with the threat of escalation. As such, his professional and social skills are very lackluster, though his brick wall approach to criticism also renders him immune to the office politics others freely exercise. He is, however, receptive to Kabae's motherly approach, and gradually learns to get along with everyone through her, suggesting that he regularly suffers from extreme anxiety. He is also an excellent cook and later sells his home-cooked meals to his co-workers. In Season 3, he becomes more emotionally stable, having found a girlfriend and writing a cookbook as a side project. A donkey who is briefly Retsuko's boyfriend in Season 2. Initially shown as a lazy, jobless bum, Tadano is actually the founder of his own AI company that is quickly rising in stock and is both incredibly wealthy and intelligent. Tadano's laziness is attributed to the fact that he quickly loses interest in any task he finds mundane, and is driven to bring his AI program to the masses in hopes of moving society past late-stage capitalism, supporting programs like universal basic income. Retsuko slowly falls for the laid-back but driven Tadano after meeting him in driving class, unaware of his true identity, and starts a genuine, happy relationship with him. However, the relationship ends when Tadano revealed that he is not interested in having kids or getting married. Tadano remains a recurring character in later seasons, befriending the people around Retsuko and continues to support her and her friends without asking for anything in return. Retsuko's mother Retsuko's overbearing red panda mother, who is currently unnamed. Beginning in the second season, she regularly visits Retsuko, unannounced, trying to pressure her into marriage with one of many bachelors found via matchmakers. Despite her questionable actions, such as duplicating Retsuko's apartment key without her permission, she genuinely cares about Retsuko's well-being and gives her more opportunities to grow into adulthood by, often under immense emotional pressure, pushing her away from her comfort zone of "work, home, phone, sleep" as well as cooking and cleaning for her when she is visiting. A leopard who is a window washer at Retsuko's building by day and the manager for the up-and-coming idol group "OTM Girls" (short for Ōtemachi) by night. Retsuko initially meets him when she accidentally crashes into his van, forcing her to take up a second job as the group's accounting manager to pay off her debt. When