Gudetama: Mindfulness for the Lazy was cute and informative. I think any fans of Gudetama and other Sanrio characters will enjoy this guide. As someone who has taken classes in mindfulness, I found this to be a good refresher. I’m going to engage in some self care now by taking a nap.

...why am I even surprised that me and this egg have different understandings of mindfulness. What I'm left with after reading this self-improvement guide is the vaguest definition of the concept. Yes, Gudetama, breathing techniques are an essential tool for relaxation and anxiety relief, but what are they? Please elaborate???

This comic doesn't offer revolutionary advice, but teaches mindfulness in a succinct, easy-to-consume, and utterly adorable way.

This comic was a perfect breather between some more serious books I've been reading. It was refreshing, sweet, and simple. Gudetama always makes me smile and the art was a delight.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to give an honest review!

This may be to do with not being in the target age demographic anymore or the fact I’m not really a Gudetama fan but I felt this manga was all over the place and rather over the top. All I see from it is an egg who’s lazy and has a eccentric sidekick to cheer people up since of course, this is based on mindfulness after all. I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty cute and colourful but it just click with me to continue reading it. I think I’ll stick to it’s merchandise (if I visit Japan in future).

I definitely suggest this to Gudetama fans out there though! ☺️

This was a really sweet comic book with an uplifting message about being mindful about others. The story follows two characters through a day filled with many scenarios. The first character is trying to teach Gudetama the importance of being mindful everyday and how it is helpful to pay attention to those around you. I felt the graphics were nicely drawn and very colorful. The messages were clear and concise, but I did feel that the story went on a little longer than it needed too. Younger children might lose interest because of its length. I also was not a fan of the font choice used. The letter ‘U’ read like ‘LI’ and it was difficult to read. Many times I had to reread the same sentence numerous times because of this. Overall, this was a great little comic with a powerful message and it has a lot of potential.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A very cute book! It teaches some great lessons about mindfulness, but also touches on the fact that sometimes, it can be very hard! I am in my mid-20s and there are definitely still things in this book I need to remind myself of on the daily. Can’t wait to get my 9-year-old niece this book when it comes out—she’s been very interested in anything manga, cartoon, graphic novels, etc. and I think this content is wonderful stuff we need to teach kids at a young age.

"Gudetama: Mindfulness for the Lazy" is a cute, funny, and lighthearted glimpse into mindfulness and social awareness. The short comics in this book start out with Gudetama learning about the concept of mindfulness while going along with Nisetama to help people, and go on to cover a range of situations: acknowledging other people, feeling overwhelmed at work, disagreeing with friends and relatives, letting friends down, sharing fairly, replying to people online... Gudetama and Nisetama have some advice for most common problems! I also liked that these comics emphasised that while everyone will make mistakes and it's important to not be judgemental and forgive people where possible, "you don't have to forgive everybody. And that's okay."

Most of the comics are one-off standalones, but there is a longer arc running through showing a character called Swathi greeting people, and the repeatedly grumpy response of one old man in particular. Gudetama speaks to this old man on a couple of occasions, asking why he doesn't respond to Swathi and being told variations of "I don't have to if I don't want to". In the last comic of this arc, Swathi is woken up by the old man cheerily going about greeting everyone just like Swathi was in the beginning. This seemed quite suddden, and I would have liked either an extra comic showing how this man suddenly became more friendly, or some extra frames in the last comic with Gudetama asking what had changed his mind. I'm also not sure which pronouns are supposed to be used to refer to Swathi - in the first comic Swathi is referred to as she/her in all frames, but in all of the later comics Swathi is referred to exclusively as they/them - though this hasn't affected my rating since it might be corrected in later edits before the final version is published.

Visually, I love the art style and composition of these comics. They are full of movement and emotion, and you get a great sense for how the different characters behave. I also love the colour palettes chosen throughout, and how the level of detail varies based on the mood and setting of each frame.

While I'm sure that to most adults the recommendations in these comics won't all be brand new information, they are nice reminders of small improvements we can make. I think this would also be an excellent gift for teenagers or addition to school libraries as a simple and funny advice book for young people.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to both NetGalley and the publisher.

This was a short, but sweet and cute graphic novel that served as an introduction to Mindfulness. Gudetama is a character I'm familiar with so this made the graphic novel more enjoyable for me. The art style was very good, however it did feel a bit overwhelming and chaotic at times because there was so much colour and detail in the panels. It's clear that the author is a very good artist, but I feel like it would have benefitted from a little less being more.

The commentary was nice and I feel like there was some good pieces of advice that the reader can take away about Mindfulness and apply it to their lives.

