Doraemon Episodes In Bengali

Doraemon (ドラえもん Doraemon^?) is a Japanese manga series created by Fujiko Fujio, which later became an anime series and an Asian franchise. The series is about a robotic cat named Doraemon, who travels back in time from the 22nd century to aid a pre-teen boy called Nobita Nobi (野比のび太 Nobi Nobita^?).
The series first appeared in December 1969, when it was published simultaneously in six different magazines. A total of 1,344 stories were created in the original series, which are published by Shogakukan under the Tentōmushi (てんとう虫^?) manga brand, extending to forty-five volumes. The volumes are collected in the Takaoka Central Library in Toyama, Japan, where Fujiko Fujio was born. Turner Broadcasting System bought the rights to the Doraemon anime series in the mid-1980s for a US English-language release,^[1] but canceled it without explanation before broadcasting any episodes. In July 2013 it was announced that the manga would be released digitally in English via the Amazon Kindle e-book service.^[2] It is one of the best-selling manga in the world, having sold over 100 million copies.
Most of Doraemon episodes are comedies with lessons regarding values such as honesty, perseverance, courage, and respect. Various environmental issues are often visited, including homeless animals, global warming, endangered species, deforestation, and pollution. Miscellaneous educational topics such as dinosaurs, the flat Earth theory, wormhole traveling, Gulliver's Travels, and the history of Japan are often covered.
Awards for "Doraemon" include the Japan Cartoonists Association Award for excellence in 1973, the first Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga in 1982,^[3] and the first Osamu Tezuka Culture Award in 1997. In March 2008 Japan's Foreign Ministry appointed Doraemon as the nation's first "anime ambassador."^[4] Ministry spokesman explained the novel decision as an attempt to help people in other countries understand Japanese anime better and to deepen their interest in Japanese culture."^[5] The Foreign Ministry action confirms that Doraemon has come to be considered a Japanese cultural icon. In India, where the anime version is the highest-rated Kids show, it won the best Kids Show award at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards India.^[6] In 2002 the anime character was acclaimed as an "Asian Hero" in a special feature survey conducted by Time Asia magazine.^[7]

Name

The name "Doraemon" can be translated roughly to "stray." Unusually, the name "Doraemon" (ドラえもん^?) is written in a mixture of two Japanese scripts: Katakana (ドラ) and Hiragana (えもん). "Dora" derives from "dora neko" (brazen or stray cat, どら猫), and is a corruption of nora (stray). "Emon" 衛門、右衛門 is a component of male given names like Goemon, though no longer as popular as in the past. "Dora" is not derived from dora 銅鑼, meaning gong, but due to the homophony, the series puns on this, with Doraemon loving dorayaki.

Plot

The first appearance of Doraemon, who came via the time machine.

Statue of Nobita Nobi and Doraemon.

Doraemon is sent back in time by a young boy named Sewashi Nobi to improve the circumstances of his great grandfather, Nobita, so that his descendants may enjoy a better future. In the original timeline, Nobita experienced nothing but misery and misfortune manifested in the form of poor grades and bullying throughout his life. This culminates in the burning down of a future business he sets up which leaves his family line beset with financial problems. In order to alter history and better the Nobi family's fortunes, Sewashi initially wanted to send a super-robot to protect Nobita, but with his meager allowance he could only afford an imperfectly-made factory-rejected toy: an anthropomorphic robot cat called Doraemon.
Doraemon has a pocket from which he produces gadgets, medicines, and tools from the future. The pocket is called yōjigen-pocket (literally "fourth-dimensional pocket"). Some of the gadgets (dōgu) 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." The number of gadgets has been approximated at 4,500. It is this constant variety which makes Doraemon popular both among children and among adults. In the series, the availability of dōgu sometimes depends on the money Doraemon has available, and he often says some dōgu are expensive in the future. The more famous ones include the "bamboo-copter" (which is very similar to the one that appears on the older series of Beany and Cecil), a small head accessory that allows flight; the "Anywhere Door," a door that opens up to any place the user wishes; and the "Time Machine." Some of the recurring dōgu also appear in Fujiko F. Fujio's other works, including 21-emon, Kaibutsu-kun, Kiteretsu Daihyakka, Mikio to Mikio, and Pāman.
Although he can hear perfectly well, Doraemon has no ears: his robotic ears were eaten by some robotic mice, giving him a series-long phobia of the creatures.
The only main female character is Shizuka Minamoto, who serves as a friendly and romantic interest for Nobita. Shizuka is intelligent and is Nobita's best and closest friend, and loves him second most (after her parents). Nobita's main enemies are Takeshi (nicknamed "Gian," from the English word giant), a consummate bully; and Suneo, who is cunning and arrogant. There are many recurring supporting characters, including Dekisugi, the student who always gets the best grades in Nobita's class; Nobita's parents; Gian's mother; Gian's sister Jaico; Gian's school teacher; Gian's descendants (from the future); Mii chan (Doraemon's cat girlfriend); and Doraemon's sister Dorami.
The stories are formulaic, usually focusing on the everyday struggles of the fifth grader Nobita, the protagonist of the story. In a typical chapter, Nobita comes home crying about a problem he faces in school or in the local neighborhood. After hearing him out, Doraemon often advises him, but that's never enough for Nobita, who consistently looks 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 pocket to help Nobita fix his problem, enact revenge, or flaunt to his friends, especially Shizuka.
Unfortunately, when he has the gadget, Nobita usually gets into deeper trouble than before, despite Doraemon's best intentions and warnings. Sometimes Nobita's friends (usually Suneo or Gian) steal Doraemon's gadgets and end up misusing them. By the end of the story, the characters who do wrong are usually punished.

