Aggressive Retsuko (ONA) 4th Season

I’m not gonna lie, when I saw Aggretsuko get a 4th season, the cynic in me thought this was too much of a good thing. Season 3 was already a satisfying conclusion to Retsuko’s arc, and anything more would just be Western producers--in this case Netflix--milking a show into oblivion. I especially dreaded the idea of Retuko taking a step backward in her life just so they can prolong her story (as many other shows have done). After completing the 4th season, I guess I was kind of right? Retsuko doesn’t change that much throughout the 4th season because the show is no longer about her growth as a person. It seems strange, but even though her name’s still in the title, Retsuko isn’t really the main character anymore: Haida is. Now I thought the beginning of the season was downright silly. At the end of the 3rd season, I thought the Retsuko x Haida couple was a forgone conclusion, so watching a dumb romcom couched in high-school misunderstandings was beyond insipid. Haida was literally--and I mean LITERALLY--one step away from her doorstep, but he was too much of a pussy to take it. Yes, the show acknowledges how stupid this is, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. Seriously, it was hard for me to tolerate an indecisive soyboy Haida with a self-esteem as thin as paper not being able to ask out his crush he’s been pining over for half a decade. I realized later on that this was a necessary setup to fully examine Haida as a character, so the second half improved a lot for me. This season comes with a new antagonist: the company's new president (I forgot his name). While the first season explored the abuse of power rampant in a corporation, this season explores the more underground corruption plaguing it. Not only is he quick to criticize the outdated tradition of his seniors, but he’s also so obsessed with efficiency to the point of treating employees more like machines than actual humans. Haida, being the most efficient member of the department, becomes the new head of accounting. Haida is highly impressionable and is unsure of himself, so he desperately seeks outward validation. And now that he finally does get validation, it corrupts him. He’s now willing to do ethically questionable things just to protect that meager validation, and in the process, becomes more closed-off than ever before. Ultimately, confidence should come from within, not from someone else, and this season kinda delivers on that message--though the ending did feel a bit rushed. Aggretsuko remains as thoughtful as ever, but as far as I’m concerned, I didn’t need a 4th season. The fact that Retsuko was sidelined for most of it makes me feel like the writers were grasping at straws, figuring out how to prolong the story without ruining what they’ve built up. If you’re watching just to revisit this eccentric cast, you’ll have a good time. For me, Haida isn’t nearly as likable as Retsuko, so I had a hard time getting invested. Anywho, it says "Retsuko will return" after the credits of episode 10, so what do I know? I'm probably gonna watch it anyway since it's so short and digestible. Thanks for reading!