I love gudetama and this was a fun read through. Couldn't take any mindfulness tips seriously because I just thought it was all cute. Would definitely work for a young teen or child though!

Gudetama is an adorable lazy egg, and this easy to read and understand comic is the perfect introduction to mindfulness for people who don't want to slog through the sometimes exhaustingly long self-help books.

The art style is gorgeous and clean, and the examples used in the comic are really relatable for the current climate. You don't know how to avoid being mean on the internet when someone overwhelms you with negativity? Gudetama will guide you gently through the acceptance of the experience, things to be mindful of before speaking, and how to go into the experience less emotionally connected to bring a positive ending. But not too unrealistically, the guy in the example is mean anyway. #PerfectlyImperfect

While this isn't an exhaustive guide on mindfulness, it is a really cute and fun way to introduce the concept. As mindfulness is such a useful tool this is a great way to begin thinking about it, especially if you like all things cutesy!

Cute book that introduces the basics of mindfulness in an approachable way. Gudetama the lazy egg is our guide through brightly illustrated examples of what mindfulness means.

I'm not sure this would teach mindfulness in a meaningful way to someone who is completely new to it. This seems more appropriate for someone who is at least familiar with the idea and can keep up with the disparate examples - some of them not exactly related to mindfulness (finding someone's phone and trying to decide whether to keep or return it is indeed an ethical dilemma of sorts, and requires careful consideration, but doesn't match my idea of what mindfulness actually is. "Let's be the change we want to see in the world!" is great, but just not a good example of mindfulness for someone who is trying to learn. Or maybe I just don't have the best understanding of what mindfulness is?!) It also has an example of not taking more cake than you need - again, more a lesson on morality than mindfulness.

It does briefly but effectively explain the concepts of sympathy and empathy. I was surprised and pleased to happen upon nonbinary representation - one character refers to his best friend as them/they. There are some good examples of productive/collaborative conversations that work through conflict. There is also a good section, with specific questions, on how to be mindful on social media. My favorite image is of Gudetama laying down and staring up at the clouds.

Overall, this was a cute graphic novel, but it was not for me.

super entertaining, with nice characters and with everyday stories that bring out the best in you.

Very easy to read, with nice illustrations, attractive colors made my reading enjoyable and special.

But above all this type of books makes me more pleasant to open my mind and understand my environment and how it is to put on the shoes of others.

I honestly loved this. It's such a short but lovely read and it really made my day. Fans of Gudentama or just Sanrio in general will love this beautiful book.

This book is a great introduction to mindfulness in small steps. It does not expect you to have any previous knowledge on the matter and makes it fun to learn.

Gudetama: Mindfulness for the Lazy is a comic detailing different ways to incorporate mindfulness in your everyday life to make yourself and those around you happier. Through delightfully illustrated examples, the book follows Gudetama as he visits people encountering issues and offers helpful strategies.

What a cute book! I knew I would like it as I am a fan, but the strategies and examples really were great. I love Gudetama's signature humour and found it an interesting accompaniment to the mindfulness strategies suggested to make everyday stressful situations easier.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I do not recommend this book for teen library collections. It is charming but disjointed and, at only 48 pages, will likely not appeal to teens. I am not sure who the target audience is intended to be. The illustrations are very juvenile (in the "Chibi" fashion) but the situations are more adult.

Gudetama is a fairly popular Sanrio character. He is a little egg and is known for being somewhat lazy.
This book teaches key ideas about mindfulness and self-care by having Nisetama (a human dressed as an egg) teach Gudetama and others in a comic strip.

The artwork is crisp and cute - it’s a style I love and I saw that Woo-Jin Clark has also worked on Bee and Puppycat and Adventure Time which are similar in style. The colours pop, everything has a bubbliness to it which is friendly and fun.
Content-wise, there are lots of aspects covered such as meditation, social media, friendliness and positive attitude, sharing, self-care, organisation, personal space, sympathy and empathy.
You can dip in and out or read it all at once and it’s a short and easy read.
I really enjoyed reading the comic strip and seeing the life lessons in action. I certainly will take on board done if the lessons - especially relating to social media use!
This would make a nice gift or can be a little self-care treat!

Very cute and educational! I really enjoys that it is an acessable way to teach people way to teach people little ways to be emotionally intelligent for themselves and others.

This was a fun and quick read. I would definitely recommend this book to my students to help them learn about mindfulness. I loved how gudetama and its friend taught the readers to practice mindfulness in there daily attivities. Loved the colorful llustrations too.