Characters

Main characters

Fujiko's friends say that every main character represents elementary school student archetypes Fujiko noticed in his own school days. Doraemon and Nobita appear in every episode of the anime.

Doraemon (ドラえもん^?)

Voice actors (Japanese): Kōsei Tomita (From episode 1 to episode 26), Masako Nozawa (From episode 27 to episode 52) (1973), Nobuyo Ōyama (1979~March 2005), Wasabi Mizuta (April 2005~)

Voice actors (Golden): Chisa Yokoyama

Doraemon (born on 3 September, Virgo), the titular character, is the main protagonist of the series. He is a cat-like robot created by the Matsushiba robot company, and is sent back in time by Sewashi to aid Nobita. He possesses a fourth-dimensional pocket from which he can acquire various kinds of futuristic tools, gadgets, and playthings from a future department store. He also has the tendency to panic during emergencies, characterized by him frantically trying to pull out a very much-needed tool from his pocket, only to produce a huge assortment of unrelated household items. Still, Doraemon is very friendly and intelligent, not to mention long-suffering because of Nobita's antics.

Doraemon's physical appearance changed as the manga progressed. At first, he was predominantly blue, with a blue tail, a white stomach, and flesh-coloured hands and feet. He also stooped, and had a body much larger than his head. In later issues, he sported a smaller body, white hands and feet, and a red tail--the appearance most identify him with today.

In "The Doraemons" story arc (and the 2112: The Birth of Doraemon short film), it is revealed that Doraemon's original paint color was yellow. After getting his ears gnawed off by a robot mouse, he slipped into depression on top of a tower, where he drank a potion labeled "sadness". As he wept, the yellow color washed off and his voice changed due to the potion. As a result of this incident, he developed a morbid fear of mice-(musophobia) despite being a robotic cat.

Doraemon weighs 129.3 kg (285 lb) and measures at 129.3 cm (4 ft 3 in) tall. He is able to run at 129.3 km/h (80.3 mph) when scared and jump 129.3 cm (4.242 ft) when threatened. His maximum power is 96.4 kW (129.3 bhp). His waist, head, and chest circumference are all 129.3 cm. His feet are 129.3 mm in diameter. He was manufactured on 3 September 2112 (12/9/3 in Japanese date format) at the Matsushiba Robot Factory (マツシバロボット工場^?). Doraemon is considered a substandard product because many of his robotic features (ie. radar whiskers and cat-calling bell) malfunctioned after production. One can turn Doraemon off by pulling his balloon tail.

Due to this malfunction, Doraemon did poorly at 'Robot' school and performed badly during the final presentation show. Thus, nobody wanted to hire him, until baby Sewaishi pushed the button. His parents were a bit reluctant, but since Sewashi liked him, they hired Doraemon, and he took care of him until he himself sent him to the past to take care of Nobita. Despite this, Doraemon shows lot of intelligence and common sense. Whenever he hangs out with his friend Mii-Chan, he calls it important and busy work as an excuse for not having to do work when Nobita or his mother ask him to.

