As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
Fridge Brilliance
- Haida is very submissive and shy around Retsuko. As a spotted hyena, this makes sense as spotted hyenas have matriarchal societies where the males are submissive to the females.
- Ton's using an abacus was meant to reinforce how he is not good with technology. However, people skilled with abaci are known to be able to do faster calculations compared to those who work with calculators. It's also a highlight on how Ton got to his position as manager. He may be a chauvinistic pig, but when he works, he proves how fast and efficient he can be.
- Retsuko telling Kabae she was relieved because she was able to poop again after not being able to a few days (a lie to cover up the actual reason) gets so twisted by the time it reaches Haida, he's freaking out because he thinks she's pregnant. It's especially jarring to Retsuko, who outright asks if she's even looked pregnant at all lately when questioning why he's panicking. While Haida's not totally aware of it — and nor are the viewers — his overreaction is one of the first signs of his crush on Retsuko and how badly he's already hoping Retsuko isn't taken.
- The way Retsuko lands after jumping actually goes a ways to show her growth as a person. In the beginning, when we see her talk about her idealism with her job, she slips and sprains her heel after taking a leap. She's not really prepared for taking that first metaphorical leap into adulthood, and she will have to face the troubles of the world, and she stumbles and falls. As any young adult will do. But, at the end of the season, she takes the leap again but lands sure-footed on both her feet. She has experience and has worked past some of her troubles. She still has many of these troubles, and will have to face them, but she has learned how to better face and recover from them on her own. In other words, she has learned how to land on her own two feet, both literally and metaphorically.
- Right after Gori and Washimi talk to Retsuko about love, Retsuko sees Resasuke on her usual train, though he's not paying attention... and an outline/shadow of Haida can be seen in the background. Haida himself discusses Loving a Shadow a few episodes later with regards to his feelings about Retsuko, and it makes sense at this phase that Retsuko knows little about Haida outside of work despite his crush on her.
- Ton says he didn't remember a thing from the drinking night, but he goes right back to his old personality. If he really did forget everything that night, he would have continued looking for whoever ratted him out. He likely remembered everything and just decided to drop the subject. It could either be because he now knows that Retsuko has connections that go above him, or he did realize he was harming his employees with his brand of "management". When Retsuko started apologizing for "rudeness" he knew she would drop it if he did, and claimed to remember nothing.
- It may also have something to do with Japanese business culture. There are unspoken rules of etiquette to an office party like the one they are attending, one of the most important being that anything an employee says while drunk, even to a superior, is to be treated like it didn't happen the day after. Ton, being a hardass for old time traditions and apparently having a fondness for taking his employees out to these sorts of parties, would definitely follow this rule of etiquette and act like he has no idea what Retsuko is saying.
- The series finale confirms this. While Ton doesn't elaborate on why he dropped it after that night, he confirms that he remembers it just fine.
- Washimi warns Retsuko about the downsides of marriage during their chats in the first season. It wasn't just advice or concern. Washimi knows what she's talking about as she reveals in the second season that she was married before and divorced after only four months.
- It's very possible that Tadano might not be a donkey at all, but a mule. Mules are mostly infertile, hence him not wanting to have kids with Retsuko.
- Ton might indeed be grooming Retsuko, Haida and Fenneko to replace him one day, as not only does he drop Anai on them to train, but also seems weirdly proud of Retsuko and Haida being written up for complaints. He even helps them out (but fails) when Anai becomes a little too much for them to reign in.
- If you noticed the themes in this show, you would have known that Retsuko never would have married Shirota. The reason why she knew about Shirota in the first place was because her mother forced her into an Arranged Marriage (despite her Parental Hypocrisy on the matter). However, one recurring theme in the show is that Retsuko can and should assert herself instead of sucking up to the expectations imposed on her. If Retsuko would have married Shirota, the show would have implied that going through arranged marriages imposed by your parents is what is best and therefore are an exception to the themes. In other words, Shirota had to go through Aesop Collateral Damage.
- Tadano being terrible at driving and yet great a flying a plane foreshadows him and Retsuko breaking up over their incompatible world-views: Tadano is an idealist with his head in the clouds while Retsuko is comparably more down-to-earth and realistic. Tadano also acted dismissive of road safety laws (despite them being in place because of the real danger of hurting people on the roads) because he says he prefers flying where there is no traffic or rules. As Ton later points out, Tadano is "on another level" to people like Retsuko who want more grounded lifestyles, and because of that Tadano will never truly understand what she wants despite genuinely loving her.
- Ironically, Resasuke and Tadano have traits that would have made them perfect for Tsunoda. Resasuke is very plain looking, something that a social poster like Tsunoda would use to her advantage to make herself stand out more whereas Tadano being a tech mogul would make her more popular than she already was.
- Gori being a gorilla makes sense for two reasons. First of all, like Washimi being a (literal) secretary bird, it makes a good Visual Pun on her being the director of guerilla marketing. Secondly, she puts on a tough façade at work, but is actually emotional and insecure on the inside, just like how real gorillas put on a fierce-looking show when facing a threat, but are docile and non-aggressive most of the time.
- Inui and Haida's last meeting in his apartment has a moment that is very indicative of their true dynamic. While Inui is in the bathroom, Haida accidentally puts the curry on top of Inui's rice despite her specifying that she prefers it the other way around. This is because it's the way Haida likes it — he clearly has little regard for Inui at the moment. Despite entertaining her in his own home, he's not 100% into it and still caught up in his own thoughts (and feelings for a certain red panda). Would he have ever come to truly care for Inui like he cares for Retsuko? Who knows, but at this point he clearly didn't much.