The Term "Character Assassinations'" was recently introduced to me as a friend of mine relayed his feelings towards a movie he has seen. He explained to me that it was difficult to enjoy the content when the main character kept making bad decisions. After watching Season 4 of Aggretsuko, those words popped into my head. While Not Outright Attempting to ruin the experience I must Mention that THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS The Ending of Season 3 of Aggretsuko put a lot of the shows best cards on the table, which made me and i'm sure many others really be excited for the potential of another season. Retsukos secret is known to the world, she's made some level of peace with her mundane job, and the chances for love seem to be implied to be right around the corner. Seeing how Season 4 plays with the past as a result can vary from, acceptable to indifferent to frustrating. Season 4 has two main plot threads, the chance of a relationship for Haida and Retsuko, and the bold business decisions of new acting company President Himuro. On the one hand, the first thread is something the show has played with from the very beginning and its potential was always one that I'm sure many people who were active Haida X Retsuko shippers were waiting for. On the other hand... this is a very hard relationship to root for after a certain point. How much time we must spend playing will they or won't is certainly a problem but ultimately... The problem is Haida. No longer just a guy pining after his co-worker he's essentially this seasons lead character. Unfortunately this is where those two little words I opened this review with rear their head. To put it simply, Haida makes bad decision after bad decision this season. From spending half the season with cold feet in love making it impossible to progress the relationship at all, to his new found place in the company, and the choices he's ready to make for approval. It lasts all the way up to the point that you think the show is ready to abandon any chance of liking the character anymore all the way up to the shows final few minutes. This wouldn't be nearly as big of a deal if he wasn't so much of the focus this season, and as a result the core stories being offered here feel less then stellar to say the least of seasons past. It's great that the show gave us a chance to let us understand him better as a person, something Retsuko says in regards to him several times this season. It's just that what's here feels rather weak and less like something you'd expect from the character but more of a way to create a 10 episode season that may very well could have been resolved in...I don't know 3? 4? It's definitely possible Director Ton also gets more time in the spotlight then usual, and I'm mixed about this. On the one hand, it's nice to see a more human side to him, seeing a side of him that values his job and his employees...but on the other hand this chance for empathy feels like it was missed a long time ago with the amount of times he's harassed employees and made sexist comments. It feels like the show wants to say he should get a clean pass, there are greater evils, and I'm not sure I agree...still he brings some of the more humorous scenes you'll find this season...for as many as you can find anyways. And then there's Retsuko herself. She's here...she's certainly here, but other than playing her part in just a constant lack of communication between herself and Haida which slows the show down a lot, it often feels like she's just a side character, doing what i'm sure was plenty but still not much in comparison to the larger portions of this season. Even the namesake of the show, her death metal Karaoke feels incredibly underutilized as Retsuko spends far more time drinking Coffee/Tea with her friends at a restaurant instead of belting out lyrics at the Karaoke. It's especially frustrating since now that all of her friends and Co-Workers know her secret, you'd think that more time would be spent here. But nobody has any questions, rarely does anyone have any desire to sing (not to say that there aren't moments) and the death voice seems more utilized as a platform to aid Ton during the Business part of this story. (Still nice to see how popular she is) There are good things about this season. Characters like Fenneko and Tsunoda as the love police are constantly entertaining. Anais frustration from trying to be better about NOT yelling at company heads is pretty funny, and Kaba's personal struggles in the company and her passion for her children are all entertaining moments...it's just a shame that these moments feel like savory treats in what is otherwise a bit of a messy story. If there were more of these i'm sure my overall enjoyment rating would've been higher. It sucks to say all this because i'm actively a big fan of this anime. I rewatch old seasons every time a new one drops and I enjoy them just as much on rewatch...the problem is Season 4 of Aggretsuko feels far more disconnected from anything that the show has done before than rather than feel like it's the natural stepping point going forward, it's a completely different, somewhat entertaining but just not as good story. I did see that Retsuko will return though, so given the way this season ended, there's still a lot of potential for season 5 to differentiate itself from this season and perhaps focus a little more on Retsuko. If you love this Anime, you'll have a fair amount of fun with season 4 but you may also finish the season questioning whether or not they made their first less than exceptional season. I'm still glad I watched it though, I still had fun, and if you feel like giving it a watch, I hope you will too! Overall I rate mostly on enjoyment and the story brought that down for me so... Final Score 6.5 (ish)/ 10

I get why people might feel that Retsuko and Haidas relationship was enough last season rather than seeing more of it this season. However I felt it was good to see how they get on with each other even if they are not “officially” dating yet. I really thought the doggo president was a new interesting character even if he’s supposed to be the baddie who tries to make Haida his minion. We see a new side of Haida and that really is surprising since he’s normally just a “awkward goody two shoes who’s hopelessly in love with Retsuko”. I also liked his mini song in the end and the fact we see mr donkey Elon musk again made the series worthwhile. While I felt this season was rather rushed, I can say it was a bit better than the last season. Urgh I just want a 5th season already, it’s just so good to binge this series as it’s just so watchable and easy to enjoy whether it can be good, bad or wtf at times…..

