Aggretsuko

Aggretsuko
アグレッシブ烈子 (Aguresshibu Retsuko)
Genre	Comedy
Anime television series
Directed by	Rarecho
Written by	Rarecho
Studio	Fanworks
Original network	TBS Television
Original run	April 2, 2016 – March 31, 2018
Episodes	100
Original net animation
Directed by	Rarecho
Produced by	Kelly Luegenbiehl Kaata Sakamoto Yoichiro Shimomura Miyuki Okumura Akira Takayama Yasue Mochizuki
Written by	Rarecho
Studio	Fanworks
Licensed by	Netflix
Released	April 20, 2018 – present
Runtime	15 minutes
Episodes	20 + Special

Aggretsuko, also known by its original Japanese title Aggressive Retsuko (Japanese: アグレッシブ烈子, Hepburn: Aguresshibu Retsuko), is a Japanese anime musical comedy franchise based on the eponymous character created by "Yeti" for the mascot company Sanrio. The character first appeared in a series of animated shorts by Fanworks which aired on TBS Television (Tokyo Broadcasting System Television) between April 2016 and March 2018.

An original net animation series adaptation was launched worldwide on Netflix in April 2018. A second season premiered in June 2019. In August 2019, Netflix renewed the series for a third season. Courtesy of Oni Press, a comic book series is currently in production by Daniel Barnes and D.J. Kirkland. The first issue is expected to release in February 2020.

Plot

Retsuko is a 25-year old and single anthropomorphic red panda, who works in the accounting department of a Japanese trading firm. Facing constant frustration every day from pushy superiors and annoying co-workers, Retsuko lets out her emotions by going to a karaoke bar every night and singing death metal. After five years of working the daily grind, Retsuko's unhappiness causes her to undergo a series of events that puts her job in jeopardy, forcing her to shift her relationships with her co-workers and ends up changing her life in unexpected ways. She then turns to marriage as a way to get out of work.

Characters

Retsuko (烈子)

Voiced by: Kaolip, Rarecho (vocals) (Japanese); Erica Mendez, Jamison Boaz (vocals) (English)

A 25-year-old red panda in her company's accounting department who lets out frustrations over her job by singing death metal at a karaoke bar. She's an amiable introvert who struggles to stand up for herself and prone to naive/unrealistic dreams but slowly grows with help from her friends.

Director Ton (トン)

Voiced by: Souta Arai (Japanese); Josh Petersdorf (English)

The domestic pig director of the accounting department, who constantly gives Retsuko a hard time through blatant sexism or overwork. He spends most of his time practicing golf instead of working, though it is shown that he is an incredibly good accountant despite being unable to use modern technology. He has two daughters whom he cares deeply for.

Fenneko (フェネ子, Feneko)

Voiced by: Rina Inoue (Japanese); Katelyn Gault (English)

Retsuko's fennec fox co-worker and closest friend in the office. Highly perceptive and insightful, she is able to deduce anyone's mental state through mere observation of their habits and deviations from them, namely from scrutinizing others' social media. She has a highly distinctive and monotonous laugh.

Haida (ハイ田)

Voiced by: Shingo Kato (Japanese); Ben Diskin (English)

Retsuko's mild-mannered Spotted Hyena co-worker, who develops a crush on her after five years together as friends. His roundabout approach to confessing his feelings puts him in many comical situations. Haida is an avid punk rock fan and also plays bass guitar. He has an underbite with three fangs always protruding from his mouth.

Director Gori (ゴリ)

Voiced by: Maki Tsuruta (Japanese); G.K. Bowes (English)

A gorilla lady who works as director of marketing at Retsuko's company. Along with Washimi, she does yoga with Retsuko and eventually joins her in karaoke. Despite her serious nature at work, she is highly excitable and takes great interest in bonding with Retsuko. A running gag with Gori is her over-the-top mourning over failed relationships, usually romantic ones. In second season, her friendship with Washimi got strained because of her views on marriage.

Ms. Washimi (鷲美)

Voiced by: Komegumi Koiwasaki (Japanese); Tara Platt (English)

A secretary bird who works as the secretary to the company's president, and is arguably the company's de facto president due to the actual president's utter incompetence. Strong-willed and confident, she's very level-headed and gives Retsuko a lot of sage advice when she's not busy keeping Gori's excitability in check. She sometimes ax kicks to intimidate those who frustrate her (mostly her boss), embodying the classic hunting behavior of her animal. In second season is revealed that she got married and divorced without revealing it to Gori, something that strains their friendship.