- When Retsuko confronts Haida about cooking the books for Himuro, Haida claims he was doing this willingly and knowingly. Retsuko knows that he is lying because most likely Himuro threatened to fire Retsuko and others in accounting if he didn't cooperate. Also, Haida could not openly admit he was under such duress to Retsuko; it ties into this season's Character Development for him. At best, Haida sees himself as a nobody; at worst, he doesn't think he's good enough for Retsuko. Openly admitting he was under duress would have further hurt his honor.
- Season 5 reveals why he is considers himself as such. He is literally being paid by his own family to stay out of their affairs and being second fiddle to his younger brother. Another reason he accepted Himouro's promotions and proposals is because he could be seeing this as his way of succeeding in life.
- Retsuko losing her election is not treated as a major moment or as even any kind of a downer. Why? Retsuko managed to get second in a district where she was faced with a political dynasty, a slow start to her campaign and a party that was called everything from an irrelevant to a bygone fossil. Her presence managed to get her opponent to change tactics away from the do-nothing attitude they were stuck in and bring the party she was representing back into major prominence. That's no small feat and people have built political careers on significantly less! Hell, it even looks like Retsuko managed to get 40% of the vote.
- There also the fact that her tactics made Jiro change from maintaining the status quo to breaking the old system, something that is similar to what Retsuko was preaching. Even when she lost, she still won.
- The reason why Himuro had Kabae fired is the same reason he pushed Ton into resigning. Kabae is a skilled accountant, but she also picks up on everything going on around the office. She would've sniffed out the fraud.
- Episode 10 has Retsuko's summation of what she's learned over the course of the series start over Haida's Anguished Declaration of Love, and ends with the jumping and landing on both feet. "Metal Christmas" shows there is still a bit of a problem, however, in her turning down Haida and dealing with the end of Resasuke's break-up. It's unclear where the summation would actually work as a result, considering more drama comes up surrounding Haida's over-enthusiastic proposal and Retsuko's obsession with dating and social media over the Metal Christmas special.
- Haida's punk-inspired scream-out at Retsuko in the Season 3 finale raises an interesting question: did Haida know about Retsuko's Aggretsuko outbursts? Sure he was there at the office party, but he (and allegedly everyone else) couldn't remember it after passing out. So there's a couple possibilities. Maybe Haida did remember what happened at the party, or if he didn't, then Haida could have learned about it from Gori and Washimi. But what if he had no idea? What if punk screaming is how he expresses himself normally, like Retsuko, and was more than a simple appeal to her nature?
- The first out of the sequence of coworkers to ask how Haida is doing is Ton, who specifically asks after the program he's watching switches to coverage of the election. Of course an old fashioned news-watching man like Ton would know about the Haida family, and as his employer probably knew about Haida's background before anyone else in the accounting department. He's also shown to have hidden depths and be more aware of his underling's emotional situations than he lets on, knowing that the election is coming up he likely has already started to suspect Haida's family would crack down on him for having recently resigned his job.
- Why is the Party of Rage putting all of its chances on this dark horse candidate? It seems like they are putting all their hopes that Retsuko can win her election in order to revitalize their political party. They aren't. They don’t need Retsuko to win, although that would certainly be a major bonus. The plan is instead to use her popularity as an idol, and the political absurdity of choosing a death metal Idol to represent them in order to generate public attention and interest in the party of rage. The War chest is apparently depleted, it’s because they're so Money Dumb that they can't field anything for the race. They are trying to use her announcement, which has already happened, to revitalize their party across the entire election, meaning that they've effectively spread thin, beyond their usual political means. The fact that they are being talked about on the news cycle, and having people ask to interview them when they have only one seat in government and are considered a political fossil, means that even if she did nothing throughout the entire campaign and failed utterly, they would have gotten their money's worth out of her fame.
- When Retsuko quits her job, she mentions the CEO was very on board with the plan. The same CEO who runs a bubble economy theme park and is seen as out of touch. VS Haida's dad who strives for the glory days of the bubble economy. Why are they so different? Well, the CEO runs a THEME PARK. He's entirely aware it's just a facade, you can visit the past but can't stay, and he would be involved with stuff like pay roll, expenses, upkeep, food and drink, etc. Haida's Dad is so stuck he can't acknowledge how things have changed since the bubble economy and how that hurts others. The CEO acknowledges it's burst and that things need to change. (While he rings a few bucks out of people like Haida's dad)
Fridge Horror
- There are several additionally uncomfortable undertones to the already disturbing situation with Retsuko's stalker and attempted killer:
- The most disturbing part of this is that, outside of the stalking and attempted murder, everything else he does is perfectly legal. He pays to hold Retsuko's hands for five minutes fair and square, even if those five minutes involve verbally abusing her. And when he hunts her down to kill her, he doesn't bring something that could be recognized as a weapon like a gun or a knife, he buys a flimsy box cutter from the office supply store.note Like everything else about him, this is, unfortunately, Truth in Television: stalkers and murderers aren't primally vicious and stupid animals, they have a strategic, laser-guided plan to do what they know is illegal and not get caught.
- In a somewhat meta sense, there's also the fact that, even after the stalker has been caught and arrested, guaranteeing Retsuko at least a little safety, his actions still dictate Retsuko's life from that point on and, by extension, the rest of the episode. This is also Truth in Television for survivors of abuse and/or attempted murder: one of the reasons it's difficult for them to talk about their attackers is that even if justice is served and everyone believes them, having to talk about them is traumatizing in and of itself and puts the idea in their head that this person still has control over their life.
- Tadano buying the net cafe is treated as a funny quirk of his but then you realise that he just kicked all of Shikabane and Haida's fellow net cafe stayers out onto the streets. It is highly doubtful that it was returned to them after the election.
