Watching 'Aggretsuko' Season 2

The second season of Aggrestuko dropped on Netflix on the 14th of June, 2019, and consisted of ten episodes. The show brings back much of the first season's creative talent and carries on the story of the red panda Retsuko as she navigates her way through life in the hopes of feeling fulfilled. This season expands on a lot of the themes that were set up in the previous season, brings some of the secondary characters to the forefront of the show, and even introduces new ones.

Characters

The characters are fantastic to watch, feeling incredibly relatable, and if one has had a job, then it is very possible that you may have worked with at least one type of personality that is present in Retsuko’s workplace. The show goes so far as to give different dimensions to characters that otherwise were quite a chore to put up with in the previous season and portray them in a different light while remaining true to their character. The new additions are fantastic in their own right, highlighting the anxiety someone that is fresh out of university would feel coming into their first job. In addition, having the pressures of adhering to the expectations of the prior generation with the expectations of the generation you are a part of, and the one that is to come, we are a generation that is in the transitional stage of cultural shift of the fundamental understanding of what priorities are, going forward.

Visuals

Visually, the show is incredibly consistent, maintaining the tone and look of the first season. As a result of the simple animation that is on-screen, the characters are far more expressive in their behaviour when compared to other anime. This expressiveness helps to communicate the way someone is feeling without having other characters say it out loud. The backgrounds are simple and look well-polished and clean. It makes it seem as if this is a place that you would like to live in, yet they also use this to set a contrast between what we see out in public and how things are within one’s abode. This in turn increases the richness of the characters.

Music

The music in the show is fantastic, as the tone of the music can shift at the turn of a hat from the lighthearted music that is more in line with a family-based sitcom to death metal, without the integrity of the show breaking from the tonal shift. There are more characters that have their own moment to sing out their frustrations this season, which is an interesting addition as it introduces a different perspective to what the characters are going through, besides Retsuko.

Personal thoughts

Despite the fact that I love this show, it is one that actually scares me. I am now the same age as Retsuko, and with graduation looming on the horizon and the necessity of finding a job in order to make sure I can live, pay rent, pay bills and the like, it is daunting. These are things that I have done before university, yes, however, now that I am on the verge of graduating, there is an uncomfortable pressure and I feel as if I am at a fork in the road: to conform, find a job, and live on a paycheck-to-paycheck basis, or to risk life even more in order to live the life that I want to live. Seeing these adorable characters go through the exact same feelings as I am going through and having them reflected back to me is far scarier than anything a horror film could ever have to try and scare me with.

Recommendation

Just as it was with the first season, this is a show that I highly recommend.