taking cover

Doraemon

is a Japanese manga series created by Fujiko F. Fujio (the pen name of Hiroshi Fujimoto) which later became an anime series and Asian franchise. The series is about a robotic cat named Doraemon, who travels back in time from the 22nd century to aid a schoolboy, .

In March 2008, Japan's Foreign Ministry appointed Doraemon as the nation's first "anime ambassador. Ministry spokesman explained the novel decision as an attempt to help people in other countries to understand Japanese anime better and to deepen their interest in Japanese culture. The Foreign Ministry action confirms that Doraemon has come to be considered a Japanese cultural icon. In 2002, the anime character was acclaimed as an Asian Hero in a special feature survey conducted by Time Asia magazine.

The series first appeared in December 1969, when it was published simultaneously in six different magazines. In total, 1,344 stories were created in the original series, which are published by Shogakukan under the manga brand, extending to forty-five volumes. The volumes are collected in the Takaoka Central Library in Toyama, Japan, where Fujio was born.

A majority of Doraemon episodes are comedies with moral lessons regarding values such as integrity, perseverance, courage, family and respect for elders. Several noteworthy environmental issues are often visited, including homeless animals, endangered species, deforestation, and pollution. Topics such as dinosaurs, the flat earth theory, wormhole traveling, Gulliver's Travels, and the history of Japan are often covered.

Doraemon was awarded the first Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga in 1982, and the first Osamu Tezuka Culture Award in 1997.

History

In December 1969, the Doraemon manga appeared simultaneously in six different children's monthly magazines. The magazines were titled by the year of children's studies, which included Yoiko (good children), Yōchien (nursery school), and Shogaku Ichinensei (first grade of primary school) to Shogaku Yonnensei (fourth grade of primary school). By 1973, the series began to appear in two more magazines, Shogaku Gonensei (fifth grade of primary school) and Shogaku Rokunensei (sixth grade of primary school). The stories featured in each of the magazines were different, meaning the author was originally creating more than six stories each month. In 1977, CoroCoro Comic was launched as a magazine of Doraemon. Original manga based on the Doraemon movies were also released in CoroCoro Comic. The stories which are preserved under the Tentōmushi brand are the stories found in these magazines.

Since the debut of Doraemon in 1969, the stories have been selectively collected into forty-five books published from 1974 to 1996, which had a circulation of over 80 million in 1992. In addition, Doraemon has appeared in a variety of manga series by Shōgakukan. In 2005, Shōgakukan published a series of five more manga volumes under the title Doraemon+ (Doraemon Plus), which were not found in the forty-five Tentōmushi pipi volumes.∞

Plot summary

Doraemon is sent back in time by Nobita Nobi's great-great grandson Sewashi to improve Nobita's circumstances so that his descendants may enjoy a better future. In the original timeline, Nobita experienced nothing but misery and misfortune throughout his life. As a result of this, Nobita's failures in school and subsequently, his career, have left his family line beset with financial problems. In order to alter history and better the Nobi family's fortunes, Sewashi sent a robot called Doraemon.

Doraemon has a large pocket from which he produces many gadgets from the future. The pocket is called yojigen-pocket, or 4 dimension pocket.

Although he can hear perfectly well, Doraemon has no ears: his robotic ears were eaten by a mouse, giving him a series-long phobia of the creatures.

The stories are formulaic, usually focused on the everyday struggles of fourth grader Nobita, the protagonist of the story. In a typical chapter, Nobita comes home crying about a problem he faces in school and/or the local neighborhood. After hearing him out, Doraemon always offers helpful advice to his problem(s), but that's never enough for Nobita, who is consistently looking for the "quick, easy" way out (which offers insight to the viewers as to why Nobita's life turned out the way it did). Finally, after Nobita's pleading and/or goading, Doraemon produces a futuristic gadget out of his aforementioned pouch to help Nobita fix his problem, enact revenge, or flaunt to his friends.

Nobita usually goes too far, despite Doraemon's best intentions and warnings, and gets into deeper trouble than before. Sometimes, Nobita's friends (usually Suneo or Jaian) steal the gadgets and end up misusing them. However, by the end of the story, there is usually retribution to the characters who end up misusing them, and a moral is taught.

Series finale rumors

There are three current and often quoted urban legends that started spreading in late 1980s of an ending to the Doraemon series.