Tsunoda (角田)

Voiced by: Rina Inoue (Japanese); G.K. Bowes (English)

A perky gazelle coworker of Retsuko who frequently sucks up to Ton in order to remain in a favorable position and to lighten her own workload. Her shameless approach to office politics, and social media stardom, earns her the ire of many. However, she is highly self-aware and more genuine than most would believe.

Komiya (小宮)

Voiced by: Sota Arai (Japanese); Todd Haberkorn (English)

Ton's meerkat right-hand subordinate. Like Tsunoda, Komiya sucks up to Ton, but he appears to be motivated by genuine admiration for Ton while Tsunoda only does so for her own calculated benefits.

Tsubone (坪根)

Voiced by: Maki Tsuruta (Japanese); Debra Cardona (English)

A Komodo dragon who is a senior to Retsuko in the accounting department. She is highly condescending and is implied to enjoy watching others fail. Much like Ton, she frequently pushes her extra work onto Retsuko.

Kabae (カバ恵)

Voiced by: Yuki Takahashi (Japanese); Misty Lee (English)

Retsuko's hippo coworker. Kabae is a middle-aged woman who frequently runs her mouth as the company's rumor mill. She is easily excited by new gossip but claims to never spread anything malicious. In the Netflix animation, it was unveiled that she's a mother to three children and a wife to a doctor, thus enabling her to subdue the new intern into the work life.

Resasuke (れさすけ)

Voiced by: Shingo Kato (Japanese); Max Mittelman (English)

Retsuko's one-time red panda boyfriend who works in the Sales Department at their trade firm. Nicknamed the "Out of Pocket Prince" (JP dub) or "Space Cadet" (ENG dub), he is constantly daydreaming, irresponsible with job duties, soft-spoken, and has zero social awareness. He has a large collection of thriving plants at home, suggesting that his character is a play on the Japanese term "herbivore men".

Anai (穴井)

Voiced by: Sota Arai (Japanese); Billy Kametz (English)

A Japanese badger college graduate who is new to the accounting department. He is very happy and eager on the surface, though he does not take any kind of feedback lightly, and treats it as a personal attack. This causes him to harass whoever said it via email demanding a written apology while showing a dark face. Because of this, he is unable to progress in his job very fast. He is also shown to be very skilled at cooking. After this skill was discovered by Kabae, she helps him to use this skill to get more friends in the office by offering home made lunches and integrate to work life. He eventually becomes friends with Haida.

Tadano (只野)

Voiced by: Chiharu Sasa (Japanese); Griffin Burns (English)

A donkey who is Retsuko's classmate in her driving course. First shown as a lazy student that even gave up the driving course, Retsuko later discovers that he is an up-and-coming tech mogul and more intelligent than he first seemed. Retsuko begins to develop a romantic relationship with him until she realizes that he does not share her future desire of getting married, bringing the relationship to an end.

Retsuko's mother

Voiced by: Maki Tsurata (Japanese); Kaitlyn Robrock (English)

An overbearing red panda who tends to visit her daughter to press her into marriage while only wanting the best for Retsuko's life even if that means taking control of it. She usually shows her pictures of her possible matches, most of them modified in order to spike Retsuko's interest.

Media

TV anime

A series of 100 one-minute anime shorts directed by Rarecho by Fanworks aired on TBS Television between April 2, 2016 and March 31, 2018 as part of the Ō-sama Brunch television program. Pony Canyon began releasing the shorts on DVD from January 18, 2017.

Netflix series

A Netflix original series was announced in December 2017, with Rarecho returning as director and writer at Fanworks. The first season, consisting of ten episodes, was released worldwide on April 20, 2018, with a second season which was released on June 14, 2019. A third season has been announced. A Christmas special was released on December 20, 2018.

