History Characters / AggretsukoMainCharacters

->'''Normal Retsuko:''' There are thousands of girls who work in offices just like me. But this girl has a secret up her sleeve and a mic in her purse.

->'''Metal Retsuko:''' ''CHOKE ON MY RAGE!!!''

* JadedProfessional: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. She hasn't become mean or anything, but 5 years have sucked Retsuko's hopes and dreams about her job to the point where she continuously flirts with skipping it.

* MaybeEverAfter: [[spoiler:The first season finale implies she is interested in Haida and would welcome the idea of going out with him, but the viewer isn't shown what happens after Haida's confession.]] The ChristmasEpisode reveals [[spoiler:she turns him down by saying she wanted to be JustFriends, which puts Haida in ''heavy'' depression.]] In Season 3, [[spoiler:it takes an attempted murder for Haida to push past that and end up with a more positive version of the trope]]. In Season 4, [[spoiler:after her and Haida's attempt to start dating gets derailed by their mutual insecurities and communication issues, the season ends with the two meeting in a crowded street on much better terms, but whether it's for a romantic date or a friendly outing is not clear]].
** [[spoiler:In Season 5, they are dating and eventually Haida moves in with her. This is itself a bucket of cold water on Retsuko's tendency to romanticize things, as she learns cohabitating with another person requires adjusting to their idiosyncracies and establishing firm boundaries. Both of which she does... eventually.]]

* SecretlyWealthy: Fenneko casually reveals that Haida's parents own the apartment building where he lives and they allow him to stay there rent-free. Season 5 reveals his family is deeply involved with national politics, with his father being a powerful representative in the Diet and grooming Haida's younger brother to be his successor. However, [[spoiler:ever since he caused a scandal by putting an obscene song on the internet]], [[SubvertedTrope Haida's family haven't given him any support besides the free room]]. [[spoiler:Once they find out he's unemployed, Haida loses even that [[DiabolusExMachina right after he blew most of his savings]]. He gets one last payoff from his family to keep a low profile during the upcoming election, but otherwise is cut off and [[IHaveNoSon practically disowned]].]]

The [[ProtagonistTitle title character.]] A hard-working and mild-mannered red panda who works a normal desk job as an accountant. However, she grows sick of her job and her coworkers at points, leading her to vent her frustrations into singing Death Metal.

In the TBS series, Haida is a spotted hyena and is a chick magnet who uses his looks to attract his female co-workers into doing his work for him.

Retsuko's best friend at work and a computer wizard. While the fennec fox seems cold at first with both her monotone voice and cold attitude, she generally cares for her friends and will do whatever she can to make sure they're happy.

* CatSmile: Her default expression, and it's rather fitting with her status as TheGadfly.

* TheStoic: She hardly shows any emotion aside from her perpetual CatSmile, but she has some NotSoStoic moments, especially when she gets drunk or faces Tsunoda.

'''Washimi:''' Be strong, we can't show any weakness at work.

->''"Call us girls again, I dare you."''

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Reality seems to love hammering itself down upon Retsuko's hopes and dreams.
** Following your dreams of self-employment and quitting your job is all well and good, but not if it means sacrificing your stability for a business that may or may not take off and can't reliably pay the bills until then.
** It is also a good idea not to use your company's internet, which they track, to complain about said company and visit sites about how to quit your job. They won't like it, especially when the company invested a lot of money into your training.
** Ratting out your boss' power abuse and sexual discrimination to the higher-ups may work in the short term, but when your boss figures out you're the one who snitched, all you've done is paint a bigger target on yourself.
** Getting married and becoming a full-time housewife doesn't lead to a HappilyEverAfter. Being a housewife has its own problems and should never be seen as a way out of your current situation.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** His walk through a GrayRainOfDepression at the last episode of season one results in him getting pneumonia, since he fell on the floor and laid there in the cold rain, rather than seeking shelter or warming himself up.
** The "Metal Christmas" special reveals he got shot down after asking Retsuko out in Episode 10 for two reasons. Firstly, Fenneko wonders if he's too clingy and wonders if that caused Retsuko to turn him down. Secondly, Retsuko just got out of a bad breakup and his enthusiastic proposition, while sweet, was probably too much after going through that recently.

* HappilyMarried [[spoiler:Engaged/Married to Haida in the final episode of Season 5.]]

* BosssUnfavoriteEmployee: Director Ton regularly singles out Retsuko for special abuse, because she managed to get him reported to his boss. Before that, it was because he believed her to be a short-timer (not without evidence), and could see her lack of motivation before anyone else.

