Between the condescension from her co-workers and the pressure from her boss, stress is life for 25-year-old office worker and red panda, Retsuko. Her meek attitude often causes her to be stepped on by everyone in her company, but she has an outlet – singing death metal karaoke about the hypocrisy of her peers. Even if it is just in her head, it is her way to let off steam.
I feel like these days, no one is a stranger to stress. Series like Aggretsuko are about stress to relieve stress for the watcher. If you are looking for more soothing and comical anime recommendations like Aggretsuko, head on down below.
Anime Like Aggretsuko
For Fans of Animal Comedies
African Salaryman
Leaving the Savannah behind, an lion, toucan, and lizard all try to navigate the tougher environment of a Japanese office.
They are both animals in a stressful Japanese office. No death metal in this one though, and African Salaryman has more of a primal animalistic-ness to it.
Line Offline: Salaryman
This is the comical stories of those that work at the fictional Line Cooperation. Each fits a trope from office life from the narcissistic company boss to that lady from that one department on constant fad diets that don’t work.
If there is one show most like Aggretsuko, it is this one. While there is no stress-relieving “REEE,” the office has the same sort of stereotypes.
Polar Bear Cafe
Located near the local zoo, the charismatic polar bear Shirokuma decided to open his eponymous cafe. As a popular spot for humans and animals alike, it is a good place to relax after a hard day.
The animal characters in Polar Bear Cafe aren’t chibi-fied and the story takes place in a cafe instead. However, it is still comical shenanigans by animals in the workplace.
Shiba Inuko-san
Chako is a normal school girl, but there is one abnormal thing about her life. Her desk mate, Shibainuko, appears to be a Shiba Inu in a school girl uniform, but no one else notices.
Shiba takes place in a school and there is only one animal character. This makes it a different sort of comedy, but still a pretty good one.
For Fans of Workplace Difficulties
Hataraki Man
Working for a magazine company, Hiroko Matsukata is a woman that puts everything into her job. Known as a strong, straight-forward woman, she often goes into Hataraki (working man) mode. Despite her success at work, her life lacks romance, primarily because her boyfriend is as hard a worker as she is.
Both series follow women in the workplace. However, Retsuko faces typical women problems while Hiroko mostly avoids them by acting kind of like a dude. Still, it highlights the various stresses in a mostly comical way.
Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-San
This is the story of Honda-san, a skeleton that works in a bookstore. He mans the manga counter and fulfill requests for his strange customers like Gintama tentacle doujinshi and deals with his variety of equally odd co-workers.
While Honda-san is definitely more of an otaku comedy, it is still very much a workplace comedy too. Furthermore, it is about characters that are not quite normal humans.
Wotakoi: Love is Difficult for an Otaku
After discovering they work at the same company, a gaming otaku and a fujoshi rekindle for the first time since middle school. After some good old fashioned after work drinks, they decide to start dating, but dating an otaku as an otaku is more difficult that one would think.
If you are looking for something a little more realistic, Wotakoi can fit that. It is an otaku comedy for sure and also a romance show, but it similarly highlights the issues women in the workplace face compared to their male peers.
For Fans of Death Metal
Detroit Metal City
The popular indie band Detroit Metal City is known for captivating audiences with its dark death metal. The lead singer in particular, Johannes Krauser II, is infamous for being like a demon straight out of hell. However, unbeknownst to their many worshipers, Krauser’s normal self is the soft-spoken average college student Souichi. Switching between them leads this young man on a number of misadventures.
Aside from the animal bit, these shows have quite a bit in common. Soft characters sing death metal, for different reasons, but do so well. That is the basis for the comedy in the shows a lot of the time.
Zombieland Saga
For Sakura Minamoto, she started her day off normally, right up until she skipped outside and got hit by a speeding truck. She died, of course, but 10 years later, she wakes up as… a zombie. However, her story is just beginning as a man wants her and several other undead girls from throughout Japan’s history to become a regional idol group to save Saga from becoming an obscure prefecture.
While there is really only one arc where the idols sing death metal in Zombieland Saga, what this and Aggretsuko most have in common is they are unexpectedly amazing comedy shows. If Aggretsuko brightened your day, Zombieland Saga will make you laugh your ass off.
Do you have any more anime recommendations like Aggretsuko? Let fans know in the comments section below.
