FIF#56-Aggretsuko

Retsuko is a 25 year old red panda who is ready to take on the world…or so she thought.  Leaping head first into the workforce, Retsuko finds the sunshine and rainbows she hoped for are non existent.  Her job is a pain, her bosses are criminally cruel and everyone relies on her to get the job done because she’s dependable.  Retsuko has but one escape from it all…DEATH METAL KARAOKE!!! Cause let’s face it, the only way to confront your feelings is to put them into songs containing death and destruction against all that offend you.  The question is: will Retsuko ever find the courage to stand up for herself and make her life better or will she snap under pressure?

Aggretsuko, behind the cutesy animated look has all the basic elements of an NBC work comedy that might last half a season or more if it’s lucky.  That does sound a bit mean but it is a premise ive heard about for…well forever.  Only this time it isn’t a live action office place comedy, it’s an Anime with adorable animals substituted for humans and a rather hilarious amount of all too brief death metal numbers reminiscent of Detroit Metal City.  I do feel for Retsuko.  She definitely seems the kind of girl who deserves a lot better than the hell hole job shes landed in.  Crappy Boss (who really shouldn’t run anything given that how he treats women in the workplace is criminal), some crappy coworkers and no sign of peace anywhere to be found.  It’s a struggle for Retsuko to get from waking up and back to bed.  Her only salvation, and anger therapy in the process, are the death metal lyrics she belts to describe how she REALLY feels about her life and the ones who make it a living Hell.  If I didn’t know any better id say that Retsuko was a spiritual cousin to Johannes Krauser II from the aforementioned Detroit Metal City.  Much of what Retsuko sings is…well yeah anyone with a crappy work life would want fire and brimstone to reign down on mass.  And yet watching a tiny red panda scream this at the top of her lungs is equally cute as it is relatable.  It definitely all rings true to the Anime’s proper title “Aggressive Retsuko”.

I kind of just wanted to check this one out because it was advertised in my Netflix feed and im not sorry I did.  For anyone interested, the episodes are only 15mins long and there’s only 10 of them so the show can be knocked out in a couple of hours.  I’d love to see Retsuko succeed.  But reality is everywhere in Aggretsuko, even if it is talking chibi animals and even I need most of my Anime to be pure escapism from life.  That said, I’d love to get all of Retsuko’s death metal numbers into a playlist.  She really should just become Johannes Krauser III…yeah are we sure this isn’t a secret DMC spinoff waiting to be fully revealed?