Admittedly, if I was going to pick a Netflix genre to spend my evening on, anime wouldn’t usually be it. But Aggretsuko had me entering a binge session. Covering 3 sessions so far and renewed for a fourth, the show mixes comedy and music to create a wholesome show which is easily relatable to the 21st century. It revolves around Retsuko, a red panda accountant working for a trade firm. Honestly, so cute! Her social anxiety and working struggles are aspects which many can say they have experienced, and the show does an amazing job of making these lighthearted yet accurate.
With an average 15-23 minutes per episode running time, it won’t use up much time to get through a season, and is sure to generate emotion as her character is hard to not sympathise with. Retsuko has her roots in Sanrio, the people behind Hello Kitty, so… big names are involved.
I found it particularly wholesome that the show title means “Aggressive Retsuko” as this anthropomorphic protagonist enjoys singing death metal karaoke in her spare time to deal with her anxiety. Truly, a mood. Who doesn’t enjoy some loud music to destress? For a venture into anime, this is a great little show. The way the creators have integrated modern struggles is genius. I think I’ll keep watching, and for a non anime person, that’s an achievement. I recommend you dive into this one too!
7.5/10: took me a little bit of adjusting but easy to get into enjoying.