Review of Aggretsuko (ONA) 3rd Season

I can't believe I have to give this a 10, but this season is objectively better than the preceding two & they were solid 9's to begin with. I really liked the previous two seasons however this season is kicks it up a gear in that some characters have to get more introspective on what they really want from life. As well as their place in the world & who you want/wish to spend your precious life hours with (more so even than last season). It gets real & complicated in a way that the other two didn't & feels more like a lived inworld, when one gets caught in a cycle that's difficult to escape in and around rock bottom. As well as highlighting the consequences for poorly defined boundaries & the problems that arise from not setting out what one really wants.

Mild spoilers below:

(of course I am talking about the issues Retusuko has surrounding VR lol)

I read somewhere that this series is much more popular with adults than most other animations & I can see why. As someone who has done my fair share of time in the salt mines of soul crushing office work all this rings true, with the occasional nagging thought 'is this it? will things ever get better? what if this is as good as it gets?'.

I want to thank whoever wrote the dubbed script & included critiques of capitalism & exploitative working because not many do (as most media organizations don't like their flaws pointed out as netflix found out when they posted the 'screw capitalism' song on twitter) & sometimes honesty can really take the load off of the day to day malaise, so thank you for that.

One thing that I do think that perhaps should have been explored more in depth this season (& wasn't delved into perhaps to make a salient point) was aggressive gate keeping fan culture. As this season has been quite controversial with Haidas actions regarding choices, less screen/story time for some other fan fave side characters & what some say is a rushed ending (I don't think so personally).

I see similar posting of how it should of gone or be done, which makes me appreciate the show a little bit more & how something that can give you joy can be twisted into an obsession & hate if you let it. The last few episodes are tense in a way that I wasn't expecting & also scary to me in how real it got.

I really liked Retuskos development this season, the new characters introduced & where this could go, also kudos to whomever came up with the idol song as it slaps hard & is currently stuck in my head for the last week & expect it to be there forevermore!!!