Episode Guide
What a Drag… So Dizzy Is That the Best This Country Has to Offer? Ahhhh You’re Rotten to the Core What a Cool Mascot How Many Eggs are in that Omelet? Give Up Already We Wanna See Our Mum I’m Pooped… Spoilers for the ending ahead! Gudetama is an absolutely bizarre show that starts off as a quirky adventure and soon turns into a surreal fever dream. I do appreciate this is tailored for kids and you definitely need to leverage your expectations with this one accordingly. The animation though is great and the voice acting decent, even if the narrative is a bit shaky at times. The story begins in a sushi restaurant before progressively becoming more expansive as the 10 episodes evolve. A lethargic lazy egg is hatched called Gudetama, who’s determined just to wait for his death and lounge about all day. Counteracting that though is Shakipiyo who wants to meet their mother and discover what life is all about. As a result, the pair end up leaving the refrigerator and head out into the wider world. These polar opposite creatures end up getting into all sorts of mishaps – even meeting the Prime Minister! The real stand-out moments though are when Shakipiyo and Gudetama meet likeminded food but the show does run out of steam before it hits the final episode. Usually we wouldn’t spoil the ending in a review like this but it’s worth pointing out because the themes and messaging in Gudetama are… subjective, to say the least, and it’s something parents should definitely be aware of. Gudetama wants to die (be eaten) all the way through the show and throughout the 10 episodes, he does very little other than tag along for the ride and try to eat soy sauce. He also manages to get out of trouble a lot thanks to plot contrivances (evidenced in episode 4 when he survives splatting on the pavement at the last second). By the end, Gudetama is encouraged to basically kill himself and choose what way to do that. Eventually he’s gobbled down and eaten by grandmother farmer. It’s an absolutely bizarre scene and I’m not quite sure glorifying death in this way is what Gudetama was trying to achieve. Beyond that though, Gudetama has a playful sense of humour and some of the jokes are genuinely funny. There are a lot of gags throughout the show and these work well against our central duo, especially as they’re so different in their outlooks on life. There are several occasions across the run-time where this duo meet human friends and foes, who seem to recognize them as sentient beings and other times don’t bat an eyelid. There’s never really a hard and fast rule around this but ultimately they work to add some educational content to the show, although these are sparse. Gudetama isn’t quite the eggcellent adventure it wants it to be but there’s enough charm in here all the same – despite a bizarre message in the final episode about death – that’ll keep you watching until the end.
