Comic Review: Aggretsuko: Super Fun Special

 

 

Overview:

“Regency Rumble”

Everything has been going wrong for Retsuko. Her rice cooker broke, she is swamped at work, and worst of all, her favourite karaoke bar has been shut down for maintenance. Trying to distract herself from the oncoming depression, Retsuko dives into a popular book series. Soon, she is enthralled in the story and sharing it with all her friends. But, when a trivia competition comes to town, she learns that she may be taking the books much too seriously.

“Rare Record”

Haidi is thrilled to find a sale on a rare, out-of-print punk album. Unfortunately, a scalper also sees it as an opportunity to make a few bucks. Now, it is a race to the top floor of the record shop to procure the valuable record.

“Rage Quit”

Retsuko joins her workmates in a fantasy video game. Unfortunately, she is not that good. Her stumbling is quickly costing her team the match. Hopefully, a little bit of raging out can save the day.

 

Our Take:

Get ready for a slew of Aggretsuko content coming your way. This Super Fun Special is just the beginning of multiple new Aggretsuko titles dropping over the next couple of months. Of course, it is in the lead up to the long-awaited fourth season of the animated series being released on Netflix in December.

The Super Fun Special delivers on its namesake. This original one-shot title includes a trio of unique stories from three unique creative teams. Each of them delves into the adorably fragile world of Aggretsuko in entirely distinct ways.

The first story, “Regency Rumble”, is the most akin to an episode of Aggretsuko and is deservingly the headliner for the comic. The story offers many similar themes as the animated series, including focusing on Retsuko’s mental health. Ultimately, the plot takes our hero into a valuable lesson. Unfortunately, that lesson has little to do with the original message.

“Rare Record” offers something a little different as far as Aggretsuko is concerned. For once, Haidi gets to take the stage in his own short story. 

The piece explores a side of him that we don’t get to see all that often, his love for music. And the cute story offers a fitting end for a character that almost always fails to come out on top.

Finally, “Rage Quit” is entirely unexpected as it puts all the beloved characters into a fantasy setting. It is quickly revealed that they are players in a video game. However, it is nice to see the recognizable animal creatures submerged into a parody instead of the same old workplace setting.

All in all, the Super Fun Special manages to deliver a jam-packed comic for the Aggretsuko fan. As mentioned, the animated series will soon be returning to Netflix for its fourth season. But until then, it is exciting to explore the world further in the growing collection of comic books. While this one may not have the larger plots we have seen out of larger mini-series, it is still fun to explore these wonderfully adorable characters.