Aggretsuko Season 5 Review – A wonderful swansong for Retsuko and co.

Episode Guide

A Prison Called Freedom
Spooky Shikabane
ANAGURA and Reality
Restart
A Mysterious Messenger
A Family Emergency
Rage Mission
Rising to the Challenge
A Disconnected World
The Other Side of Rage

Now onto its fifth season, Aggretsuko doesn’t look like slowing down any time soon, maintaining that same aura of marrying hard-hitting social issues with a funny and well-written workplace anime vibe.

Following the events of season 4, Aggretsuko picks up and switches its focus between Haida and Retsuko for much of the run-time. Haida is now unemployed and struggling to focus. He pours all of his time into online gaming, becoming addicted to an adventure game and eating up Retsuko’s wage with numerous microtransactions. It looks set to destroy their relationship completely.

By comparison, Retsuko has stresses of her own at work, not to mention her family’s growing pressure on wanting to meet her “hotshot” boyfriend whom Retsuko claims is still an accountant.

As the episodes progress, Haida’s journey of self-discovery sees him take on several different jobs, find kinship in a gamer girl called Shikabane and even discover the woes of customer service. He also butts heads with his family too and, in particular, his “boomer” father who made his wealth in the bubble economy. Haida’s issues are only compounded further by his brother Jiro, who makes a big announcement in episode 6 that sets up a big showdown in the episodes ahead.

Retsuko’s tale interweaves around this late on, as her and Haida’s story marry in the best way possible. It all feels very organic as Retsuko meets Ikari, a shadowy guy who has a big proposition for Retsuko that could change her life forever.

This season has some important messaging around addiction but it also doesn’t shy away from the grind of working a 9-5 (which has always been Aggretsuko’s selling point), the fickle nature of politics and embracing one’s true self. It’s very much back to basics here, and in all honesty the ending is the best possible conclusion for this story.

The characters have always been the strong suit in Aggretsuko and season 5 does a great job of bringing together the arcs for the supporting players too in a way that feels organic. Ton, Retsuko’s boss, has a lovely redemptive quality about it, while Gori and Washimi play their parts too.

Aggretsuko is quite simply good, wholesome fun and given the cutesy art style and wonderful soundtrack, you’d be forgiven for overlooking the excellent themes this one plays with. Aggretsuko bows out in the best possible way, with a wonderful send-off for our characters.

Read More: Aggretsuko Season 5 Ending Explained

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