You know how you sometimes have to pull the cord on a gas lawnmower a bunch of times to get it going, but after it starts it continues generally fine? Season 4 of "Aggretsuko" is kind of like that. The first HALF of the season is a will-they-or-won't-they over Retsuko and Haida, after Season 3 spent so long bringing that to a head. Pretty much everything other aspect of the season gets *set up* while that's going on, but is firmly in the background. At that point in the middle, I found that I just could not care anymore about whether or not they became a couple, because so much of the problem between them this season is simply that they don't communicate like adults. Now, part of that is Haida's lack of confidence, which is a major factor of the season, but I feel like it wasn't too much to ask for them to resolve that in, say, three episodes? Maybe? Not 5. Not, really, the entire season. We only see them on happy dates a handful of times, even. Anyway, overall season story is about a new and unscrupulous (and younger) CEO coming in to the company where Retsuko and the gang work. And, yes, the fact that he's younger is important because he's set up in contrast to the lackadaisical old guard bosses... who care about people's jobs. Cripes. Yes. In this season of the workplace comedy about how work sucks, the management gets humanized because they're people, too. And they're actually protecting you. Give me a fucking break. I recognize that this aspect of the season is even more steeped in Japanese business culture than usual, but it's an odious reversal. Ton is not a fucking good guy. He can be nice to his family, but he is not the only thing standing between the accounting department and the door. You don't get to go "well, he was young once, too," in Season 4. Especially since, yes, he should be stepping down soon. He's retirement age. Young leadership is good, and the only reason we don't acknowledge that is because of old guard mythmaking. Bah. You may notice that not a lot of this has to do with Retsuko. Well. The season doesn't have much to do with Retsuko. That's not necessarily a bad thing. However, in this case, I thought it was unsatisfying because it comes down to her doing stuff online mostly offscreen and one climactic confrontation with Haida. And that's it. No matter how good it was to have some direct conflict between Haida and Retsuko, it couldn't carry things for me. I'll say this, though: finally, the curse of the soft reset has been broken. Slightly. Almost everything is still the same for no reason, as of the last two minutes. But the Season 4 soft reset DOES allows one thing to change, and it's a good change. So here's to Season 5 and maybe having more luck next time.

After how season 3 ended the way it did, I was very much hoping for this season to somehow magically fix the shark they’d jumped. Season 4 started promising, it was obvious that the focus would be back on the office rather than the insane gimmicks they’d pulled for seasons 2&3 (however fun season 3's started) but then things went... well, plot-wise they went downhill, but so did the character portrayal. I don't know if the writing was just so bad I didn't catch the character motivations or if I just didn't see them because Retsuko and Haida were just written so plot-conveniently that I stopped paying attention. tl;dr season 2 made me side-eye the writers in confusion, season 3 made me yell at them for the ending, season 4 made me realize this is apparently not the show I thought it was and should really just give up on it.

