Retsuko got her shit together — now it’s her loser boyfriend’s turn

polygon.com:

After four seasons of office work, dating struggles, and death metal karaoke, red panda Retsuko has finally mostly gotten her shit together. She has a healthier relationship with work, sets boundaries, and has realized that just because some of her co-workers are difficult to work with, it doesn’t mean they’re bad people. She’s become more comfortable with herself and learned what she wants out of life, revealing her secret death-metal-karaoke side to her close friends. She’s grown into a person that she is mostly happy with.

The only big question mark in her life when this final season kicks off is her boyfriend, Haida, her former co-worker who had a huge crush on her for five years before they officially got together at the end of the fourth season. When season 5 kicks off, their relationship seems fine for the most part — except Haida is unemployed, and instead of searching for a job, he’s been falling into a pit of online gacha gaming. It’s now his turn to undergo some rapid character development.

[Ed. note: This post contains major spoilers for all five seasons of Aggretsuko.]

For basically half of the final season, the show pivots from Retsuko to Haida. At first it’s a little off-putting — after all, the charming red panda is the reason a lot of people love this show. But it makes sense; we know little about Haida’s life outside of Retsuko, beyond the fact that he is pretty tech-savvy, loves to play guitar, and apparently comes from wealth. He’s pined for Retsuko for four seasons (and five years before the show starts), but has been kind of a wuss when it comes to admitting any feelings for her. He’s been a devoted friend, but he hasn’t undergone the same growth that Retsuko has. So in order to give Retsuko her