Hello Kitty, the queen of wide-eyed cartoon cuteness, has a new playmate: A beer-chugging, heavy-metal-loving, corporate drone named Aggretsuko.
Sanrio, the creators of the iconic Japanese stationary characters Hello Kitty, Keroppi, Pochacco, and Gudetama, bring you a heroine for the next generation of stressed toddlers: A rage-filled red panda who hates her job. Sanrio first debuted Aggretsuko, which literally means “aggressive rage-girl,” on office supplies in May 2016.
An introductory video released Dec. 19 shows that she, as the kids say these days, “is all of us.”
Aggretsuko is a single 25-year-old female who commutes half an hour every day on a packed train to her office, only to be drowned in paperwork once she arrives. Aggretsuko’s job is at a respected trading company, but she works in the accounting department as what’s called an “office lady” in Japan, or “OL,” essentially a secretary. “She ultimately has become a pushover within the company,” says her bio.
Weighed down by her daytime responsibilities, Aggretsuko lets her cute exterior fall away at night, when she hits the karaoke bar to glug down beer and belt heavy metal. “I’ll quit one day anyway!!! This is not my fate!!!” cries her inner metal head.
In a one-minute Christmas special (video in Japanese), upon seeing a Christmas tree and cuddling couples, Aggretsuko heads home to drink sake alone in her apartment and let loose a torrent of musical rage.
Sanrio’s original characters like Hello Kitty, who first said “hello” in 1974, are historically cute, happy, curious, and fun-loving. (Perhaps with the exception of Badtz-Maru, the eye-rolling penguin.) But Aggretsuko’s personality complements that of Sanrio’s newest hit character, Gudetama, a lazy egg rolled out in 2013, whose catch-phrases include “meh” and “seriously, I can’t.”
If she ever makes it big in the US, Aggretsuko will fit right in with the modern-day, wine-soaked American working woman, who speaks sweetly and carries a big stick.