This was a very cute book featuring illustrations of Rilkkuma and friends. I personally loved the water color style the illustrations had, it made them feel very sweet and welcoming. The quotes were all about how to essentially better your life, some with a funny twist. My only complaint would be some of the translations seem slightly off, which does ruin the flow of the book. Other than that this is a very cute and short book, great for anyone who is a fan of Rilakkuma.

Even though this book was really simple, it was really soft and calming. The aesthetic of the illustrations is pastel without any hard lines, so it gives off a comforting vibe, and the animals are so cute. Sometimes you just need reminders that things will be okay.

Thank you NetGalley for the ebook. All opinions are my own.

I want to make it clear that I love Rilakkuma. I own plushies and Rilkkuma merchandise at home. I am also looking forward to watching the Netflix show this upcoming Spring!

Alas, I did not like this book. I understand that the translation may not have been 100%. The book mostly consisted of adorable drawings, but I had a hard time connecting with the book. Looking at the cover, its adorable. I assumed it was going to be a cute children's story, but it felt flat. It's a book of affirmations, and it was all over the place. And sadly, I felt it is forgettable.

This is not a book I would consider purchasing for myself, nor would I recommend it...despite my love of Rilakkuma.

This book got me screaming 'MOOD' to a few of the pages (especially the ones about bed because who doesn't love their bed?!) It's an adorable, positive book and the illustrations are so cute. I love Rilakkuma and this book was like a little pocket of sunshine!

Rilakkuma is a cute and popular fictional bear character created by Japanese author Aki Kondou in 2003. Rilakkuma is a transliteration of two Japanese words “rirakkusu” meaning “relax” and “kuma” meaning “bear” in English.

Kondou has written the book in a simple manner that has no plot, hence it can be read out of order. The cute words of inspiration that were intended by the author, have been lost in the English translation. In some parts of the book it doesn’t make sense. For instance, “Tears are tickets to going to bed” and “Even if you work really hard, you can still get drenched”.

The book would have been more enjoyable to read in a physical form, as the electronic format did not showcase the full colours and effects of the cute and simple illustrations.

Rilakkuma By Your Side by Aki Kondou is a pleasant and lighthearted book to read for children and readers who are young at heart.

Two words: Cute and simple. By Your Side is a series of different everyday scenes of Rilakkuma and his friends. It’s pretty sweet, a simple quote book filled with adorable art of the well-loved cartoon characters. It’s a book I would keep at my shelf and look through if I’m feeling down.

Don’t expect a lot from this book, it’s mainly pictures with some inspiring quotes alongside it. But it’s delightful and optimistic. I believe this was released in anticipation of Rilakkuma’s upcoming Netflix series, which I did not know what happening. And now I’m pretty excited to watch it.

The illustrations are waaay too cute, but I didn’t find any REAL depthness in the quotes/phrases. Besides, the edition format is difficult to read: the book is written in Japanese and it has english translation, buuut it needs fixing.

So, the art is adorable, but the content and style are kinda off.

This one was the cutest book I ever read, like ever
I loved it a lot and rilakkuma is really the best

In this book we meet the kawaii character Rilakuma in this short but handy quote self help guide book.



Reminding us to take care and listen to our emotions and bodily feelings as well as being illustrated with cute designs throughout featuring the popular kawaii bear.



This book is perfect for anyone of age and the bright colours of the book uplift you along with the positive quotes used throughout.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Super cute, inspiring and heart-warming read. I recommend it to anyone who likes cute drawings, inspirational quotes and Japanese culture/language. All the text in the book is both in English and in Japanese.

Cons: I think maybe the document was too heavy and I had trouble reading it on Adobe Digital Editions, every couple of pages or so the app seemed to block and I missed pages unless I went back again.
Towards the end, there were some repeated pages. Also, in some cases I didn't find the connection between the drawings and the sentences.

A book full of positive messages and encouragement. The graphics are just simply adorable. This will be a perfect book for children who need to be reminded of some of the messages included in this book.

THIS WAS CUTE.
I love Rilakkuma so I really wanted to read this book. I read it whithout expectations and like it.
The pages are random, so you can read the book in any order. The quotes were inspiring and the illustrations really cute and funny, although there were some parts that seemed disorganized(?). Some pages had illustrations without quotes or they didn't have any relation.
Would I buy it? Yes. I can definitely see it in my desk at work to keep me motivated. As Marie Kondo says, it sparks joy :).

