Aggretsuko 5
After four successful seasons on Netflix and a Christmas OVA, the last season has arrived for Aggretsuko too: once again, the most famous red panda in the world of anime will be grappling with the daily problems of life everyday. Will one last death metal song suffice to overcome the hardships of the hectic life of a Japanese office worker?
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Aggretsuko
Aggretsuko : the fifth and final season
Aggretsuko and Haida An ensemble finaleAggretsuko and Haida
We have now met Aggretsuko , the adorable red panda with an innocent appearance and a "metalhead" soul. Despite all of her bright colors and her origins that tie her to the same brand as Hello Kitty, we've known for some time that the lei series is anything but kid-friendly. Indeed, she tells and shows many flaws about the culture of work in Japan. While it mostly focuses on Retsuko as a character, we've also met and come to like other characters over the course of the seasons: her colleague Fenneko , a cunning and perceptive fennec fox, who is also her closest colleague Director Ton , the head of the with swine traits, and Haida, a hyena who works in the same office as Retsuko, who has long been in love with her.During the fifth season we will see how attention will shift to Haida: after the financial events that saw him involved during the previous season, now he and Retsuko are (finally) together. Too bad he lost his job. Now the young panda is in fact struggling with a jobless boyfriend. With ten episodes lasting just under 20 minutes, with the exception of the half-hour finale, motivated by the fact that it is the last time we will see (and hear from) Retsuko, the writers have managed to concentrate several themes, both current and dramatically realistic : young people's disillusionment with an indifferent society, toxic family expectations and even a difficult political career.
A choral ending
Even though it's the last season, the creators of the series have managed to introduce exciting and interesting new characters, including Shikabane, a twenty-one-year-old skunk who makes a living by freelancing, living inside an internet cafe and spending time playing games online. Although her character is an addition to the already rich fauna of Aggretuko's world, she too is the spokesperson for an authentic, real figure behind that purple fur, the representation of more than one person you might meet in Japan today. Shikabane is a girl imprisoned by the standards imposed by society and although she has accepted her fate (or rather, has given up on it), only in the end will she too release her anger.Anger has always been the most characteristic emblem of the series: Aggretsuko, in fact, has always taught her viewers to give life to their passions, not to shut them up and, on the contrary, to scream them as long as their throats hold up. But although the fury of a death metal song has been the symbol, the recurring theme in Aggretsuko, this season the last song is more choral than ever: the little panda is not the only one shouting against the system, her anger becomes the same felt by young people who are neglected by an indifferent older generation, obsessed with sometimes inhumane social standards.
Aggretsuko has always been an amusing yet dramatic critique of the Japanese world, capable of making herself understood even overseas. In this last season, full of ups and downs, especially towards the finale which seems rushed and uncoordinated in a certain sense compared to the rest of the season, there is nevertheless a moral, once again effective, powerful and tragicomically realistic: sooner or later everyone they are ashamed of themselves. It is proof that one can always learn, one can always live. The important thing is what you will do after your mistakes. We will miss Aggretsuko's voice from the Netflix catalogue.