We be bloggin'

It’s finally here everybody. And it’s good. Aggretsuko just came out with its second season just last Friday (just in time for me as I’d had an awful day at work). So naturally, I started watching all of it immediately. The first season had always been a comfort to me when having a bad day at work—it was always so nice to see Retsuko screamo in the bathroom. Just like I secretly wanted to do. But I always thought that there was no way the second season would hold up as well.

I was wrong.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Aggretsuko season 2 delves straight into relatable problems, and once again I’m laugh-crying at the relevance. This season of Aggretsuko introduces a few new characters, the first of which is Retsuko’s mother who is, well, just as meddling as any mother to be honest. She echoes the questions that I’m sure many twenty-something-year-olds have heard (I know I have)—”when are you getting married?” Yes, Retsuko’s mother is introduced to nag her about finding a guy and settling down, and she hardly seems interested in Retsuko’s journey to just focus on herself. Which y’know, is super relatable. But Retsuko’s mother also puts the fear of ending up alone into our favorite red panda, ALSO SUPER RELATABLE.  Like honestly, this was such a great direction to go because it creates an immediate “me too” moment, just like the first season had when presenting the tedium and annoyances of having to grow up and deal with your job in the first place.

It is, of course, this freakout caused by the “I’m going to be alone forever” thought that then brings Retsuko to try to find a guy which leads her to turn around and see the guy who was right beside her. That’s right–Tadano. Thought it’d be Haida? Nope, Tadano is a new character who is first introduced as a bit of a deadbeat that Retsuko ends up getting along with real well. So much so that it is he, a deadbeat, that she ends up dating only to find out he’s actually a super successful entrepreneur. It’s at this points it seems like everything is perfect and that she’ll (annoyingly) fulfill her mother’s wishes to get married to a successful man. Except Tadano doesn’t want to get married and have a family. His viewpoint on marriage is pretty representative of quite a few people these days as the idea of growing up and starting a family is seeming to decline. But Retsuko holds onto it because that freakout caused by her mom made her realize that she actually wanted that life. Maybe not at that very moment, and definitely with a person of her choosing, but she wanted that life. It’s a realization I think a lot of people can relate to, and I know I can and it was a great note for the series to make.

But you know what was way better than any love plot? The totally imperfect relationships that set the grounds for this second season. In the first season, all of the side characters came off as one-note. They were simply there in Retsuko’s daily life. And while this season it could be argued we saw less of the side characters, we also got to see different parts to them. Kabai, for instance, was shown to be more than just the office gossip and instead we got to see her as not just a mother, but as a teacher to Anai. Oh Anai…another new character this season, Anai is someone that we all either have been or probably know (I’ve known a few). He’s brand new to the work environment and he’s pretty immature. When he gets embarrassed or feels attacked he legit goes psycho in an extremely passive-aggressive way, and he absolutely terrifies not just Retsuko but pretty much ANYONE who tries to criticize him. But he’s not a total lost cause despite being an asshole, he just needs someone to help him mature, and by the end of the series, he’s stopped being a baby (or at least as far as we know).

So overall, season two did a great job in reminding us that each character isn’t just one note and are actually people (animals). And they are far from perfect, even our lovely Retsuko. If anything they are perfectly imperfect. And it’s pretty entertaining. Overall, I thought the season was enjoyable and I’d definitely give it a 9/10.  I would’ve given it a 10/10…if it had more Haida.