Most people will be familiar with Sanrio to some extent. After all, it is the owner of the Hello Kitty character, who is a colossal presence in the world of merchandising. However, it is important to note that there is much more to Sanrio than just Hello Kitty, as shown by the existence of Aggretsuko. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about Aggretsuko:
1. Aggretsuko Stands for Aggressive Retsuko
Aggretsuko is a contraction of Aggressive Retsuko. Of course, the Retsuko in Aggressive Retsuko would be the name of the main character. As for the Aggressive, well, suffice to say that the main character is rather memorable in a good way to say the least.
2. Retsuko Is a Red Panda
Retsuko is an anthropomorphized red panda. Despite the name, the species is not a close relative of the giant panda. For that matter, while it was once believed to be related to bears and raccoons, more recent studies have concluded that it should be placed in its own family of one. Unfortunately, red pandas are endangered animals because of a combination of poaching, inbreeding, and habitat loss that has resulted in serious fragmentation of surviving populations.
3. Retsuko Is Not In a Good Place
On the whole, Retsuko is not in a good place. In short, she is a single woman working at in an accounting department who gets a lot of stress because her bosses are pushy while her co-workers are annoying. As a result, Retsuko needs an outlet for her stress, which takes a rather unusual form.
4. Retsuko Sings Karaoke
Retsuko visits karaoke bars on a daily basis. The hobby isn’t particularly popular in North America, but it has a huge fan base in a number of East Asian countries. With that said, visiting a karaoke bar isn’t what makes Retsuko unusual. Instead, that would be what she chooses to sing.
5. Retsuko Sings Death Metal Karaoke
Simply put, Retsuko sings death metal as an outlet for her stress. Of course, this would be the extreme sub-genre of heavy metal that features things such as very growly vocals, very aggressive drumming, and very dark topics in the lyrics. The whole thing is particularly interesting because Retsuko is actually a pretty naive and introverted person in her normal day-to-day routine.
6. Retsuko’s Boss Is Terrible
Retsuko’s boss is a literal pig whose name is Director Ton. In part, he annoys Retsuko because he overworks her. However, it should also be noted that Ton is very sexist. On top of this, he is a genuinely good accountant who doesn’t do much work but instead prefers to spend most of his time practicing for golf.
7. Retsuko’s Immediate Superior Isn’t Much Better
With that said, Retsuko’s immediate superior isn’t much better. In short, she is a Komodo dragon named Tsubone who treats her subordinates with condescension, which tends to irritate most people when exposed to it in excessive concentrations. On top of this, Tsubone seems to enjoy seeing other people fail when it comes to non-work-related matters, which is a rather nasty character trait to have.
8. Has Friends
However, Retsuko does have friends. In fact, she even has good friends who are actually capable of helping her. One example is a fennec fox named Fenneko, who has very keen social intelligence in more than one sense of that term. Another example is a marketing director named Director Gori, who eventually bonds with Retsuko by sharing hobbies.
9. The Secretary Is a Secretary Bird
Amusingly, the secretary for the company’s president is a secretary bird named Ms. Washimi. Even more amusingly, she sometimes performs ax kicks to intimate those who irritate her, which is a reference to how the real life species can strike the head of its prey in short succession with remarkable force as well as remarkable precision.
10. Has a Potential Love Interest
Speaking of which, Retsuko has a potential love interest named Haida, whose efforts at getting her attention are held back by the fact that he keeps on going about things in a very round-about way instead of just saying things in a simple and straighforward manner. Besides this, Retsuko has also had a red panda ex-boyfriend, who can essentially be summed up as being both pretty clueless and pretty useless.
Follow Us