Doraemon's favourite food is dorayaki (どら焼き^?) (known as "fudgy pudgy pie" in the English version of the manga), a Japanese treat filled with red bean paste. Speculations led to dorayaki being the origin of his name. However, it was revealed in one of the manga chapters that his name originates from the Japanese word nora neko (のら猫^?) for "stray cat", and the -emon (衛門^?) ending which is part of traditional Japanese names, as seen also in, for example, Ishikawa Goemon.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Doraemon usually uses the phrase "nanoda". He is also a great fan of the famous idol Marui Mari, an enormous number of whose pictures is stashed away in Doraemon's wardrobe. He, on rare occasions, appears as a cartoon character in the anime series Ninja Hattori-kun, as these cartoons are made by the same developers.

Nobita Nobi (野比のび太 Nobi Nobita^?) / Noby

Voice actors (Japanese): Yoshiko Ōta (1973), Noriko Ohara (1979~March 2005), Hiroko Maruyama (Stand-in for Ohara), Megumi Ōhara (April 2005~)

Voice actors (Teenage): Makiko Ōmoto (2000), Mai Kadowaki (2005)

Voice actors (Adult): Kōzō Shioya (1984), Shingo Hiromori (1987~1990), Noriko Ohara (2000~2004), Tōru Ōkawa (2005), Hideyuki Hori (2006)

Nobita (born on 7 August, Leo), is the other main character of most stories. He is a fourth grader (fifth grader in anime version) and is 10 years old^[11] in Tokyo's Nerima Ward and an only child. He wears glasses, a red or yellow polo shirt with a white collar, and blue or black shorts. Nobita is dumb, uncoordinated, dim-witted, weak, frail, childish, unlucky and bad at sports. Nobita's typical day consists of arriving late to school, scoring zero in his tests, getting scolded from his teacher, being teased by his classmates Gian and Suneo, falling in the curbside rain gutters, dogs running after him as he step his foot by mistake on the dog's tail, getting scoldings by his mom as she receives complaints against Nobita for not completing his home-work, coming late to school or either his poor performance in his studies and sports, falls asleep during class,and does not have a good image between his friends except Shizuka, who remembers Nobita's kind heart and worries about him. Some notable personality traits in Nobita are his cowardice (where he is scared of almost everything, especially ghosts) and his cry-baby (a running gag in the show has Nobita crying, mostly at the beginning of the episode) attitude.

Nobita is usually portrayed as being courageous and he has often risked his life to help save others or even entire civilizations in full-length stories. Nobita can be very serious and responsible at times. In the original history which Doraemon doesn't interfere, Nobita would marry Jaiko (as long as he only wants to marry Shizuka), never find a good job and eventually go bankrupt. Despite everything, Doraemon succeeds on his mission, as seen in several episodes in which they travel to the future, Nobita eventually marries Shizuka and becomes an officer of Ministry of the Environment.

Shizuka Minamoto (源静香 Minamoto Shizuka^?)

Voice actors (Japanese): Masako Ebisu (1973), Michiko Nomura (1979~March 2005), Yumi Kakazu (2005~)

Voice actor: Rei Sakuma (2000)

Shizuka (born on 8 May, Taurus), usually called Shizuka-chan (静香ちゃん^?), is a smart, kind and pretty girl and Nobita's best friend. She takes baths several times a day. Nobita often disrupts her in her bath due to some misuse of Doraemon's gadgets, and Shizuka usually shouts out "Go away, pervert!" to Nobita. Her true passions are sweet potatoes, which she'd rather keep to herself out of the knowledge of others, and the violin, in which her playing is as atrocious as Gian's singing. She is also known for taking piano lessons unwillingly (as she loves violin more), which is sometimes a reason for declining to hang out with friends. Due to Doraemon's intervention, Shizuka will marry Nobita. At present, she doesn't have any crush on her close friends, but she fancies some handsome idols on TV.

Takeshi Goda (剛田武 Gōda Takeshi^?)

Voice actors (Japanese): Kaneta Kimotsuki (1973), Kazuya Tatekabe (1979~March 2005), Subaru Kimura (April 2005~)

Voice actor: Kujira (2000)

Takeshi (born on 15 June, Gemini), usually known by the nickname "Gian" (ジャイアン Jaian^?) (known as "Big G." in the English version of the manga, and "Damulag" in the Tagalog version) from English word "Giant", is the big, strong, and quick-tempered local bully. He also frequently steals other children's toys (especially Suneo) and books under the pretext of "borrowing" them, unless the toy is damaged. This is how most fans considered Gian to be the antagonist of this show. However, he does not hesitate to help Nobita and his friends when they are in real trouble, which often occurs in full-length stories.

