If you don't know, Aggretsuko is an ultra-relatable little show about what it means to be a modern working woman in Japan- animated by the same folks who made Hello Kitty, and I always get excited when they put out a new season! Though Sanrio created Aggretsuko, her show was created by Fanworks studios with producer, director, writer, and metal singer Rarecho at the helm. FYI, he screams in all of the intro and outro music, so I encourage you to listen to it at least once- since I know you can skip it if you're watching on Netflix.
Aggretsuko deals with a lot of hard-hitting topics like workplace harassment and blackmail, as well as more Japanese-specific problems such as an extreme devotion to the workplace in which salary people are used to working sometimes excruciatingly late hours. If you're a working adult who can't relate to 40+ hour work weeks, you'll at least be able to attest to the fact that nearly all of your friends are co-workers, now. This show is also for you if you're 25+, working a dead-end job, and you still don't know what you want to do with your life.
It kind of kills me how relatable this show is.
Intro aside, let's talk about season three.
Honestly, I wouldn't have known that a new season had dropped if one of my favorite voice actors (@ProZD over on Twitter) hadn't said that he was the voice of an eclectic, uptight jaguar named Hyodo. He does a fantastic job, by the way- if you're familiar with his work, that's no surprise, though.
This season hits pretty hard on three major themes:
Debt
Silver Linings to Every Storm Cloud
Self-determination
I suggest watching the new season before reading this- season 3 has 10 episodes that clock in at 15 minutes each. TL;DR, Aggrestuko has done it again! It continues to be relevant, quirky, relatable, and hilarious all while bringing the characters you love back for another round of slice-of-life pie (and it introduces new characters that you're bound to love, too).
Spoilers Ahead!
Debt is such a universal stumbling block for adults worldwide and Retsuko illustrates this struggle perfectly. To paraphrase, your debt racks up from the time you're born, and you go into the workforce for the sole purpose of working it off and forget what it's like to actually live. Period. Case in point. (Retsuko screams a song about how much capitalism sucks and it's a mood.)
There is a silver lining to every storm cloud. I know it sounds cliche, but I think this is part of the reason why Aggretsuko is so dang good. Something terrible happens, and just when you expect the boot to drop (and it almost always does), sometimes, the boot is a doorway to an even better opportunity. Sometimes the boot is a doorway to character development. Sometimes the boot is a doorway to separate destiny that could be yours if you want it enough. Life is like this. There can be no good without bad.
This brings me to the next thing that Aggretsuko covers this season. Personal choice. Retsuko makes a lot of them this season as she becomes more and more assertive.
She makes an effort to become good at her part-time job by deciding to take a friend's advice. She decides that she might like her part-time job more than her day job.
She decides that she doesn't enjoy having other people barge into her space and force her to cope with things that she's not ready to handle yet.
Ultimately, she makes a decision at the end of the season that I seriously disagreed with, but I think that was the point.
Retsuko is finally tapping into her own power of self-determination and understands that she doesn't have to listen to anyone else's advice if she doesn't think it's good for her. That's such an amazing life lesson that was handled fantastically by the narrative.
The Extras
Even the smaller conflicts that come up this season are scary relatable.
Splurging on stuff and going into the red to fill the gaping maw in your chest after getting out of a relationship? Check.
Eating cup ramen to spread out your meager funds until next payday? Check.
The stress of being at-fault in car accidents and dealing with the understandably irritated other driver and the police after? Check.
Trying to move on from an old flame and finding someone new who likes you for who you are. They're perfect, but the old flame is skipping around in your mind rent-free? Double-check.
The trials and tribulations of having a challenging part-time job? Covered.
I think the most spectacular thing about Aggretsuko is that it avoids slipping into the trope of female infighting. In this season, Retsuko gets involved in a situation in which she has to work with a challenging female co-worker. When Retsuko upends her role, the co-worker is sometimes mean to Retsuko for it, but she doesn't try to sabotage her. On the contrary, the co-worker actually tries to help her get better. I think it's because she knows that if Retsuko succeeds, then so does she- but I also think she's a more realistic take on the tsundere trope. For anyone unfamiliar with the term, a tsundere is someone who appears cold and unfeeling on the outside but who actually is an enormous softie on the inside. (It's one of my favorite personality profiles, to be completely honest. They're so fantastic to watch and even more fun to write!)
This subversion of the catty women trope happens again with the introduction of Inoue- Haida's potential love interest. When she finds out that Haida still has feelings for Retsuko, she doesn't try to sabotage her, nor does she try to make Haida forget about Retsuko. All Inoue wants is for Haida to tell her his true feelings. She goes out of her way to help Retsuko in her time of need because she's a mature and good person.
Major props to the writer's room and the thoughtful direction on this. I'm so impressed!
All of this to say- Aggretsuko is a totally fantastic show- and if you haven't watched S3 yet, YOU SHOULD HAVE BEFORE I SPOILED 80% OF IT FOR YOU!
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