(Warning: Vague spoilers for seasons 3 and 4) Aggretsuko S4 is out with S5 on the way at the time of writing, and what seemed like a quaint little series destined for a short season or two has now become a mainstay in the world of Netflix anime, for better or for worse. Let me quickly recap my thoughts on the previous seasons before we get to the meat of the review: Season 1 of Aggretsuko was a fun work-place comedy that dealt with the problems and anxieties everyone experiences at some point in their working adult years. It was cute, relatable, and very charming. Season 2 was basically more of the same, to a fault. It's two major plot-lines were essentially a repeat of the previous season's albeit a bit more over the top in theme and presentation. Season 3 drastically shifted the focus of the series away from the workplace, which ended up being good for Retsuko's character arc, but it also meant a lot of supporting characters had very little to do in the plot. This season also ended on a fairly conclusive point for both of Retsuko and Haida's character arcs, leaving myself wondering what the 4th season could possibly do to keep the series fresh and engaging. Which is a perfect segue into my thoughts on Season 4: this season didn't need to happen. The relationship arc between Retsuko and Haida is quickly reversed with Haida going back to his old wishy-washy ways after being able to confess his emotions to Retsuko at the end of S3. Their romance was already very tedious to watch before, but this season made it ten times worse with yet more feet-dragging from Haida, and an even less clear conclusion to their romance by the end of the season. The biggest saving grace is that a lot of Retsuko's developments from S3 are maintained in this season, she's much more assertive and outgoing, which is nice to see at this point in the story. The only issue is that she has very little to do now that she's essentially overcome most of her problems. It seems like the series was aware of this fact, which is why much of the story is from the perspective of other characters. This would be fine if one of those characters wasn't Haida. Haida is a very infuriating character, especially with the direction he takes in season 4. If you did not like his character already, what happens to him in the 2nd half of this season will only reinforce those feelings. Don't get me wrong, I understand what they were going for and the direction they took with his character actually had a lot of potential; which was giving Haida a position of power in the office. In any other season I think this story-line could've worked, as seeing a character have to deal with the pains of management feels totally up this show's alley, and with Haida as the focus it'd help him grow to become a more assertive and responsible person. However the way it was executed felt forced and designed only to create drama between himself and Retsuko. His development felt less like a way to explore another side of work-place woes, and more like a way to drive home to central conflict of this season. Towards the beginning of season 4 we're introduced to a new character who rather abruptly becomes the replacement CEO of the company Retsuko works for. It's quickly (and predictably) apparent that this new CEO has nefarious plans for the company which spell doom for Retsuko and her coworkers. I was actually enjoying this part of the season up until Haida became involved. We suddenly had a threat that could impact everyone in Retsuko's department, and the way it handled the topic of underhanded, corporate tactics felt grounded which made it all the more easy to relate and sympathize with what the characters were going through. Unfortunately, this conflict is quickly taken to cartoonish extremes in the second half. It really felt like they wanted to wrap this story-line up by the end of the season in order to bring things back to status quo for the next, so they took whatever measures they had to make it happen as fast as possible. What happens is certainly amusing, but it happens so quickly with no characters worrying over the consequences of their actions, that it ends up feeling so far removed from the original tone of the series. Which I guess is my main frustration with Aggretsuko as a whole, it wants to do over-arching plots with serious repercussions, but it can't help but revert things back to the status quo every season. If it was more like a weekly sitcom, I could see it working, but it doesn't feel like that's the direction the series is trying to take. All in all it wasn't terrible, but there's so many aspects holding myself from enjoying the series more at this point that I can't give it too high of a recommendation. If you're already speeding through the series at this point, you might as well take the small amount of time to check out this season. However if you're somebody who stopped on the 3rd season and you're not sure about continuing- trust me- you've seen the best this series has to offer at the moment. [] Final Verdict: Skip if you're not really interested.

Each series sympathises different characters. In terms of Aggretsuko each season is better than the last. Story 10/10 The storyline was better with romance between you know who. The ending bit is upsetting as I hope for a season 5 filled with Marriage. Art 10/10 A fun kind of art. Smooth and magical. Sound 10/10 Voice actors fit every character’s personality exactly. Character 9/10 This will be the longest section I believe. This season plays and tugs on your heartstrings as a cat does with a ball of yarn. Nibbling and tossing and meowing on the side. Biting and purring. A mix of it all. You feel for director ton, Haida, kabae, and Mr Window Washer Guy who owns and Underground OTM girls group. Enjoyment + overall 10/10

To be honest... I didn't like this season but it has something... That something is Director Tom's plot because it's a serious topic that I liked that it was explored in the anime... However, that's the only thing that seems remarkable to me, it's very forgettable this season. I mean, it suddenly changes the genre from a rom-com to a seinen... Not at all something I like it at all Beyond all this bad stuff, I think it's worth a look and see if you like it, I don't recommend it, only if you want to finish the anime, the last season is worth it in every way Even so, I am not happy with the season, for me it deserves an even worse score than the one I gave it but... Perhaps because it is a bad season but without being tedious it deserves it ESP: Voy a ser sincera con ustedes... No me gusto la temporada pero tiene algo... Ese algo es la trama del director tom la cual me parece demasiado interesante y un muy buen tema para tocar en este anime... Sin embargo eso es lo unico destacable de la temporada realmente es demasiado olvidable Osea cambia de una Rom-Com a un Seinen de la nada y no es algo que me agrade en lo absoluto, me parece un sin sentido de principio a fin Pero mas alla de todo lo malo que nos da esta temporada te recomiendo que la veas si quieres ver el final del anime el cual es demasiado satisfactorio sobretodo si eres una fan como yo, realmente les digo que no tiene perdida Incluso con todo lo que puse sigue sin gustarme esta temporada en lo absoluto, talvez se merezca un puntaje mas bajo pero a lo mejor se lo baje en un futuro, ya veremos como envejece