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

I am familiar with Rilakkuma, the San-X character that appears as stuffed animals and in various Japanese stationary so I was excited to see such a book available for review and snatched it right up! I was expecting there to be more of a coherent story, but there isn't. The pages are more random and intended to give feelings and inspiration, the same way the stationary does. Added bonus for students of the Japanese language: the Japanese words aren't erased, they appear as original with English translations on the bottom.

I think this is the kind of book that's perfect as a gift both for people who are into Japanese stuff and also for people who like cute things like Pusheen. It's a relaxing kind of book you rarely see on the shelves of American bookstores. I just wish it had been longer.

"Mr. Moon is different everyday too."

This was the cutest and surprisingly meaningful. There were many little sayings that I related to right now and the pictures were an adorable addition. Even some of the more interesting translations ended up being particularly poignant, as I often find with translations. I plan to revisit this book often in the future and want to buy a physical copy.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Rilakkuma has always been my favourite character, and to have a book all about the worlds cutest little bear is amazing! The topics touched on were really great and wonderful at subtly talking about certain issues. I would definitely recommend this!

I seriously only got this book because of Rilakkuma. >v< I love Rilakkuma plushies and everything.
I get that it's a book for children but there just isn't really anything that is fascinating. The idea of a book about Rilakkuma and friends is cool but that really is just it. There's no plot and I really enjoyed how lay back the book is. You can pick it up any time of the day with your child or children and just read it with them. It's a really cute book. But the illustration is really light, there's no contrast. Everything is so light that it is kind of eye-straining to look at the illustration for long. But it's a simple book and it's really cute overall.

I adore San-x and everything that they create, especially Rilakkuma and his friends. Naturally, I was very excited to see this on NetGalley! Rilakkuma: By Your Side is a pretty cute book with, unfortunately, a lot of issues. The book can be read straight through but is actually meant to be flipped through when you need a pick me up. It's filled with sweet messages that can be very relatable and encouraging...one of my favorite pages was: "Sometimes you don't want to do anything." pictured with Rilakkuma lazing about while Kiiroitori cleans.

My absolute favorite part of this book is the illustrations. I appreciate that they are traditionally drawn & painted with watercolors (rather than digital). However, because these are scans of the paintings, the images appear low quality as the brightness and contrast are too high for digital devices. Also, I wasn't a fan of the choice of using Arial for the font in the book. Because of this, it feels disconnected from the original language and unfinished.

Image quality aside, the book's main issue is the English translation. There were quite a bit of typos as well as sentences that didn't make sense. Such as:
- "I want to dry together." while Kiiroitori is crying. I'm confused. What does this mean?
- "Sometimes motivation just 'disappear' from us."
- "Spoil 'youself' when you feel small and timid." (By the way, I *love* this spread. It's definitely a favorite of mine.)

In it's current state, my rating is a 2.5/5. All in all, Rilakkuma: By Your Side is a book that would be great for children and interested teens & adults, just as long as it goes through another edit to fix it's mistakes. I would love to see this in it's final physical format. I'm interested to see how the illustrations look on paper!

“It’s okay to do things out of order.” I love that the instructions that come with this book encourage the reader to play by their own rules. You can read it any way you want, and discover new things every time you open it another way.

The book is filled with really cute illustrations as can be expected with the Rilakkuma brand. It’s equal parts funny and moving. Every page contains wisdom and reminders on how to live our lives fully and without regrets. The words of wisdom range from the profound to the mundane, but they always ring true. This is the perfect read for anyone needing comfort, fun and a warm hug from friends.

The illustrations in this little book are adorable- just flicking through the pages conjures up a sense of warmth, security and friendship. However, many of the phrases feel unwieldy- I think it could benefit from an additional translator. As a result, some of the meaning behind the text, which is meant to encourage mindfulness and self-care amongst young people, has been lost. I cannot recommend this book to my readers as they will have trouble parsing it. Despite this, I would love to read further books featuring Rilakkuma and eagerly await the Netflix show.

Rilakkuma is a Japanese fictional character that is quite often seen as plushies or on items such as kitchenware. This book is a very short picture book with some short sentences that are very calming to read.
It's a really nice book to be able to read and flick through, however I had an issue with reading it on the kindle as it would be so much nicer to visibly see the images in the way it was intended.
I found this to be quite a calming read with the images I did see and the sentences it accompanied.

*ARC has been provided to me by Netgalley and its publishers for an honest review*