Episode list

No.	Title	Original release date
1	"A Day in the Life of Retsuko"	April 20, 2018 (2018-04-20)
After five years at the same company, office worker Retsuko has to deal with many daily annoyances. She inadvertently arrives to work in her sandals, interacts with coworkers who either kiss up to the boss or couldn't care less about work. Her boss, Ton, makes her do menial tasks like dusting his desk and getting him tea, and then piles a bunch of papers on her, keeping her late at night. Afterwards, she lets out her frustrations by going to a karaoke bar and singing death metal.
2	"A Good, Hard-working Girl"	April 20, 2018 (2018-04-20)
Retsuko experiences a glimmer of hope when her free-spirited friend, Puko, proposes starting up her own business.
3	"Short-timer"	April 20, 2018 (2018-04-20)
Retsuko becomes more inclined to stand up to her superiors, which backfires when she learns her dream job isn't what she hoped it would be.
4	"Walking Down the Aisle"	April 20, 2018 (2018-04-20)
Feeling she can have a happy life by marrying someone with a huge salary, Retsuko takes up yoga classes, where she meets her co-workers Gori and Washimi.
5	"Exposed"	April 20, 2018 (2018-04-20)
Gori and Washimi end up taking Retsuko to her usual karaoke bar, where her penchant for death metal is exposed.
6	"Stoking Rebellion"	April 20, 2018 (2018-04-20)
Hearing about Retsuko's troubles with her boss, Ton, Washimi uses her connections with the company president to help her out.
7	"The Duel"	April 20, 2018 (2018-04-20)
Ton acts uncharacteristically nice following his warning, only for him to discover who it was who reported him.
8	"The Out of Pocket Prince"	April 20, 2018 (2018-04-20)
Retsuko attends an office mixer, where she meets Resasuke from the sales department.
9	"A Rosy World"	April 20, 2018 (2018-04-20)
Retsuko falls head over heels for Resasuke, becoming oblivious to how bad things really are.
10	"The Dream Ends"	April 20, 2018 (2018-04-20)
Retsuko is forced to realize that she can't keep ignoring the pain she is going through.
Extra	"We Wish You a Metal Christmas"	December 20, 2018 (2018-12-20)
Retsuko becomes so obsessed with getting likes on Instagram that she forgets to make plans for Christmas Eve.
11	"Time to Grow Up"	June 14, 2019 (2019-06-14)
Retsuko becomes increasingly frustrated with her mother's overbearing ways.
12	"The New Hire Named Anai"	June 14, 2019 (2019-06-14)
The company hires a new worker named Anai who at first glance, seems nice and eager.
13	"Double Moratorium"	June 14, 2019 (2019-06-14)
Ton berates Retsuko for Anai's lack of progress on the job and Retsuko begins taking driving lessons.
14	"Unavoidable Impact"	June 14, 2019 (2019-06-14)
Retsuko and Anai have to host a food stall for the company's Family Appreciation Day event and Retsuko hits it off with a donkey named Tadano at driving school.
15	"United Front"	June 14, 2019 (2019-06-14)
Retsuko struggles with the food stall, and Anai solace in an unlikely coworker.
16	"Unknown Future"	June 14, 2019 (2019-06-14)
With Anai finally in line, Retsuko rethinks her mother's advice and tries matchmaking, to poor results.
17	"Growing Affection"	June 14, 2019 (2019-06-14)
Retsuko gets her license and drives her friends off on a trip, which soon goes south, leaving her pining to see Tadano again.
18	"He Lives Above the Clouds"	June 14, 2019 (2019-06-14)
Tadano, in reality the CEO of a tech company, also has feelings for Retsuko, and asks her out.
19	"She's Dreaming"	June 14, 2019 (2019-06-14)
Retsuko enjoys her new life dating Tadano, who seems too good to be true.
20	"Wonderful Life"	June 14, 2019 (2019-06-14)
News breaks about Retsuko's relationship, and Retsuko learns that her ideal life might differ from Tadano's.

Reception

Aggretsuko was met with critical acclaim in America. The first season of the Netflix series currently holds a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 22 reviews, with the sites critic consensus reading, "Uniquely bleak for a Sanrio property, Aggretsuko balances biting corporate satire with adorable characters and absurdist comedy to create a surprising, insightful addition to the world of animation."

External links

• Official website Template:Ja icon
• Aggretsuko at Netflix
• Aggressive Retsuko (TV) (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Aggretsuko (Netflix series) (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Aggretsuko at IMDb