Here, I present personal speculation regarding various aspects of the Aggretsuko comics. Obviously, I am not privy to any insider information and have never been affiliated with anyone working at Oni Press or Sanrio, so everything on this page is comprised of educated guesses based solely on publicly-posted material.
NOTE: I originally wrote this section on April 15, 2022. I went back and edited it (mostly correcting minor mistakes and rewording sentences I thought were poorly written) in the early hours of May 20, shortly before that month's solicitations came out. (I had assumed that it would reveal the next issue's cover and basic plot, but it did not.) All I had to go on was the plot synopsis provided for the first issue and the evidence I link to below.
NOTE 2: A very belated second update, on January 24, 2023: with the entire miniseries out, turns out I was very much off the mark. I'm keeping this here for posterity (and for whatever historic value it had), though I'm not altering it again beyond slightly changing the section's title.
After reading several tweets from Abigail Starling and Josh Trujillo, respectively the artist and writer behind Aggretsuko: Out to Lunch, I started wondering about the trajectory the overall miniseries would take. The first issue's solicitation contains a summary that's fairly open-ended, proclaiming that
[Retsuko] is overwhelmed by repeated messages to follow her dreams. But what are [Retsuko's] dreams? And how can she make them a reality?
The thing that spurred me into speculation mode was this specific pair of tweets:
Had to pick up this month’s Previews catalog— my first time on a mini-series is a special occasion, right? 🥰
— Abigail Starling (@Abby_Starling) March 30, 2022
But wait… what do we have here? 👀 pic.twitter.com/5DIO3u5fIJ
Now where have we seen that before, and what could it mean...? 😉
— Abigail Starling (@Abby_Starling) March 30, 2022
If you weren't already aware, she's alluding to a cover she did for a previous comic - specifically, cover B for the first issue of Meet Her World:
So what does this mean? Well, I have a couple different ideas. The first is probably the more logical explanation:
Retsuko decides to get into the restaurant/bakery business, believing that to be her dream. (Her frilly getup is likely her work uniform.)
This hypothesis explains the miniseries' subtitle and directly relates to the subject matter of the older cover artwork. In addition, I know that Starling is quite fond of illustrating desserts (her VTuber persona is a "sweets witch," after all) and she's repeatedly described how she incorporated things she enjoyed into her work here:
Ty friend!! The 4th cover isn’t done yet but so far the covers get increasingly self indulgent so I’m excited for the rest to drop haha
— Abigail Starling (@Abby_Starling) March 20, 2022
Working on the last cover for this miniseries, and y’all I cannot believe I actually get to draw this for work I am THRIVING pic.twitter.com/ampItVQrSB
— Abigail Starling (@Abby_Starling) April 8, 2022
This cover has so much pink it’s glorious
— Abigail Starling (@Abby_Starling) April 14, 2022
This is without a doubt a dream cover and the perfect close out for the miniseries. I’m so stoked. 🥰
— Abigail Starling (@Abby_Starling) April 14, 2022
However, there is another wrinkle to consider. Here's yet another tweet from Starling, this time from her VTuber-centric alt account:
This was a quote retweet of the physical PreviewsWorld catalog seen at the top of this very page. The way I'm reading this is that the miniseries' plot, post-issue 1, is so unusual and/or out-there that she can't believe it got approved (by Sanrio, most likely). Supporting this interpretation is this comment Josh Trujillo made while promoting his involvement:
It's this line of thought that left me second-guessing my initial hypothesis, though. Personally, I wouldn't think that Retsuko working in a restaurant or something along those lines would be that far out for an official Aggretsuko comic. I know Starling's comments could be interpreted as simple disbelief that they let her work her preference for desserts and frilly clothing into a professional comic, but even then I wouldn't call it "weird."
Furthermore, there's one more Twitter exchange I'd like to show you - this time, an excerpt from a public conversation between writer and artist.
It me, info dumping my niche subculture knowledge at you 😂 (I’m sorry) pic.twitter.com/WXDOPxOENx
— Abigail Starling (@Abby_Starling) March 30, 2022
I meant the next thing!
— Abigail Starling (@Abby_Starling) March 30, 2022
Again, while cooking and baking sweets could be described as a community, I don't think it would count as a "niche subculture." (I am not Abigail Starling, though, so I can't rule out the possibility that she simply chooses to word things differently than I would.)
At any rate, I started wondering what would be "weird" by Aggretsuko standards - not so much that Sanrio wouldn't sign off on it, but enough that it would be at least somewhat surprising that they would. In addition, it would have to be something involving a "niche subculture" that fits handily within Starling's wheelhouse - something she already thoroughly enjoys drawing.
My answer? Retsuko becomes a magical girl, dressed in the frilly getup seen earlier. After all, the artist is fond of shows like Sailor Moon and Madoka Magica.
Now, obviously I can't say exactly how this premise would play out. Part of me thinks that it would lean into Madoka for inspiration, with Retsuko being offered a chance to "fulfill her dreams" with something akin to Kyubey's wish-granting contracts... but this is just speculation utterly untethered from reality. I try to back up my thoughts with at least some evidence on this page. That said, I do wish to address one flaw with this hypothesis - why would the miniseries be called Out to Lunch if it had nothing to do with food?
One possibility answers this question: Retsuko becomes a food-themed magical girl. Absurd, yes, but it's not completely without precedent - as I mentioned earlier, Starling's VTuber persona is a sweets-themed witch whose design takes many cues from magical girls. Frankly, going this route would be quite self-indulgent - which is precisely how she described her covers for the miniseries' later issues.
Furthermore, it's worth mentioning that Sanrio seems reasonably hands-off with the license for the most part, given the absurd plots some previous issues have boasted.
In the end, of course, only time will tell whether any of these hypothesises (hypothesi?) are anywhere close to how Out to Lunch actually plays out.