#aggretsukocomic

[oisinwrites]

Aggretsuko: book 4, review

The cover of book four is another generic cover of Retsuko singing death metal, unlike the last one where the cover is specific to what happens in it. Book four of the Aggretsuko comic series begins with Retsuko just realising that she has overslept. As is common in Japanese art, there is much humour in her expressions, especially her eyes. From the frazzled look of someone who is even sleepier after over-sleeping to the shock at seeing the time on her alarm clock, it humorously illustrates a generally relatable ‘’bad day’’.

She begins her hurried way to the over-crowded tramline shown in the Netflix series, wearing shoes that are ‘’office-appropriate’’ but not very practical. Not exactly high-heel's per se, but clomping shoes. In the Netflix series, she panics when she realises she has come to work in flip-flops and tries to distract co-workers from looking down at her feet by doing ‘’this weird arm dance’’, which really just makes things more awkward. She is in such a hurry that she doesn’t notice a crack in the pavement and trips over it, badly injuring her right arm, since this was the arm that was raised.

Like something out of MORTAL KOMBAT X, it gives us an x-ray view in a red back-ground, showing her arm damage in all its grizzly detail. If it had been in this game, it would say ‘’ flawless victory! The floor wins! Brutality!’’. Although there is no fatality and no-one dies in this cartoon, I can imagine the sounds of Retsuko screaming like Mileena and her bones crunching. It then skips to next day and the opening line is ‘’so that’s why you weren’t here yesterday, bummer’’. This is Haida the hyena and Fenneco the fennec fox examining her cast. It then goes through what is a normal work-day for Retsuko but with the one significant difference of her right arm in a cast.

Some workers treat her differently but others act as if there is no cast. Haida the hyena makes tea for Retsuko just to be nice. Tsubone, the rotten lizard lady, is still dumping piles of worksheets on her head and demanding them returned today. Mr. Ton makes a very piggish joke about how he used to ‘’play hookey’’ in his younger days, but was still not as ‘’reckless’’ as an ‘’incompetent woman’’, which Komiya the prairie dog laughs at just to suck up to him. Tsunoda, the sweet little deer, finds this piece of new's exciting and thinks Retsuko should have everyone sign her cast.

As is shown in the Netflix series, she goes into a toilet cubicle to vent things with a mike. In comic-book format, this is illustrated with skulls and symbols appearing outside the door of the women’s bathroom. She then comes out saying ‘’I’m fine, everything’s okay’’, while a smallish arrow saying ‘’denial’’  presses so hard into her head that it is bulging around the arrow, as if she were a plush toy with a soft head. My favourite part though, was when Washimi the eagle and gori the ape finally got real spotlight, which is a first in the comic series. In the previous comic’s, these two only appeared as background characters, they were just two more of "the infected" who Retsuko bounced over in book one and Tsunoda was more the secondary protagonist and rival to Retsuko. Now they’re in real glamour and Tsunoda has only appeared once in this issue. There is another hint at the problems with ladies footwear here. Gori complains about her shoes giving her a bad back, to which Washimi replies, ‘’we must not show weakness at work’’.

Gori and Washimi are the experts at office survival. it’s like a video game to them, like a big Zelda dungeon. That would make Retsuko a beginner player who they are helping. Washimi enters the office of the president elephant who is in the middle of what he claims is preparing a presentation but is really playing with handmade puppets, one for everyone in the office. He was just making the puppet of Washimi tell the puppet of himself that he is doing such a great job. Washimi wants to talk about the sick leave policy. She shows she means business by threatening to burn his puppets with a lighter and karate-kicking the desk so that it splits down the middle in half. She makes sure to bring the official papers so she has some authority to her argument. Washimi gets quite a reaction from him, but more importantly he agrees to raise the sick leave.

For once, the comic series is finally showing these two more like the way they are shown in the anime, because every detail there is exact. Even hiding the pain of their shoes, or any weakness. After moving away from the main character for a while, it is now back to Retsuko who is working overtime for her rotten office superior Tsubone.  it is mostly an empty office at this hour and the workers who are still present are just getting their coats on  switching off what is electrical. It is AFTER, not DURING her exertion that she feels pain, so she thinks she can go ahead typing frantically and feels the punishment when she is finally finished her overtime. She then goes to the downtown karaoke bar and starts a death-metal rant about her job causing her emotional and physical pain.

Again, she feels the punishment AFTER having been all puffed up. ‘’my arm is brittle and so is my patience’’, is soon followed by ‘’ooh, ow-ow-ow-ow’’. It was her worst day in the series, but she is in for a pleasant surprise next morning. Lazily answering her smartphone in her messy apartment, she finds it is Komiya telling her she does not have to come to work today, due to recent changes in sick leave policy. She also hears Mr. Ton yelling ‘’Hey Komiya, where’s that tea?’’. It sounds like Komiya is filling in for Retsuko, who usually makes tea for Mr. Ton and does a lot of fluttering around. Her eyes water, her background is replaced with lots of pink flowers and she says ‘’this is the best day ever!’’. I think we can all relate to Retsuko here (not just some of the ladies who have worn really bad footwear),  both the worst-ever days and the best-ever days. On days when it is a day off and a chance for a lie-in, it does feel like your surrounded by pink flowers. We can also relate to the many moods Retsuko has which, in manga and anime, are often shown very expressively.