He is known for his boastful confidence in his horrible singing voice, though he considers himself a great singer. But in some episodes when his voice is recorded and he hears it, he instantly denies it being his voice and threatens to beat up the person who sung his songs in a very bad way. Several of the stories revolve around Nobita and his friends' efforts to avoid Gian's concerts. Gian is also confident in cooking, but just like his singing, his hand-made food can be a nightmare for other people very easily.

Suneo Honekawa (骨川スネ夫 Honekawa Suneo^?) / Sneech

Voice actors (Japanese): Shun Yashiro (1973), Kaneta Kimotsuki (1979~March 2005), Naoki Tatsuta (Stand-in for Kimotsuki), Tomokazu Seki (April 2005~)

Voice actor (Teenage): Tomokazu Seki (2000)

Suneo (born on 29 February, Pisces), is the fox-faced (inherited from his mother) rich kid who loves to flaunt his material wealth before everyone, resembling Reggie Mantle. Some of the stories start with Suneo showing off some new video game or toy which evokes Nobita's envy. He is often seen with Gian. He sometimes despises Nobita and often makes fun of Nobita, most often resulted in Nobita getting in trouble. He also often pushes Nobita aside with excuses while he invites Gian and Shizuka to his parties or resorts. He has an extensive knowledge of science, and is a talented artist and designer.

In some scenes, Suneo is seen as a narcissist who loves to stare at himself in the mirror while telling himself that he is the most handsome guy in the world. He is still a bed-wetter, despite being in the fourth/fifth grade. He considers this humiliating habit his secret weakness. Suneo is also very self-conscious about his height, being the shortest kid in his class. He likes steak and melon.

Dorami (ドラミ^?)

Voice actors (Japanese): Keiko Yokozawa (1980~March 2005), Chiaki (tarento) (September 2006~)

Dorami (born on 2 December 2114), -chan, is the sister of Doraemon. She is yellow and has ears that resemble a large red bow. She happens to be about 2 years younger than Doraemon. Strangely enough, they are siblings due to the fact that they shared half of the oil from a can. She lives in the 22nd-century Tokyo with Sewashi. She sometimes visits Nobita with a time machine when Doraemon is "off-duty" or to help Doraemon with something. She likes melonpan and is afraid of cockroaches. She is also shown to be a more advanced robot than Doraemon (Dorami is able to produce 10,000 horse power, in comparison to Doraemon's 129.3). Different from her malfunctioned brother, she's the smartest student during her school time, and has better skills in using gadgets. She also has her own spin-off manga. Her boyfriend is Dora-the-Kid of The Doraemons.

Jaiko (ジャイ子^?)

Voice actors (Japanese): Yoshiko Ōta (1979), Kazuyo Aoki (1980~March 2005), Vanilla Yamazaki (April 2005~)

Jaiko is Gian's younger sister, and also the only child Gian treats well in the whole story. In the early story of Fujiko, she shows to have bad tempers, but lately she's getting kinder. According to Doraemon's Future Album, she would had been Nobita's wife in the future if Doraemon doesn't intervened, which is why her first appearance is earlier than Suneo and Gian. However, in the late Doraemon series it's Dekisugi more often referred to be the factor of the future though no evidence shows Dekisugi could marry Shizuka. Her name Jaiko is usually considered a nickname same as her brother, but Fujiko never gave her a real name.

As an aspiring manga artist, Jaiko goes by her pen name Christine Goda (クリスチーネ剛田 Kurisuchīne Gōda^?), and sometimes submits her manga to publishing companies for prizes. She usually fails because her storytelling is still rough, although she has received much attention from editors. Sometimes when she almost decides to give up writing comic books, Gian's friends are forced to cheer her up.

Hidetoshi Dekisugi (出木杉英才 Dekisugi Hidetoshi^?)

Voice actors (Japanese): Sumiko Shirakawa (1980~March 2005), Shihoko Hagino (TV Asahi Announcer, May 2005~)

Voice actor (Adult): Shinya Ōtaki

Dekisugi is Nobita's classmate and friendly rival for Shizuka's affections. He always gets perfect scores on his tests, but never shows off his abilities. His name literally means "brilliant over-achiever", and his last name is a pun on dekisugiru, which means "over achieving".

