A socially awkward accountant deals with her annoying co-workers by chugging beer and singing death metal.
This came via recommendation from a co-worker and I finally got around to watching it. It’s only ten episodes, about 15 minutes each, so it’s a quick watch. And I watched it in one sitting because I didn’t expect to connect to that red panda.
Dead-End Job With No End In Sight
Retsuko is a 25-year-old, blood type A, Scorpio, and lets her rage loose through death metal. That rage builds up during her accounting job. Whether it be letting others walk all over her, getting tea for her sexist boss, or doing more work than is necessary. She constantly hits the snooze button because the thought of going to work only makes her want to stay in bed more.
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If you ever worked a job in any way like I described you’ll connect to Retsuko pretty quick. You have your annoying co-workers (and the few who help you get through the day), staying late to finish the job, or getting yelled at for never doing anything right.
Friends To Get You Through The Day
Sometimes you just need some colleagues who relate to you. Fenneko and Haida have worked with Retsuko for years. Fenneko likes to stalk others on social media and know what’s going on. Despite her monotone voice she does care about her friends and their well-being. From early on it’s clear Haida has a thing for Retsuko and it’s actually aggravating watching him not tell her.
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It’s like I fell back into watching early Jim and Pam on The Office.
Outside work Retsuko becomes friends with two women who are higher-ups in the company: Washimi and Gori. They’re first seen strutting down the hall with their powerful walks, but once Retsuko gets to know them we see they’re not always perfect and have to appear strong to be where they are.
Escape Through Music
A part of Retsuko’s life no one knows about is her love for death metal. When work/life pushes her buttons a little too far she can let it out in the microphone she carries around or in the karaoke club she visits every night. Alone she screams the frustrations we all think and are likely screaming in our heads as well.
On the outside it sounds odd, but once you get accustomed to Retsuko and her every day persona, that way of letting loose is what we all have. It’s funny watching her going from cute red panda, to demonic panda, and back to cute. Once the stress is out she goes right back to the face she wants everyone else to see.
Overall
This show is more than watching Retsuko sulk during her every day job. It’s about her learning more about herself and finding the good things during her bad days. When she dreams of working at a better job, finding someone to help her escape, or exercising to appear more attractive, it’s relatable. We’ve all been there and I want nothing but the best for Retsuko.
To be honest I wasn’t expecting much out of this show and didn’t know why it was recommended, but within the first few minutes I connected to Retsuko and the day job she suffers through until the next best thing comes around.
Also, Retsuko’s death metal screams are what my mind looks like during a shift at work.
Quibbles and Scribbles 