[oisinwrites]

Aggretsuko Book3 Review

In book three of the series, we are introduced to new character; A flamboyant duck named Karen from ‘’our sister office in Canada’’, who is very into positive energy and adding feng-shui to the office.  She has a big beak and honks a lot.  It is an amusing front cover, with Karen standing on the desk, Retsuko hiding underneath it, and a shower of sticky notes (though this is not exactly what happens in the story).  

Her job is to help the Japanese office improve morale, because the Canadian office is reported to have great morale.  She leaves sticky notes around the office saying what there is not enough of, or what there is too much of.  One particular label, stuck onto a completely blank wall, says ‘’cat poster’’, because there should be something inspirational to decorate the wall, or something funny to brighten up the office.  When Fenneco the fennec fox says ’’It should just be a picture of your face right now, that should keep the office laughing, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha’’ this was itself the funniest line (her face was a freaked-out anime face).  In the Netflix series, she’s always making fun of Retsuko and laughing in a strange, monotonous way, like a robot.  It turns out the Japanese office is like a minefield with red flags all over the place.  It soon becomes full of yellow slips everywhere.

There is quite a culture clash between Japan and Canada.  Karen had first greeted Retsuko by shaking hands (a very vigorous handshake with lots of honking) instead of bowing.  The boss pig, Mr. Ton, also acts differently when Karen is around. He calls Retsuko by her proper name, instead of ‘’Calender’’ ( In the Netflix series, ‘’Calender’’ or ‘’Calender girl’’ becomes her nickname, because 'her days are numbered'!).  He makes her bring the tea to his desk, which she does passive-aggressively, with outward submission while inwardly hating her chauvinistic pig of a boss.  In the Netflix series, he yells ‘’Hey Calender, get the tea, because that’s woman’s work, haw-haw-haw!’’.  This is a more modern version of the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, which is adapted to the modern Japanese workplace, but it still tends to be designated to women. Originally, it would have been a geisha.

With Karen, he puts on what Retsuko calls his ‘’fake smile’’ which he sometimes does in the Netflix series. This is when the boss who’s usually a bully has a massive smile, rosy cheeks, shiny eyes and says corny things like ‘’great job, teamwork makes a dream work’’. The workers are always so freaked out by him being nice that they just can’t deal with it. In this comic, Retsuko has her own look that is a reaction to the bosses ‘’fake smile’’ look, and that is the typical anime tear-floods with open-hanging mouth. After that, they go out to lunch at a ramen-bar, where they open up about the different workplace cultures.

It seems there are a lot of things Japanese workers put up with that workers in western cultures take action against. They have the same problems,  but different solutions. Karen does  say it to them there that the stoical attitude that office life is what it is will be very unhelpful. Retsuko thinks (not out loud) that Karen is a bit stupid and doesn’t get how the world works because making change happen won’t be ‘’that simple’’. Haida the hyena does say out loud ‘’ we just don’t see the point of making a fuss out of nothing’’. Here, it is interesting to see in a Japanese cartoon how japan is criticising itself. It is also interesting to see how well it represents what in japan would be called a ‘’gaijin’’ or ‘’outsider’’. for a country known to be very isolated, they have quite an impressive understanding of western cultures.

The whole Aggretsuko anime was revealing much of the oppressive Japanese work culture and how a society where being reserved is important means there is unhealthy pent-up hate. There is one, even if only one, reference to KAROSHI (death from over-working, so common it has a name) in the Netflix series. Apart from the karoshi, you don’t necessarily  have to be Japanese to relate, and it’s a bit like the western DILBERT cartoons. This is the first time, though, that it’s gone this in-depth. Later, Karen and Retsuko go down to the karaoke bar where they open up even more about workplace tyranny, especially towards women. Karen is more used to the kind of karaoke that is in pubs and bars where ‘’everyone can see you humiliate yourself’’. This is a downtown karaoke bar where it’s a more private sort place. It’s more like a hotel where you book a room and are tended to by staff.

Karen was also in a death metal rock band that did public gigs. She tells her story of a bad boss just like Mr. Ton who, after a long battle, they finally got him fired. When Karen asks Retsuko a deep and personal question about whether she’s ‘’angry with’’ her, she says to ‘’please be direct’’. Understanding that she’s meant to be honest, Retsuko explains that she’s not exactly angry parse, but she’s not used to Karen’s approach. This new approach that Retsuko’s not used to is what she finds tiring. Karen apologises and promises that now on she will think twice before ‘’jumping in’’ where she ‘’doesn’t belong’’. Karen also says that it makes her angry to see another worker suffering a ‘’similar kind of tyranny’’. So the two of them select a piece of death metal and sing together, both completely changing their faces. ‘’rotten bosses keep talking down to and belittling me’’ ‘’your fake smile is just a deadly trap’’ ‘’free us from this unending torment’’.

The next day, as Karen and Retsuko bow  to each other, it is time for Karen to leave, but not without leaving an impact, especially on Retsuko. She has been given new hope and hope has given her strength. She will be a ‘’good girl’’ for the time being and put up with corporate bullying, but wait for the day of justice. The yellow slip on her computer says ‘’believe you can do it’’.