Owing to that Shizuka sometimes prefer the company of Dekisugi, who is more of her intellectual equal, Nobita often feels jealous and concocts bizarre schemes (helped by Doraemon's gadgets) to keep them apart. However, Dekisugi never shows bad tempers to Nobita and even willingly helps Nobita whenever he has philosophical or scientific questions.

Mini-Doras (ミニドラ[たち]^?)

Voice actors: Chie Kitagawa (1990), Rei Sakuma (1994~March 2005), Tomato Akai (October 2005~)

Mini-Doras are actually gadgets of Doraemon. They are mini versions of Doraemon, each with a different color. They can think and feel for themselves, and communicate with Doraemon through the "Mini-Dora" language. They act as helpers for all sorts of tasks, such as repairing the internal mechanism of Doraemon.

Mini-Doras looks like identical Doraemon because it color is red and very little robots. He disturbs Nobita to aid his body.

Teacher (先生 Sensei^?)

Voice actors: Osamu Katō→Masashi Amenomori (1973), Ritsuo Sawa (1979), Osamu Katō→Unknown→Kazuhiko Inoue (~September 1981), Ryōichi Tanaka (October 1981~March 2005), Wataru Takagi (April 2005~)

Nobita's teacher is a strict taskmaster who often scolds Nobita for not completing his homework, and often gets fooled by Suneo's convincing acts of lying. The punishments range from standing in the hallway to sweeping the classroom after-school. He often pays unexpected visits to the Nobi’s in order to inform Mrs. Tamako about Nobita’s recent perfections on exams. He also usually sees Nobita on streets and often cheer him on to study hard to get higher scores during exams.

His real name is unknown and he is only referred to as "Sensei (Teacher)". In the NTV anime his name is given as Ganari (我成^?). In the TV Asahi version, he was onced named Eiichiro Senjou (先生えいいちろう Senjou Eiichiro^?), whose last name happens to be written in teacher but spoken differently.

Nobi family

Tamako Nobi (野比玉子 Nobi Tamako^?): Voice actors: Noriko Ohara (1973), Sachiko Chijimatsu (1979~March 2005), Kotono Mitsuishi (April 2005~); Voice actor (Young): Tomoko Kawakami; Tamako (born on 16 February), is Nobita's stay-at-home mother and one of the main antagonist in short stories, and the one Nobita inherits his appearance from. She can be very strict, is usually seen scolding Nobita, grounding him, or sending him out of the house (a typical Japanese household punishment used by parents).Several episodes involve Nobita trying to avoid his mother’s scolding by using Doraemon’s gadgets. Despite her dissapointment to Nobita's lazy attitude and academic failures, she is actually a good mother and cares about her son deeply. Her maiden last name is revealed to be Kataoka (片岡^?). She has a tendency of stopping Nobita from going out to play and force him to study. However, on cold weather days, she always urges Nobita to go out and play. In a couple of episodes, Nobita sees her in the past, and she shows to be braver than Nobita.

Nobisuke Nobi (野比のび助 Nobi Nobisuke^?): Voice actors: Ichirō Murakoshi (1973), Masayuki Katō (1979~October 1992), Yōsuke Naka (October 1992~March 2005), Yasunori Matsumoto (April 2005~); Voice actors (Young): Noriko Ohara (1979), Eiko Yamada (1984~1985), Noriko Ohara (1987), Yumiko Kobayashi (2005); Nobisuke (born on 12 March), is Nobita's father and laid-back salaryman. He is inconsiderate of Nobita, often seen arriving home from work to placate Tamako's pride towards Nobita. He has trouble quitting smoking and is self-conscious about his inability to pass the driving test. He also has a poor memory, is a borderline alcoholic, and sometimes arrives home drunk from nightly business meetings. He often goes golf, which most Japanese businessmen and employees play. He had many unsimilar personalities with Nobita when he was young: got bad grades, got bullied and scolded by his father. He has a talent of art, but didn't choose to be an artist due to many reasons.

Sewashi (セワシ^?) / Soby: Voice actors: Keiko Yamamoto (1973), Yoshiko Ōta (1980~March 2005), Sachi Matsumoto (August 2005); Nobita's great-great-grandson, he is the one who sends Doraemon back to the past to look after Nobita. Sewashi first bought Doraemon in 2112 when Doraemon still had ears and his original factory paint. He sent him because his pocket money was not much due to the debts the family inherited from Nobita. He shows to have more common sense and smarter than Nobita. Sewashi is also the owner of Doraemon's sister, Dorami.

