On September 25, 2022, Netflix Anime on Twitter posted a trailer for Gudetama: An Eggcellent Adventure. The trailer reveals the release date and answers a question that’s been bugging me for years.
What’s up with this egg thing, and why do I see it everywhere when I shop at Hot Topic? First, none of the workers could tell me much about this character; now it has a movie.
It also has a YouTube channel, various merch, a train, an Air-bus, restaurants, a video game, music, and a tv-series. Did I mention the YouTube channel also has English episodes?
What’s Gudetama: An Eggcellent Adventure?
Gudetama: An Eggcellent Adventure is a live-action and CG animation road movie produced by Gathering and will stream on Netflix on December 13, 2022. The teaser reveals the film will hold an origin story for Gudetama, so newcomers don’t have to worry about doing additional research to understand the movie.
Gudetama’s egg is knocked out of a basket by another egg hatching, and Gudetama forms on top of its white part of the egg. The newly-hatched chicken, Shakipiyo, believes they are siblings and want to find their mother.
Gudetama doesn’t want to, but Shakipiyo doesn’t take no for an answer, and the two escape from the refrigerator! But Gudetama has an expiration date, and this one human, Inoue, wants to find Gudetama.
But only people who are feeling listless can see and hear Gudetama, so we’ll have to wait to see how that works out for Inoue. Finally, the trailer introduces us to Satoru and Yuri.
They’ll befriend our unusual duo, but can a couple of university students defeat the too-hardworking Inoue? The theme song for the movie is Gudetama March by Yuko Hara.
Why is the lazy egg so popular?
Unlike most anime characters, Gudetama is aimed at an older audience. It also doesn’t have a gender and is listless and lazy.
Gudetama’s design is a representation of society’s expectations. Since Gudetama is the egg yolk instead of a whole egg, society only wants the best parts of a person.
Namely, to be hardworking, obedient, and take all matters of abuse without complaint. As someone who has worked in a customer service job for 10 years, Gudetama is my kind of character.
Gudetama doesn’t see the point of doing your best or exerting effort for something you don’t want to do. The only thing that can motivate Gudetama is soy sauce.
Which also plays into Gudetama’s impact on food culture. Japan has an elevated appreciation for food, and eggs are a big part of Japanese cuisine.
The trailer hasn’t shown us all of the characters in the Gudetama franchise, but I hope the next trailer does. I need to know how Gudetama can be turned into a fully-cooked food item and then turned back into a yolk!