Rating: 4/5 stars

The latest and final season of “Aggretsuko” has just been released on Netflix with mixed reviews by critics and audiences alike. 

The series was released with large fanfare from audiences as new and inventive use of Sanrio characters talk about societal ills despite their cartoonish antics. One of the best things about the series is Retsuko (Erica Mendez, “Hunter x Hunter”) the titular character of the show, and seeing her grow from a socially anxious pushover to a confident death metal-loving red panda.

The rundown for those who have no clue who Aggretsuko is, she was created by Sanrio the Japanese mascot company. They are the company that created world-famous mascots like Hello Kitty, Gudetama and Cinnamoroll where cute faces are slapped onto all types of products. 

Recently there has been a shift in design where the mascots were just “cute” and “happy” there has been a range of emotions for their more recent mascots, Aggretsuko the aggressive Retsuko and Gudetama.

While there have been attempts to animate the lives of the mascots none has ever been anything like Aggretsuko. She is a 25-year-old stuck in a mundane office job with people she does not like, doing the same job and position for the last five years. She has a secret most people do not know; she rages at night from the pressure of her job to scream death metal in a karaoke booth. This contrast of animal mascots going through day-to-day challenges to rap battling your boss for being a chauvinist pig is the highlight of the series. The animation is simple and uses thick lines similar to a Saturday morning cartoon. Retsuko’s struggles with office politics and romance typical of most sitcoms are the series’ greatest appeal. 

Retsuko’s main problems have been resolved as she has learned to set boundaries and grown to understand her co-workers and boss. Her female friendships are a lifeline for her and realization that everyone around her, even the ones who annoyed the heck out of her were not exactly bad people. Her romance arc has essentially ended with her learning what she wants from her life. Tadano (Griffin Burns, ”The Addams Family 2”) her ex is basically the perfect man; smart, rich and kind did not have one quality she wanted. She learns to not compromise.

The series has been running roughly yearly since 2018 and the topics have left the space of just office work problems for a while. Ranging from stalking, marriage, money problems, underground idols and now: politics. However, continuing from the last season, the first half of the new season stars Haida (Ben Diskin, “Codename: Kids Next Door”) Retsuko’s boyfriend who gets a new arc after the end of the fourth season. To the point, even the characters in the show say they really miss Retsuko’s metal screams.

In contrast to what makes work suck, there is the opposite spectrum when you are out of work. Haida becomes unemployed and due to poor money management skills becomes homeless. There is a Japanese phenomenon where people priced out of apartments end up renting a place to sleep for the night in manga cafes. Luckily he has Retsuko to rely on but not so for others who were in the same position. Halfway through season five, Retsuko becomes the face of the Party of Rage, a dying political party. Haida’s brother Jiro (Matthew Mercer, “Monsters University”) becomes her opponent in the House of Representatives and is the antagonist alongside his father. 

Season five relies heavily on whether you like the relationship between Haida and Retsuko. It is nice to see them together as a couple and living their day-to-day lives together. However, Haida is more cowardly and anxious than Retsuko so seeing him pine for Retsuko for four seasons was too much. Overall this is a good season for the series to stop as it has dealt with most of the adult problems it can talk about. Another Christmas special on Netflix would be welcome. 

Image from Netflix Anime via YouTube