Nobisuke Nobi (野比ノビスケ Nobi Nobisuke^?): Voice actors: Noriko Ohara (1979~March 2005), Yoshiko Kamei (April 2005~); Nobita and Shizuka's son, named after Nobita's father. Though being as stupid as his father, he's a strong child and a good athlete, and brave enough to bully Gian and Suneo's sons. In the first time he met the present Nobita, he even beat up him because he regarded him as an impostor.

Nobirou Nobi (野比のび郎 Nobi Nobirou^?): Nobisuke's younger brother. He had been working overseas, and had many animal encounters in India. He adores his brother very much, and is welcomed the most by his nephew in New year, because of the money he gives him on that date.

Tamao Kataoka (片岡玉夫 Kataoka Tamao^?): Tamako's younger brother and Nobita's uncle. He's a timid car salesman.

Nobisuke's Mother (Nobita's grandmother): Nobita adored her but she died when he was in kindergarten, before the main storyline. When Nobita travels to the past, she always recognizes him as her grandson even if he has grown up. She appeared in a few episodes.

Nobiru Nobi (野比のびる Nobi Nobiru^?): Nobisuke's father and Nobita's grandfather, who died before Nobita's birth. He was very strict and very rude to Nobisuke, though after all he loved him very much. His grandson only saw him when he traveled to the past. Despite being harsh to Nobisuke, he enjoys indulging Nobita.

Minamoto family

Shizuka's Mother: Voice actor(s): Keiko Yokozawa (1979~1981), Masako Matsubara (August 1981~March 2005), Ai Orikasa (April 2005~); Shizuka's mother. She's kind, but can also be quite exigent on Shizuka sometimes.

Yoshio Minamoto (源義雄 Minamoto Yoshio^?): Voice actor(s): Masayuki Katō (1979~1980), Masaru Ikeda (1981), Akira Kume (1999), Aruno Tahara (July 2005~); Shizuka's father, a normal salaryman who often goes to movie with Shizuka. His best known appearance in Fujiko's story is the night before Shizuka's wedding. He's also the only parent with official full name besides Nobita's parents.

Peeko (ピー子^?): Shizuka's lovely pet canary. It is yellow in color and sings sweetly. Peeko escapes from the cage very often.

Honekawa family

Suneo's Mother: Voice actor(s): Kazue Takahashi (1973), Yoshino Ōtori (1979~March 1991), Mari Yokō (April 1991~March 2005), Minami Takayama (April 2005~); She sports curly hair and shares the fox-like face with her son and husband. She loves Suneo very much and spoils him rotten. She's generous to Suneo's friends, but just like her son, she likes to show off her jewellery or branded handbags and sometimes makes Mrs. Tamako jealous.

Suneo's Father: Voice actor(s): Unknown (1973), Osmau Katō (1979~March 2005), Kaneta Kimotsuki (Stand-in for Katō, May 1989~January 1990), Hideyuki Tanaka (June 2005~); A successful businessman. He has lots of relationships with business elites, as a part of Suneo's showing off. He appears less frequently than his wife, mostly when going tours with family or inviting Suneo's friends to his party.

Sunetsugu Honekawa (骨川スネツグ Honekawa Sunetsugu^?): Voice actor(s): Naoki Tatsuta (1985), Yuki Kaida (2006); Suneo's younger brother who lives in New York with his uncle (who is single and raised him like a son). He has a good personality and a great respect for his older brother, but only because of Suneo's arrogant brags and lies in their correspondence.

Sunekichi (スネ吉^?)(Stan): Voice actor(s): Issei Futamata (1984~March 2005), Takumi Yamazaki (December 2005~); Suneo's college age cousin. He is an expert in radio-controlled toys. He often takes Suneo and his friends on picnics and hikes.

Suneo's grandma (スネ夫の曾祖母^?): Suneo's great grandmother uses old wives' tales to impart values and good habits to Suneo, something which Suneo dislikes.

Anna (アンナ^?) /Chiruchiru (チルチル^?): Suneo's Persian cat. It appears sometimes and Suneo keeps showing him off.