The first and the more optimistic ending was made public by Nobuo Sato several years ago. Doraemon's battery power ran out, and Nobita was given a choice between replacing the battery inside a frozen Doraemon, which would cause it to reset and lose all memory, or await a competent robotics technician who would be able to resurrect the cat-robot one day. Nobita swore that very day to work hard in school, graduate with honours, and become that robotics technician. He successfully resurrected Doraemon in the future as a robotics professor, became successful as an AI developer, and thus lived happily ever after, thus relieving his progeny of the financial burdens that caused Doraemon to be sent to his space-time in the first place. A dōjin manga for this ending was made by a "Tajima T Yasue" in 2005, and it sold 13,000 copies before Shogakukan halted its publication. Tajima apologized to Shogakukan in 2007 and paid an undisclosed amount of money for settlement..

The second, more pessimistic ending suggests that Nobita Nobi is suffering from autism and that all the characters (including Doraemon) are simply his delusion. The idea that Nobita was a sick and dying little boy who imagined the entire series on his sickbed to help him ease his pain and depression no doubt angered quite a lot of fans. Many Japanese fans staged a protest outside the headquarters of the publisher of the series after learning about this suggestion. The publisher had to issue a public statement that this is not true. (This ending actually correlates to the ending for the series St. Elsewhere, which ended in 1988.)

The third ending suggests that Nobita fell and hit his head on a rock. He fell into a deep coma, and eventually into a semi-vegetative state. To raise money for an operation to save Nobita, Doraemon sold all the tools and devices in his four-dimensional pocket. However, the operation failed. Doraemon sold all his tools except for one used as a last resort. He used it to enable Nobita to go wherever he wanted, whichever time or era he wished to go. In the end, the very place Nobita wanted to go was heaven.

The plausibility of these issues was discussed here and it was concluded that there is no ending to Doraemon.

There are three official endings to Doraemon that were made. Doraemon was discontinued in two media because readers were advancing in grades and an ending was believed to be needed. These two are not reprinted.

In the March 1971 issue of the magazine Shogaku 4-nensei : Due to the fact that visitors from the future were causing too much trouble, the government in the 22nd Century passed a bill to ban time-travelling altogether, meaning Doraemon would have to return to his time era. He leaves Nobita.

In the March 1972 issue of the magazine Shogaku 4-nensei: Doraemon, for some reason, had to go back to the future but fakes a mechanical problem so that Nobita would let him go. Nobita believes him and promises to wait until Doraemon gets well. Realizing that Nobita can handle his departure, Doraemon tells the truth and Nobita accepts. Doraemon returns to the future.

The third ending was actually meant to be the official ending due to low TV ratings and the Fujiko Fujio duo was busy with other works. But Doraemon did not leave their minds and restarted from next month's issue. In 1981, this episode was made into anime (called "Doraemon Comes Back"), and in 1998, this was released as an anime movie.

In the March 1973 issue of the magazine Shogaku 4-nensei, Nobita again returns home after losing a fight against Gian. Doraemon then explains that he has to return. Nobita tries to have Doraemon stay but after talking it over with his parents, he accepts Doraemon's departure. They take a last walk in the park. After they split up, Nobita encounters Jaian and gets into a fight again. After a long duel with Nobita trying to win at all costs so that Doraemon can leave without worries, Gian gave up (which gave Nobita the win) because no matter what, Nobita refuses to stay down. Doraemon finds Nobita passed out and takes him home. Sitting beside sleeping Nobita and after a moment of thought, Doraemon returns to the future. (It is also found at the last chapter of the manga Book 6).

The animated version is completely similar but lengthened. Nobita finds a box the shape of Doraemon in his drawer. The next day, which happens to be April Fool's day, Nobita is jeered at by Suneo and Jaian, the latter tricking him about Doraemon's return. He happily runs home and asked his mother whether Doraemon came back and finds out the truth. Nobita couldn't stand it and opens the box. Inside of it was a bottle of liquid. He hears Doraemon's voice explaining that the potion is called Uso 800 (Lies 800) it is used to make all untruths the drinker says true. Nobita uses it to play a few tricks on Jaian and Suneo, like first taking cover then say that the weather sure is good, which becomes a lie and it started to rain heavily before he said it is raining heavily and the rain stopped. Jian and Suneo was scared away after a few tricks and when Nobita mentioned what is happening. Nobita was very happy at first but quickly loses interest in the absence of Doraemon. As he walks home, due to his earlier questioning if Doraemon returned or not, his mother asked him if he could find Doraemon, he unwittingly said, in great disappointment, the truth about Doraemon never coming back, just like what Doraemon told Nobita before his departure. Since the potion was still in effect, when he arrives his room he finds Doraemon there, and they have a happy reunion, but due to the effects of the potion, all his greets and joyful words have to be spoken in the opposite way like I am so unhappy that we can never be together again.. The extended ending from the animated series was eventually adapted to the first story of Book 7 in the manga series, with a few changes (i.e. Instead of hearing Doraemon's voice explaining the use of the potion, he finds a card inside the box describing the use of the potion).

