressure of social events at work to get noticed by the executives is real...

(Meghan: I'd like to add I'm really happy I never had to network like that in my program!)

And the episode with their singles night was realistically awkward... or awkwardly realistic. Except that Retsuko actually ended up with a dude, who happened to be somewhat absentminded and weird, but still quite a success compared to my Tinder track record.

(Meghan: I mean...our city isn't exactly prime Tinder material is it?)

One more thing to note is that this is mostly a slice of life type of anime. I was expecting the metal music bit to play a larger bit in the story, but it was definitely a small addition to the story rather than a major part of it.

Meghan: Aggretsuko was an interesting show. I couldn’t decide if it was an “anime” or a cartoon with anime features. To me though, it seems like a bit of both, and boy does that not hinder it. 

One would think that after watching the first one or two episodes of the show that it would be something that ultimately ends up nowhere. But no, it’s actually really fun and hilarious to watch. I loooooveeee Miss Washimi, she’s literally one of my favourite characters and Haida! He’s the guy I was rooting for, for a very long time. 

Washimi! She's the bird!

Another element that I really liked (unsurprisingly) was I couldn’t wait for Retsuko to start screaming death metal lyrics whenever the situation called for it. It’s hilariously funny, and I thought added dimension to an otherwise bland character who’s trying to find definition and dimension. I did like how the show develops Retsuko to deal with her personal and professional issues at work and come out of her shell and show people who she really is. It’s short and to the point, and from what I could see, every problem that was set up was resolved by the tenth and final episode. 

But oh my god, by far the best episode is when Miss Washimi makes the formal complaint about the way the accounting division (Retsuko’s department) is being treated by Director Ton on behalf of Retsuko. Ton’s expression throughout the show is hilarious

Half the comedy comes from the issues at work which Retsuko faces. I’ve faced that in my own jobs that I’ve had, and I know how it feels to be treated like crap. So when she turns into “Aggretsuko” I had to laugh because I only wish I could do that to some old bosses I had. That, and the way Ton says “THANK-YOOOOO” to everyone with the sparkly anime eyes actually had killed me, and I was rolling on the floor. When Ton actually gets a say and says that he only treated people like that because that’s the way he got to the top, I didn’t totally feel sorry for him, but I could see his perspective. That, and cue commentary about a really PC culture (albeit he is still a pig, both literally and like, how he treats people). 

I’m not sure how the show came to grow on me. I wasn’t really sold on it at first, but I suppose a lot of the characters and the themes they deal with mirror my own, and half the jokes come from relating to those issues. Like yoga. When Retsuko takes up yoga classes to get a rocking bod and a boyfriend, I was thinking “Yeah, meeeeee”. Although, I hate yoga, and I am about as flexible as iron. 

Which is not much. 

Actual footage of me trying to lift. I...I'm really sad lol.

So I guess the only criticism I had with it was the length of the season. I was surprised to see that Netflix only has ten episodes for it. So ultimately it was short and sweet, but a little too much. Retsuko is finally overcoming her issues and personal problems, and then the show is over. I would’ve liked to see more of the show, of its characters, and of more plot scenarios. But alas, I don’t think that will happen. 

Our Rating

So our rating? Definitely a ⭐⭐⭐⭐  show, and it’s easy to watch! Each episode is only ten-fifteen minutes so you can breeze through it in an afternoon. Not only that, but the animation is unique and well-done, and the story is simple but relatable and light-hearted. Give it a watch!