Back in 2016, Sanrio — a.k.a. the company behind Hello Kitty — introduced the world to Aggretsuko, an adorable red panda with a dark secret. You see, like most of us, this cute-as-a-button critter works an office job that's so stressful, it makes her want to scream, and she does — demonically. When she's not dealing with her porcine asshole of a boss, you'll find her at the karaoke bar, done up in corpse paint, throwing back beers, and screaming along to death metal as if possessed. Not exactly Employee-of-the-Month material.
Two years after its initial release in Japan, Aggretsuko's eponymous cartoon is headed to Netflix on April 20th. Judging from the series' accompanying trailer, we're in for a lot of office intrigue, white-hot rage, cheap booze, and best of all….metal. Will Aggretsuko's be able to keep up her cvlt double life, or will she get the pink slip? Stay tuned.
Aggretsuko was originally conceived in 2015 by Yeti (a member of Sanrio's design team in Tokyo) for an office-themed design challenge the company was holding at the time. Sanrio vice president of brand management and marketing David Marchi told LA Weekly last year that the panda's 25-year-old age and relatable workplace struggles make her particularly relatable to grown-ups (which, might we add, are usually the ones footing the Netflix bill).
"A seven-year-old can still enjoy this cute little Aggretsuko red panda plush, but I think someone who is probably in the workforce — or at least understands what Aggretsuko is going through — can probably relate to her a little bit more and be a little bit more connected to her," he said.
