For many of us , the vacation season is a time for stress and anxiety more than merriment and joy . Between the holiday party , confidential Santas , and transmitted obligations … there ’s just so much to take care of , not enough time to do it all , and you ’re mean to skip through it all with a Sung in your meat and a smiling on your side . Deep deep down , though , what you want to do it scream .

Retsuko , the furor - filled red red panda who stars in Sanrio and Netflix ’s Aggretsuko series , is the patron saint for those who notice themselves deplume between want to be societal and having virtually zero tolerance for the kind of judgement - numbing bull that inescapably come along with actually trying to be social . Though Retsuko is an already anxious individual by nature , a quickly - approach Christmas and a newfound addiction toInstagramhas her cranked up to 11 in Netflix’sholiday specialAggretsuko : We like You a Metal Christmas .

Being the tireless , distressingly - focused person that she is , Retsuko finds herself trapped in her office with a never - ending pile of employment to do and a pathologic Christmas giving from her terrible Bos Mr. Ton . Though the work is bad in enough in and of itself , We like You a Metal Christmas emphasizes the degree to which Retsuko ’s social media dependence factors into the somewhat new kind of emptiness she feel . The charge of endorphins she experience whenever her phone Inner Light up to alarm her to another “ like ” is something that Retsuko quickly bring in is as fleeting as it is addictive .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

More significantly , though , Retsuko also comes to empathize how performative one ’s existence online can be — and that , while technology is very much a good thing , it need not be the thing that defines a person . We Wish You a Metal Christmas could have very easy flow back on the tired “ social media bad ; meatspace good ” variety of moralizing that folks from certain generation are well - known for , but alternatively , it argue in favor of being more attentive about just what social media is and how one should let it influence the way they palpate .

While some aspects of Retsuko ’s liveliness on Instagram are a source offrustration , she does also regain joyfulness in the photos that she takes strictly for herself . zoom out a morsel more , Retsuko scroll through her Instagram feed is what puts her in the military position to have an interaction in the real world with admirer she actually care about . In a elbow room , We wish well You a Metal Christmas is have at the idea that social media , in some idealistic cases , should function as a kind of first step toward material - world interaction .

Then again , it might just be saying “ lumber off . ”

William Duplessie

Aggretsuko : We like You a Metal Christmas is now available on Netflix .

For more , make trusted you ’re keep an eye on us on our novel Instagram @io9dotcom .

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