Thoughts: Aggretsuko Season 5

About halfway through the fifth season of Netflix’s Aggretsuko, I found myself wondering if the show had finally gotten tired of its rage-fueled heroine. Like Season 4 before it, Season 5 focuses mostly on Haida, Retsuko’s former will-they-or-won’t-they co-worker turned boyfriend. When we left him, Haida was out of a job, thanks to a complicated series of events leading to his resignation. While I mostly enjoyed it, the reaction to Season 4 seemed largely negative; many fans felt that abandoning the core conceit of Cute ‘N Angry left the show feeling stale.

Season 5 addresses these concerns, but not at first. It takes about 5 episodes to truly set the stage for the grand return of the Retsuko we’ve missed, but I feel like that may have been the point; Retsuko finds herself in a state of peace when the season starts, but we all know there’s something stirring in there, ready to burst. While Haida’s journey of self discovery frustrates her at times, she’s been spending the duration of the show trying to control her temper, so she is cast as the understanding girlfriend who must dote on him as he figures shit out. It’s only when a mysterious politician from a clandestine Party of Rage tries to draft her as their candidate for the National Diet we see that spark return.

Yeah, politics isn’t exactly where I thought the show would go either, but I was fairly surprised with how it handled it all. Retsuko at last finds a practical purpose for her rage, and the show does, too — as it turns out, there’s a lot to be mad about in the word today, and rage feels like a natural reaction to it all. Instead of just being a cute juxtaposition, the heavy metal screaming turns its ire towards Japan’s aging political system in a way that feels genuine. Even if it’s likely a simplification, it’s cool to see a show like this dive into progressive rhetoric. It even ends in a realistic manner: Retsuko’s rallies bring the crowds, but she loses on election day after nudging her competitor ever so slightly to the left.

This being the show’s final season, the last couple of episodes also feature some nice full-circle moments. All the characters we’ve grown to love return and are given a quick, but satisfying send-off. There’s a particularly moving scene between Retsuko and a new character that acts as a torch-passing of sorts, one girl who has mastered her rage helping another girl see how it can be used for good. It’s a fitting way to end a show about managing your anger— to use it as a fuel for hope.