I really enjoyed season 4 even if the romance was a little lackluster. I'm not really an office worker but i'm sure everyone can relate or sympathizes to the fear of getting laid off. The work drama was enjoyable and I loved how Retsuko had a team when she was spying on Haida. I have mixed feelings about how they portrayed the dog ceo and the pig boss. I liked how Aggretsuko showed the dark sides of the company but didn't like how they made it seemed like change is a bad thing. Dog CEO was bad and harassed his employees to resignation but I didn't like how after the good guys won, the company went back to traditional customs. It felt like the show was discrediting innovation. Also, I hated how they portrayed the pig boss as a good guy in the end. It's very nice to see his "other side" but I didn't appreciate how they made it seem like he was a great boss when he harassed his employees. It would have been better if he realized his mistakes and he apologized in the end. But what I hated the most about this season was Haida challenging the pony guy and the ceo to a hand wrestling. Like what even was that? I wish he confronted Retsuko and the pony guy cause the show made it look like Retsuko was cheating on him (in Haida's perspective). Haida didn't even get to question why Retsuko was being secretive and busy, at the end of the season, he was given no explanation. But urghhh, Haida challenging the CEO to a hand wrestling, when the topic that they were discussing was serious, was so childish. I'm really speechless at how Haida decided to handle this.

Summary: The most seinen season. This is the most brutal and raw season of aggretsuko, it puts retsuko out of the spotlight to give haida and director ton more main moments, especially director ton is great in this season, i dont want to spoil but ton´s participation is shocking, in the other side, haida shows a most common point of view, bringing back the work topic to the series, definitely the best season of the show at tha date. Resumen: La temporada más seinen. Esta es la temporada más brutal y cruda de aggretsuko, pone a retsuko fuera del foco de atención para darle más momentos a haida y al director ton, en especial el director ton es genial en esta temporada, no quiero spoilear pero la participación de ton es impactante, por otro lado, haida muestra un punto de vista más común, trayendo de vuelta el tema laboral a la serie, definitivamente la mejor temporada de la serie hasta la fecha.

It's more difficult to broadly criticize the show without entering into spoiler territory, but I'll try. I feel like a lot of decent ideas for the show did not get properly integrated to the plot: Haida's conflict with ambition and social relationships, Ton's gruff disposition and depression, Retsuko's passive attitude and her sudden initiative. By which I mean, there were significant pacing issues and the juxtaposition of some scenes ended up affecting the impact of the progression and viewpoint of the development, especially as a viewer. As a whole, it IS a complex and compact set-up that fits in the (sometimes hilariously absurd) worldbuilding of Aggretsuko. Severe workplace standards and issues, highly competitive and unhealthy environments, and the bane of miscommunication. However, some resolutions here were abruptly sudden, particularly among parties that had conflicts in behavior and perspectives, both social and business-wise. The switch up from a point of conflict to the next deal of cooperation is an expected outcome, but there was a lack of impact from the rather short immersion to some of the issues. I considered the idea that maybe the short episode runtime gave the season a disadvantage, but the watch through did not feel like a drag and we do have previous seasons to see that its quality can remain strong even in critical points of the show. This does not go to say that the 4th season was bad. The 3rd season was just so good (in my opinion). There are still highlights here. The romantic pining is one of the more common ideas here, but it was being handled carefully and respectfully. The idea of necessary evil is also apt and strong in the scene of adult workplaces, but it left much to be desired due to the odd fixation for a direct villain that should be lambasted. As much as I do sound very critical of the show, it's only because I've seen its potential and have witnessed its greatness in many striking scenes. I love this series, and it's still quite underrated in the anime sphere. Don't judge a book by its cover, and all that. Just like you don't hastily judge your coworkers or people in general, because there are indeed a lot of shifty things going on around us. It's only inevitable that these may clash with personal principles, which Aggretsuko still does a very great job of highlighting and building upon. At this point of the show, it's clear that personal viewpoints on Aggretsuko are bound to be different per viewer. It has touched so many things, and some aspects will resonate more than the other. I very much still enjoy the ride and can't wait for the final season to conclude.