Goda family

Gian's Mother: Voice actor(s): Kazuyo Aoki (1979~March 2005), Miyako Takeuchi (April 2005~); She's the owner of a small but successful store "Goda Grocery", as well as the only character Gian is deathly afraid of. Gian always tries to flee from her when she orders him to help the store. Though being as strong as her son, she's a righteous person as she cruelly punishes her son whenever he bullies people.

Gian's Father: Voice actor(s): Masayuki Katō (1979~1980), Yū Shimaka (1987), Daisuke Gōri (November 1987), Yū Shimaka (1993); He mostly works outside to help his wife's store. Though being the parent who is the least recurring in Fujiko's story, he's known to be the strongest man in the town he lives.

Muku (ムク^?): Voice actor(s): Takeshi Goda (1981), Kazuyo Aoki→Kazuya Tatekabe (~March 2005), Yasuhiro Takato (May 2007); Gian's pet dog, who was a little stray dog and adopted by the Godas. Muku shows to be as brave as Gian, but in many emergencies he just runs away and enrages Gian. Sometimes Gian tries to get rid of him, but after he saved Gian, Gian warmed up to him.

Gian's uncle: Voice actor(s): Unknown; Gian's maternal uncle. He is a black belt in Judo and uses this ability to help other people. He taught Gian to use his strength in helping the weak. He also began teaching Gian Judo.

Other characters

Mii Chan (ミイちゃん^?): Voice actor(s): Unknown→Mari Mashiba→Junko Asami→Kumiko Watanabe→Midori Nakazawa→Motoko Kumai→Fujiko Takimoto→Sachi Matsumoto(1981~March 2005); A regular female cat from Nobita's timeline, who either hangs out or goes on dates with Doraemon. She to Doraemon is similar with Shizuka to Nobita, however, besides Noramyako, Doraemon still often has new crush on other girls in the whole series.

Yasuo (安雄^?): One of Nobita's classmates. He is distinguishable by always wearing a baseball cap. Although he appears fairly often in the series as a background character, his name is very rarely mentioned. Yasuo is often considered a generic representative of Nobita's friends. He is often creditted in the movies as "Boy A." (少年A) In one episode, he was also once called the last name, Tanaka (田中^?).

Haruo (はる夫^?): One of Nobita's classmates who often appears with Yasuo. He is a thin boy and smaller in size than Gian. Much like Yasuo, he appears fairly often as a generic representative of Nobita's friends. He is often creditted in the movies as "Boy B." (少年B)

Moteo Mote (茂手もて夫 Mote Moteo^?): A boy in the neighborhood whom Jaiko admires secretly. He's popular among girls and also a talented manga artist.

Po-Ponn (ポーポン Po-pon^?): Nobita's pet, which was scrapped by Fujiko and he decided on a mother who forbids house pets instead. It debuted in the 2013 movie as a museum professional's pet.

Media

Main articles: List of Doraemon media and List of non-Japanese Doraemon versions

Manga

English Edition

In July 2013, Fujiko Fujio Productions announced that they would be collaborating with ebook publisher Voyager Japan and localization company AltJapan Co., Ltd. to release an English language version of the Doraemon manga in full-color digitally via the Amazon Kindle platform in North America.^[13] Shogakukan released the first volume in November of 2013.^[14] This English version incorporates a variety of changes to character names; Nobita is "Noby," Suneo is "Sneech," and Gian is "Big G," while dorayaki is "Fudgy Pudgy Pie."^[15]

Anime

Television series

Main articles: Doraemon (1973 anime), Doraemon (1979 anime), and Doraemon (2005 anime)

After a brief and unpopular animated series in 1973 by Nippon Television, Doraemon remained fairly exclusive in manga from until 1979 when a newly formed animation studio, Shin-Ei Animation (Now owned by TV Asahi) produced an anime series of Doraemon. This series became incredibly popular, and ended with 1,787 episodes on March 25, 2005.
Celebrating the anniversary of Doraemon, a new Doraemon series began airing on TV Asahi on April 15, 2005 with new voice actors and staff, and updated character designs.

