I've noticed that this is a widespread problem with Japanese story telling. A work that starts really strong begins to slowly lose what made it interesting begin with until by the end it's unrecognizable and usually hot garbage. Naruto. Attack on Titan. Beastars. Dragon Ball. And as you've noticed Aggrestuko. I think Literature Devil explained it best in his video on the differences between Eastern and Western storytelling. Western story telling tends to be very conflict-centric, which requires a beginning, middle, and end to be defined from the word-go if it's going to work. Eastern Storytelling seems to give the protagonists a goal to work toward with the path to get there being very vaguely defined, and the little things that happen along the way are the story. Great for making a cast of believable characters. Not so much for having a coherent plot with a satisfying resolution.
I\'m going to check that video, but one of the biggest problems of the franchises you\'ve used as an example is broad, blatant and violent Executive Meddling. Naruto and Bleach were forced to continue way past the point where the writers had any sort of idea (in Bleach case it was worse, it has been said that the Soul Society Arc would be the **finale** not the first big arc). Beastars is a mess with constantly shifting tone and style (one saga its a romance, then it turns into a shonen, then it turns into drama), and the executive meddling in Dragon Ball is insanely infamous by now.
I think it was Bakuman (I may be wrong) who explored that content creators only have starter ideas and pitches because the market, and its executives, are roughly insane and demanding. In the end this method of producing stories ends close to tv series in the west: Lets milk this franchise as much as we can then cancel it when it doesn\'t profit anymore. I may be wrong though, but after Season 2 Aggretsuko definitely got aimless and clumsy.
I can't recall whether Bakuman ever said that specifically, but it shows that manga artists can be canceled at any time, making it difficult to plan ahead when they don't know how long they'll even be serialized. Additionally, they can't voluntarily drop their series, which is why Eiji decides to call in his favor to cancel his own series at the peak of its popularity. Because of that, a writer may not have the ending planned out when they start, and may not necessarily be able to end it on their own terms.
Wasn\'t it when they were trying to get their first series publicized through a contest, and the publisher suggests them to make an idea that is \'repulsive\'? It may be the translation I read, but I recall said publisher saying something akin to \"Don\'t need to have the whole idea ready, as long as you have a pitch and people like it\". But again, I\'m probably wrong since it has been SO long since I read it.
(And this idea of \'have the pitch ready, think about the story only after it\'s approved\' seems to be true regardless, since there are lots of mangas where the author didn\'t have any idea on how it would go after a certain point. For example, One Piece\'s author only planned stuff up till they went to the grand line, not thinking that it would be a success.)
I’m just stuck on the depressingly on-point description of the Japanese political climate there at the end…
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Starts with a death metal scream, ends with a whimper.
Not so fun fact, I had a job at an office, as the kind of 'do everything' guy. The years I spent there were utter hell, leading to depression. This is one of the main reasons why I end up disliking any sort of media that deals with 'lol this group of assholes in an office/work is mean and/or incompetent'.
So, when Aggretsuko first started, even if it was made with a japanese audience in mind, it really resonated with me. The bad boss, the office sexism, the atrocious work conditions, people licking boots and the squeeze of a capitalist lifestyle... the minutiae were different but overall the feeling was the same. I watched the shorts some months before the Netflix series aired, and followed the series to the end.
Basically, what started as a really solid slice-of-life about the frustrations of working in a hostile environment ended as a rather bleak and frustrating soap opera riddled with seriously bad advice, and a Status Quo is god message.
I chalk this to three main factors, one leading to the other: 1- The writing crew wasn't prepared. 2- Haida 3- STATUS QUO IS GOD.
Retsuko was originally a bunch of cutesy shorts with a simple structure, and out of nowhere they had to jump into a whole season with an overall arc. Seasons 1 and 2 still adhered to the main 'core' of seeing Retsuko navigating a chaotic and crushing life, tying up with her romances, and having to learn to stand up to herself. Those in my opinion are the best ones, haggling overall well between 'slice-of-life tidbits' and an overarching story and so on, but the author revealed that he only had material for two seasons.
And Netflix wanted more.
Without material for bitsy of slice-of-life, there is a sudden reliance on the overarching arc.
And on Haida.
I genuinely don't hate the guy, but he is a gigantic problem. He is a character meant for a long slow growth who was crammed in a tiny series and, because of his crush on Retsuko, due to the drama potential, he turns into a plot tumor. Whenever the narrative focuses on Haida, everything stops, and its nearly always the same thing: He likes Retsuko, but something prevents him from approaching and/or continuing with her (or moving on), and 100% of these problems come from himself. Either his lack of courage or maturity or need for validation. And when he solves a problem, another shows up by exposing another side of him. He starts as a whiny jackass devoid of a spine to talk to Retsuko, and ends as a man-child who can't even keep an apartment he is crashing on clean and constantly needs directions and orders. Its hard to sympathize with a dude that feels like a load all the time, there is some progression and he does grow up, but its such a tiny bit after so much time wasted on him that it feels negligible. Since the writers didn't plan far ahead, they couldn't wrap things up with neither him or Retsuko.
And this leads to the last problem: Status Quo is God.
Relying on an overall arch, yet unable to properly wrap up the leads (and without material to fill the 'slice of life part') everything started to crumble. Side characters were plainly forgotten, retconned, or flanderized. Retsuko herself sometimes acted like a hypocritical bitch who ditched her old friends in favor of her new ones, her bosses, only remembering the old friends when she needed a favor. Haida's whole existence resumed on pining for Retsuko and Fenneko's whole existence relies on telling Haida how much he is an idiot. The one I hate most is the retcon of how Ton is actually a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. Yes, he gave Retsuko good advice sometimes in the first two seasons, but it doesn't mean he is a good person (which doubles as a good real life advice).
And when you can't move the plot ahead, any sort of suggestion or movement that would solve this situation turns into a hindrance. So the good advice on how to deal with shitty situations is swapped by creepy, if not downright deranged advice in order to keep things going. I always felt that the writers wanted to double down on the social commentary, but they ended just brushing past SERIOUS problems in japan that are rarely talked about. For what reason, if they didn't want to anger the sponsors, or couldn't research. Season 3 only brushes about how shitty is the life of an Idol and how hard it is to achieve the top and had a perfect opportunity to wrap both leads up and give them happy endings without burying the series, but they backed off to Status Quo - Your job is more important than chasing your dreams.
Season 4 touches lots of serious problems, like the technological and mentality gap between generations and how blind tradition is crushing workplaces, and how sadly sometimes the best thing to do is, in fact, fire some people to save the company but the new CEO is evil and greedy, and all his good points about changing the company were down the drain. And changes to the traditional are going to put your company in the red. Yes this got so awful that I agreed with the villain.
Season 5, the last one touches again on the generational gap, but goes with more barbs, how Japan is basically dominated by a group of old people who yearns for the bubble era and ignores the plight of the younger generation who has to sleep in net-cafés, without any sort of hope for the future. But people will just blindly vote for people they already know no matter how awful the situation is, so attempts at change are meaningless. All you can do is rage in a Karaoke to voice your frustration even if nothing will change. Everyone just smiles and waves including Haida just casually chatting with his brother even if his family TRIED TO KILL HIM.
So this ends the series, could have ended with a bang and a rage against the machine, but its just a whimper. Personally I'd have focused on the side characters more (especially with the theme of masks) and showed THEIR point of view (could be interesting to see someone else venting about Retsuko, or Haida) and given Fenneko a boyfriend after all what she went through to get the leads together, gal needs one after that honestly sad moment with the PS 4.