Aggressive Retsuko Season 4, was not as good as i expected to be, it was not bad either but did not live up to its Hype. Season 1, 2 and 3 did great but IMO season 4 is the worst out of all of them, reason being is it kinda loses its touch, and the fact that retsuko is not really focused on as much makes it lose its charm, at the same time, I wanted to see more of Retsuko death metal singing. The story itself is not too bad, but I find sometimes shows can go past their sell date, meaning they keep adding seasons, but the show starts to lose its charm. The show it self with all seasons included is an 8.5, but this season is a 6.5 hence that is why i rounded the score to 7. If you watched all 3 seasons of the show, I would still say check out season 4 as well.

I want to say how much excitement i've contain when this released, i want to know their life as couple and since this is aggretsuko. Ofc this would show some relatable moment such as, first date never or rarely gone smoothly, or any problem that usually virgins get when they gone on dating. Especially the beginning episodes, haida being coward, retsuko doesnt even know haida well, how haida being around retsuko is not perfect. It was shown that YEAH, THIS IS AGGRETSUKO. This show always kinda gives a lil advice on our key of life which is 'patience'. Yeah haida being puzzy is pretty nerve-wrecking but its not a scene that they should discard it. I dont like when they started to go on 'main character' energy or 'anime' energy instead of having logical scene that they've given us for past few seasons. I get that abusing power and fraud is bad, but suddenly they pulled out 'Ratsuko actually popular in media and now she need an acc like direc. Ton'. Im like wut? The story move on in different direction so fast and everything literally went well according to retsuko. I do happy for haida to changed and not doing what the former director told him to but, I still not happy about how the scene being spy kids and then retsuko burst with hyper beam??? This season a lil bit off track ngl. I mean if i would to complain about this, season 3 is already weird but at least it still give us on how retsuko grow and how she actually desperate to change job. But this? I dont know what to say, i can only conclude that retsuko only have a prob with haida being coward for NOT confess her. and thats it. The only main problem is the story flow. It was ok at the beginning but kind of weird in the end. The new characters are ok, i mean i only thought about the antagonist. I kinda hope that next season is haida finally with retsuko but i kinda felt like this is producer intentitional. What if they actually didnt get together again in next season. I mean its been 4 seasons hes been giving hint but they never get together lmao. Such a tease

As a pretty big fan of this show I was very happy to see yet another season come up in my recc on Netflix! The show gives us typically what I have have come to expect, a new adventure for Retsuko, a new character, and some development with Retsuko's relationship with Haida. This season surprisingly gave us more focus on Haida than previous seasons, which i was really happy to see. I love him as a character and was happy that this season focused more on him. The season dives into new company management, and it further develops on it's themes of the working class Japanese person and the struggles that accompany that. I found the new character less compelling than in previous seasons, and the main plot point of the book-keeping and Haida was new however was less fun to watch as I feel it diminished the characters. Honestly the character that got the best development this season was the manager Ton. However i find that, after watching 4 seasons of the show, the plot is getting kind of repetitive and somewhat predictable. I think it's always cool to see Retsuko developing as a character, but when it comes to her and Haida's relationship i have to say it's a bit exhausting. At first, season 1, 2 maybe even 3 it was exciting to watch them possibly get together, but I am at the point where i don't know if i even care at this point, it seems Retsuko just does not like Haida. Ok so past this there are some spoilers in the review: when her and Haida seem to finally start dating, it seems so, anti-climatic? And then she meets up with her ex still fora project and doesn't tell him. It is just becoming frustrating to watch Retsuko in any relationship because the more I do the less I like her as a character. So this season is fun, and if you like the series definitely give it a watch, however I hope next season gives us less repetition of the same themes.