Feature films

Further information: List of Doraemon films

In 1980, Toho released the first of a series of annual feature length animated films based on the lengthly special volumes published annually. Unlike the anime and manga (some based on the stories in select volumes), they are more action-adventure oriented and 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 including Journey to the West and Arabian Nights. Some films also have serious themes, especially on environmental topics and the use of technology. Overall, the films have a somewhat darker tone in their stories, unlike the manga and anime.
The most recent Doraemon film, Doraemon: Nobita no Himitsu Dōgu Museum, was released on March 9, 2013. With this film, Doraemon has surpassed Godzilla in terms of overall ticket sales for a film franchise as Toho's most lucrative movie property. The 33 year series (1980-2013) has sold a combined 100 million tickets vs. the 50 year Godzilla series (1954-2004), which sold a combined 99 million tickets.^[16]

Video games

For more details on this topic, see List of Doraemon video games.

There are a total of 63 Japanese-only video games ranging from platformer games to RPG games, which began with the Emerson's Arcadia 2001 system. Doraemon can also be seen in Namco's popular Taiko no Tatsujin rhythm game series like Taiko no Tatsujin (11 - 14 only), Metcha! Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Nanatsu no Shima no Daibouken, Taiko no Tatsujin Wii, Taiko no Tatsujin Plus, and Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Dororon! Yokai Daikessen!!. The Chinese version of Microsoft's 3D Movie Maker contained a Doraemon-themed expansion pack.

Musical

Doraemon the Musical: Nobita and the Animal Planet (舞台版ドラえもんのび太とアニマル惑星(プラネット)｣。 Butaiban Doraemon: Nobita to Animaru Puranetto^?) was a 2008 musical based on the 1990 anime film of the same name.^[17] It debuted at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space on September 4, 2008 running through September 14.^[18] Wasabi Mizuta voiced Doraemon.

Reception

The manga has sold more than 100 million in Japan.^[19]

Awards and honours

Shuttle bus featuring Doraemon to Fujiko.F.Fujio Museum in Kawasaki

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 anime character selected, Doraemon was described as "The Cuddliest Hero in Asia".^[20] In 2005, the Taiwan 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 2008, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs appointed Doraemon as the first anime cultural ambassador.^[21]^[22]
Doraemon was awarded the first Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga in 1982. In 1997, it was awarded the first Osamu Tezuka Culture Award.^[23]
A Fujiko F Fujio museum opened in Kawasaki on September 3, 2011, featuring Doraemon as the star of the museum.^[24]
On September 3, 2012, Doraemon was granted official residence in the city of Kawasaki, one hundred years before he was born.^[25]

Part of Japanese society

Doraemon is a term of common knowledge in Japan. Newspapers also regularly make references to Doraemon and his pocket as something with the ability to satisfy all wishes. Other characters in the series are also referenced frequently on TV shows if their cast resembles them. Some magazines have used the analogy that America is the Takeshi of the world and Japan is his sidekick Suneo.^{[citation needed]}
Doraemon is a cultural phenomenon in Japan and can be seen in many places. For example, Doraemon is used as a promotional character by Art Hikkoshi Center (アート引越センター Āto hikkoshi sentā^?), by a moving 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.^{[citation needed]} Doraemon, Nobita, and the other characters also appear in various educational manga. Doraemon is also mentioned in several anime and manga by other manga artists.^{[citation needed]}
Doraemon is referenced in the Blue Man Group show currently running in Tokyo. The Blue Men play a short snippet of the show's theme song, and one dons Doraemon's beanie.^{[citation needed]}
The Japanese-American guitar company, ESP Guitars, makes a Doraemon shaped guitar. Mamotte! Lollipop referenced Doraemon in a chapter about a bath house. The music video for the single "From a Distance" off of the Bicycles & Tricycles album by ambient house act, The Orb revolves around Doraemon.^{[citation needed]}
Sumo wrestler Takamisugi was nicknamed "Doraemon" because of his strong resemblance to the character.
The video game series Dangan Ronpa features a character named Monobear whose voice actor provides voices for the Doraemon series too. As a result, there are several references to the character within the game. Most notably, in Super Dangan Ronpa 2, the main antagonist has an alternate personality that changes from the game's art style to mimic Doraemon's.
In late 2011, Shogakukan and Toyota joined forces to create a series of live-action commercials as part of Toyota's ReBorn ad campaign. The commercials depict the characters nearly 20 years older. Hollywood actor Jean Reno plays Doraemon.^[26]

Legacy

As one of the oldest, continuously running icons, Doraemon is a recognizable character in this contemporary generation. Nobita, the show's protagonist, is a break from other characters typically portrayed as special or extraordinary, and this portrayal has been seen as reasons of its appeal as well as the contrary: especially in the United States.