Aggretsuko (ONA)

DADOVIVO★ 8

Meeting deadlines and expectations, facing stress and anxiety, enduring unlikable coworkers and tedious tasks ... It's all part of being an adult and a member of society. But when too much has been piling up and you reach your boiling point, you got to know how to let some steam off. This is the story of Retsuko. 25 years old, single, Scorpio, blood type A, just your average positive, kind and uncertain young female employee, who bears a forbidden passion alongside her heart-attack-inducing stressful daily routine. What comes immediately to attention while watching Aggressive Retsuko (or Aggretsuko for the western audience) are the peculiar pacing and overallatmosphere of the show: it almost feels like we're watching the daily struggles of a dear friend we cheer for. The events of the story follow smoothly while the humor, extremely "grounded" (you laugh because you can relate to the situations, which are far from being unusual) but never lazy nor trivial hits the mark almost every time. It's surely an odd experience (but a welcome one, too) to watch something so rooted in reality yet funny and wholesome, where there are no power-ups, plot twists or deus ex machinas to save the situation, instead we can only count on the strength and the determination of a cast of extremely (and ironically, since they're anthropomorphized animals) human characters. As expected, it's really hard to review this show without comparing it to its previous incarnation. We've come a long way since the original Aggressive Retsuko shorts of roughly one minute each. What the franchise gained the most from this change in format to a more commonly used 20 minutes run time is surely the character development: again, it sounds ironic and cheesy, but it is surprising to see a cast of 2D, Flash animated characters with minimal design being so well characterised; it's almost like they're people from your same office department. Sure, just like in the previous version of AR they all fall into their respective archetypes (the doormat-to-his-superiors, the old creepy superiors, the unlikable rookies, the distracted/incompetent guys, the "senpais" you perceive as gods etc.), but they're also full of little quirks that define who they are and what part they have in Retsuko's story, giving them much more layer. To add a note about the art, it's undebatable that it has improved. It's Flash, so you can't expect much, but it sure was in capable hands, and apart from a couple of little tweaks and animation errors here and there the show goes really smoothly with its adorable, iconic art style and concept designs, really simple and polygon-based but also really pleasant, almost comfy. As of any other show, however, Aggressive Retsuko is not exempt from mistakes or poor direction choices. If you come for the original death metal songs the show won't match your expectations: it's really a pity that despite the longer run time and much more valuable sponsor (the big Netflixeroni maccheroni guys) they weren't able to fully develop the "death metal chants" parts of the episodes in something more unique or "advanced", remaining just really loud rants accompanied by generic death metal stock music. Even the original songs that appear in the second half of the show are really "meh", and I won't hide that I skipped over them with immeasurable violence. In conclusion, Aggressive Retsuko is a cozy, relaxing and light-hearted ONA about a red panda dealing with daily struggles such as love, stress, social awkwardness, uncomfortable work settings and the pursuit of her own dreams. Not a masterpiece, but surely a recommended on my list. Final vote: 8/10

CatSoul★ 9

On the surface, the Aggressive Retsuko/Aggretsuko franchise might seem like nothing more than a humorous extension of a marketing ploy. Sanrio's official website sells T-shirts, plushies, water bottles, notebooks, sticky notes, blankets, pen cases, coasters, tote bags, phone cases, and coin pouches of the adorable character and her friends. However, with the help of a solid production team, Netflix's Aggretsuko goes above and beyond, becoming my favorite anime that I've seen so far this year. Let me start out by saying that I've never even worked in an office before, yet much like kids who somehow enjoy the American/UK live-action series "The Office", I understood thestrong dynamics and relationships between these characters and the stereotypes some of them were meant to represent. There were a few characters I was a little put off by in the first episode, but I grew to warm up to every single one of them. Even if I didn't necessarily like all of them, they all played strong roles in the comedy and had established, "hey I know someone like that" personalities and traits. Of course, it helps that the animation is so cute. Sanrio knows how to draw cute characters, to the point where I'm not really sure if they know how to draw anything else. Even a character whose a literal misogynistic pig has a much more appealing design than any other studio/company/character designer would have given him. The dialogue itself has a lot of one-liners and quick gags that made me say "Oh, shit" and/or laugh out loud. Netflix has also produced a solid English dub for the series, with plenty of recognizable voice talent as well as a few faces who haven't gotten their chance in the limelight yet. Retsuko's death metal scenes are great, even if they are quick. The death metal aspect of her character is elaborated on and really made apart of her. Without spoiling anything, at one point we see Retsuko in a completely different state of mind in which she isn't interested in doing death metal at all, and it just simply...isn't her. I'm not traditionally a binge watcher (which is why my number of watched days on here is so subpar), but this show got me hook. line, and sinker. I'd probably be watching even more episodes right now instead of writing this review if we'd gotten more than ten. (I really hope we get a season 2.) And I've gotta admit, I want some of that overpriced merchandise now as well.