When the Fujiko Fujio duo broke up in 1987, the very idea of an official ending to the series was never discussed. Since Fujiko F. died in 1996 before any decisions were reached, any "endings" of Doraemon are fan fiction. However, it is apparent from many episodes and movies where Nobita travels to the future that in the end he does marry Shizuka, leads a happy life and separates with Doraemon, although Nobita and his friends fondly remember him.

Characters

The only main female character is , who serves as a semi-romantic girlfriend of Nobita, but otherwise a supporting, minor character. Nobita's main human friends include Gian, a known bully, and Suneo, a gloating spoiled wealthy kid. There are many recurring supporting characters, such as Dekisugi, Nobita's parents, his school teacher, his descendants from the future, and Doraemon's sister, Dorami.

Episodes

Dōgu

Doraemon can take out various devices known as from his fourth-dimensional pocket. Some of the gadgets are based on real Japanese household devices with fanciful twists, but most are completely science fiction (although some may be based on folklore or religious stories).

Thousands of dōgu have been featured in Doraemon. Some have placed the number of dōgu at approximately 4,500.

Other appearances

Doraemon is a cultural phenomenon in Japan and can be seen in many places. For example, Doraemon is used as a promotional character by , by a removals company, and by Cocos, a restaurant chain. Doraemon also appears in appeals for charity, the "Doraemon Fund". Doraemon toys and novelties are also often found in Japan, with literally thousands of items for sale.

Doraemon, Nobita, and the other characters also appear in various educational manga. Doraemon is also mentioned in several anime and manga by other mangakas.

Doraemon is referenced in the current Blue Man Group show running in Tokyo. The Blue Men play a short snippet of the show's theme song, and one dons Doraemon's beanie.

There are nearly 50 Japanese-only video games ranging from Action Adventure, to RPG games, that began with the Emerson's Arcadia 2001 system. For a complete list of these games see List of Doraemon media.

Popularity

Doraemon was awarded the first Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga in 1982, and the first Osamu Tezuka Culture Award in 1997.

Anime

Television series

After a brief and unpopular animated series in 1973 by Nippon Television, Doraemon remained fairly exclusive in manga form until 1979 when TV Asahi produced an anime series of Doraemon. This series became incredibly popular, and ended with 1,049 episodes on March 25, 2005.

Celebrating Doraemon's anniversary, Studio Pierrot produced a new Doraemon series which began airing on TV Asahi on April 15, 2005 with new voice actors and staff, and updated character designs.

Foreign channels that air Doraemon

Feature films

In 1980, Toho released the first of a series of annual feature length animated films based on the lengthly special volumes published annually. The films are more action-adventure oriented and unlike the anime and manga, they have more of a shōnen demographic, taking the familiar characters of Doraemon and placing them in a variety of exotic and perilous settings. Nobita and his friends have visited the age of the dinosaurs, the far reaches of the galaxy, the heart of darkest Africa (where they encountered a race of sentient bipedal dogs), the depths of the ocean, and a world of magic. Some of the films are based on legends such as Atlantis, and on literary works such as Journey to the West and Arabian Nights. Some films also have serious themes, especially on environmental topics and the use of technology.

The most recent Doraemon film is The New Record of Nobita: Spaceblazer, slated for a 2009 release.

Voice actors

From 1979 to April 2005, the same five voice actors provided the main voices in Doraemon. However, they retired in April 2005 partially due to the 25th anniversary of the Doraemon television series. On March 13, 2005, TV Asahi announced the new voice actors for the five main characters:

Character	Voice actor for April 1979 - March 2005	Voice actor for March 2005 - Present
Doraemon	Nobuyo Ōyama	Wasabi Mizuta
Nobita	Noriko Ohara
Shizuka	Michiko Nomura	Yumi Kakazu
Jaian	Kazuya Tatekabe
Suneo	Kaneta Kimotsuki	Tomokazu Seki
Dorami	Keiko Yokozawa	Chiaki
Hidetoshi
Nobita's Mama	Sachiko Chijimatsu	Kotono Mitsuishi
Nobita's Papa		Yasunori Matsumoto
Sewashi		Sachi Matsumoto
Sensei	Ryōichi Tanaka	Wataru Takagi
Kaminari	Takeshi Watabe	Katsuhisa Hōki
Shizuka's Mother		Ai Orikasa
Suneo's Mother		Minami Takayama
Suneo's Father		Hideyuki Tanaka
Jaian's Mother	Kazuyo Aoki
Jaiko	Kazuyo Aoki
Dekisugi