* ButtMonkey: Things rarely go her way: she's at the bottom of the pecking order, singled out by Ton and Tsubone to do extra work, lives a pretty lonely life and she's an ExtremeDoormat to boot, making her an easy target for peer pressure. Not to say, most of her attempt to improve her relationship with her bosses end up making things worse for her.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: In the Netflix series, he isn't coasting on his looks and doesn't have his playboy tendencies, rather, he has a devoted crush on Retsuko and is a very nice, close friend to the main two characters.

* {{Leitmotif}}: A beat-heavy electro song (which sounds similar to the intro of Music/DonnaSummers' "Hot Stuff") appears often as they walk down the hallways.

* {{Leitmotif}}: A beat-heavy electro song (which sounds similar to the intro of "Hot Stuff") appears often as they walk down the hallways.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Downplayed and subverted. Outwardly, Retsuko is a sweet, kindhearted woman who is endlessly patient with everyone and willing to face humiliation and pain for the sake of the office. In reality, Retsuko is a sweet, kindhearted woman who fully gets how annoying and selfish most of her coworkers are and is desperately trying to find some way to escape her job and find a happy life ''somewhere else.'' Her Metal self goes into her [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech actual opinions]] on her workers and boss ''at length.''
** That said, [[CharacterDevelopment it takes her a while to realize]] how selfish ''she'' can be (albeit in a different way).

* PowerWalk: Their trademark at work, and one of the things that makes them so imposing. Gori even refers to it as their "baddest bitch in the room walk". Gori also mentions that walking like that is murder on her back.

* SenpaiKohai:
** Forms a small dynamic of this with Anai, who is 5 years junior to him, in some parts of season 2, and more in season 3, especially when they are out hitting a bar for a drink. Except Anai ends up looking like the more responsible of the two, when Haida [[CantHoldHisLiquor gets easily drunk]] he had to carry him home.
** Much less seen in the Netflix series, his good friend Ookami sometimes calls Haida "sempai," and often refers to him for help.

** [[spoiler:This jumpstarts her ''political career'' in Season 5, as "Aggretsuko" becomes the Death Metal voice shrieking on behalf of Japan's disaffected youth.]]

** [[spoiler:In Season 5, she shows Haida some tough love, putting the brakes on their relationship until he can get it together (this backfires on her a bit when the sensitive Haida is scared to tell her he got kicked out of his apartment and winds up sleeping at an internet cafe while he works temp gigs). Eventually she becomes the voice of Japan's angry youth.]]

* MeaningfulName: The first part of her name describes her species--a ''fennec'' fox. The "ko" suffix makes the name feminine in the original Japanese, which makes Fenneko literally a "fox girl" or "fox child". By [[LuckyTranslation sheer coincidence]], Fenneko sounds the same as the Spanish name of her species, "feneco".

* ScrewDestiny: Virtually everybody and everything is telling him to pick Inui. However he ultimately decides Retsuko.
* SecretlyWealthy: [[spoiler: Fenneko casually reveals that Haida's parents own the apartment building where he lives and they allow him to stay there rent-free, which would mean he is at least very well-off. Season 5 reveals his family is deeply involved with national politics, with his father being a powerful representative in the Diet and grooming Haida's younger brother to be his successor.]]

** Forms a small dynamic of this with [[spoiler:Anai, who is 5 years junior to him]], in some parts of season 2, and more in season 3, especially when they are out hitting a bar for a drink. Except [[spoiler:Anai]] ends up looking like the more responsible of the two, when Haida [[CantHoldHisLiquor gets easily drunk]] he had to carry him home.

* LuminescentBlush: Even more prone to that than Retsuko... and mostly when dealing with Retsuko (or drunk).

* AmbitionIsEvil: Haida's character arc in the later seasons has him suffering from too much ambition, [[InvertedTrope but also too little]]. He starts off season 4 in desperate need of [[GrewASpine the confidence and assertiveness]] to get any kind of functional relationship with Retsuko. Thanks to Himuro's approval, Haida seemingly manages to do this, advance his career, and make the company more financially-stable without firing anyone. But Haida then starts emulating Himuro's more ruthless businesses practices [[spoiler:and becomes party to serious fraud]]. After that leads to [[spoiler:his resignation]], Haida starts season 5 too morally deflated to [[spoiler:find a new job]] or even hold onto his savings.