Review: Aggretsuko: Meet Her World #1

With its simple conflicts and animated-style roots this Aggretsuko comic hearkens back to Sunday Comics. The office is our last true shared space and so an office comedy seems pretty contemporary. This book doesn’t try hard to create complex comedies or commentaries, but instead deals with the simple daily interpersonal dynamics of a shared office.

Here, Retsuko and Fenneko have to cover for Haida while he joins a special subcommittee which eventually accomplishes nothing of value. That subcommittee wreaks havok by keeping Retsuko working late to cover Haida even while keeping her friends Washimi and Gori too busy with Haida and the subcommittee to hang out with Retsuko after work.

It is a quant simple conflict with even simpler art but there is a charm about it. The best sequences are always where Retsuko goes truly insane and the art transforms to match her angry singing. The conflict ends as simply as it begins with the subcommittee simply ending and all the friends able to spend time together again.

The problem with the Sunday Comic Strip tone in a comic book form is that the conflicts don’t feel deep enough to justify the comic purchase. It does suit younger readers in the tone and innocence but the office setting is just an odd fit for an all ages entry. But everyone can relate to being left out of a group and in the end the conflicts here are fairly universal.

Writing: 3 of 5 stars
Art: 3.4 of 5 stars
Colors: 3.6 of 5 stars

Overall: 3.3 of 5 stars

Writer: Molly Muldoon
Art/Colors: Kel McDonald
Publisher: Oni-Lion Forge

Author Profile

M.R. Jafri

M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.