Nobita - Hiroko Maruyama (stand-in for Ohara, July 23, 1979 ~ July 28, 1979)
Suneo - Naoki Tatsuta (stand-in for Kimotsuki, November 15, 1985 ~ December 6, 1985)
Nobita's Papa - Masayuki Katō (Start ~ October 2, 1992)
Sensei - Ritsuo Sawa → Osamu Katou → Kazuhiko Inoue (Start ~ September 1981)
Kaminari - Shingo Kanemoto (February 8, 1985 (character debut) ~ September 14, 1990)
Shizuka's Mother - Keiko Yokozawa (Start ~ August 1981)
Suneo's Mother - Yoshino Ōtori (Start ~ March 8, 1991) NTV Cast

Character	Voice actor
Doraemon	Kousei Tomita (episodes 1 ~ 13) Masako Nozawa
Nobita
Shizuka	Masako Ebisu
Jaian	Kaneta Kimotsuki
Suneo	Shun Yashiro
Nobita's Mama	Noriko Ohara
Nobita's Papa	Ichirou Murakoshi
Suneo's Mama	Kazue Takahashi
Gatchako	Junko Hori
Sewashi	Keiko Yamamoto
Sensei	Masashi Amenomori

Opening themes

The opening theme used for the weekly Doraemon series airing between 1979 and 2005 was , which was performed by five different performers over the course of its years:

	Performer	Starting date	Ending date
1.		April 2 1979	October 2 1992
2.		October 9 1992	September 20 2002
3.		October 4 2002	April 11 2003
4.	Misato Watanabe	April 18 2003	April 23 2004
5.	AJI	April 30 2004	March 18 2005

In the New Doraemon Series (2005), new opening themes songs were used, except for the first one.

	Performer	Starting date	Ending date
1.		April 15 2005 (episode 1)	October 21 2005 (episode 24)
2.	Rimi Natsukawa	October 28 2005 (episode 25)	April 20 2007 (episode 86)
3.	mao	May 11 2007 (episode 87)	March 14 2008

Two songs were used for a separate weekday Doraemon series which is a part of Fujiko Fujio Theater (藤子不二雄劇場, Fujiko Fujio Gekijoo), the first song being the same as the first song of the weekly series.

	Name	Song Title	Starting date	Ending date
1.			April 2 1979	September 29 1979
2.			October 1 1979	September 26 1981

Ending themes

The ending themes used for the weekly Doraemon series airing between 1979 and 2005 were:

	Starting date	Ending date
1.	April 8 1979	September 27 1981
2.	October 2 1981	March 30 1984
3.	November 18 1983	December 30 1983
4.	April 6 1984	April 8 1988
5.	April 15 1988	October 2 1992
6.	October 9 1992	April 7 1995
7.	April 14 1995	September 20 2002
8.	October 4 2002	April 11 2003
9.	April 18 2003	October 4 2003
10.	October 10 2003	May 28 2004
11.	June 4 2004	March 18 2005

Since the 2005 series incorporated all the credits into the Opening Sequence, these three themes were used as the Ending Theme.

	Starting date	Ending date
1.	August 5 2005	October 21 2005
2.
3.

Three songs were used for the separate weekday Doraemon series.

	Song Title	Performer
1.
2.
3.

Significance

On 22 April 2002, on the special issue of Asian Hero in TIME Magazine, Doraemon was selected as one of the 22 Asian Heroes. Being the only cartoon character selected, Doraemon was described as "The Cuddliest Hero in Asia".

In 2005, the Japan Society of New York selected Doraemon as a culturally significant work of Japanese otaku pop-culture in its exhibit Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture, curated by renowned artist Takashi Murakami. In Murakami's analysis, he states that Doraemon's formulaic plotlines typified the "wish fulfilment" mentality of 1970s Japan, where the electronics revolution glamorized the idea that one could solve their problems with machines and gadgets rather than hard work or individual intelligence.

In 2008, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan) appointed Doraemon to be as the first anime cultural ambassador