Doraemon

dark1025 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:28:26 +0000

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, Nobita Nobi

From wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doraemon )

History

dark1025 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:24:40 +0000

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.∞

From wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doraemon )

Main Characters

dark1025 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:20:45 +0000

Doraemon

Doraemon is the robot cat sent back in time by Sewashi to aid Nobita. Doraemon originally had ears but they were bitten off by arobot mouse back in the 22nd century. As a result, he developed a morbid fear of mice, despite being a robotic cat. 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 (this 4-dimensional pocket is probably the best form of hammerspace), only to produce a huge assortment of unrelated household items.
Of all the Doraemon characters, Doraemon is the only one to have physically changed since the manga began. 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 had a smaller body, white hands and feet, and a red tail.
In “The Doraemons” story arc, 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 with a label having letters that resembled “sadness”. As he cried for a long time, the yellow color washed off and his voice changed due to the potion. He was later greeted by his sister, Dorami.
Doraemon weighs 129.3 kg (285 lbs) and his height is 129.３ cm (4’3″). He is also able to run at 129.3 km/h (80.3 mi/h) when scared, and jump 129.3 m (424.2 ft) when threatened. He was manufactured on September 3, 2112 (12/9/3), at the Matsushiba Robot Factory (マツシバロボット工場, Matsushiba Robot Factory?).
Doraemon’s favourite food is dorayaki (どら焼き, dorayaki ?), a Japanese treat filled with red bean paste, which is often used to make Doraemon do things he is otherwise reluctant to do. Speculations led to dorayaki being the origin of his name. However, it was revealed in one of the manga that his name originates from a Japanese word for “stray cat”, dora neko, and the -emon ending which is part of traditional Japanese names, as seen also in, for example, Ishikawa Goemon.

Nobita Nobi

Nobita is another main character of the series. He is a fourth grader in Tokyo and an only child. He wears glasses, a red or yellow polo shirt with a white collar, and blue shorts. Nobita’s character flaws are endless. He is lazy, uncoordinated, dim-witted, frail, plain-looking, unlucky, and bad at sports. Nobita’s normal day consists of arriving late to class, scoring zeros on his exam, getting yelled at by his teacher, being bullied by classmates Jaian and Suneo, falling into curbside rain gutters, being chased by dogs, and getting yelled at by his mom for refusing to do his homework. However, his flaws and struggles are what drive the storyline. Nobita does possess some unique talents such as his unrivaled marksmanship and string figure weaving. Although Nobita is frequently portrayed as being cowardly, he has a strong sense of justice and will sometimes risk his life to help save others or entire civilizations, which is shown in full-length stories. Nobita sometimes accidently or deliberately goes into the Shizuka’s House Bathroom while Shizuka is having a bath.

Shizuka Minamoto

Shizuka, usually called Shizu-chan or Shizuka-chan, is a smart and kind girl who is the object of Nobita’s affections as well as his future bride. She bathes every morning, noon, afternoon, and evening, which leads to numerous accidental bath scenes. She is also known for taking piano lessons unwillingly, which is sometimes used as an excuse for declining to hang out with Nobita. Her true passions are sweet potatoes and the violin, in which her playing is as bad as Gian is at singing.

Takeshi Goda

Takeshi, usually known by the nickname Gian (Giant), is big, strong, and quick-tempered. His nickname might mean giant. He usually wears an orange shirt. He is known for his confidence in his terrible singing and cooking. He regularly subjects the neighborhood children to horrendous singing recitals, which is sometimes combined with his homemade dinner. Many of the stories revolve around Nobita and his friends’ efforts to avoid Gian’s concerts.
He also frequently steals other children’s toys and books under the pretext of “borrowing” it, unless the toy is damaged. However, he still has a strong sense of justice and comradeship, and will not hesitate to help Nobita and his friends when they are in real trouble, which often occurs in the movies. Although he bullies the other children (mostly Nobita), he is terrified of his mother, who runs the local grocery store. He founded his own baseball team named after himself. Although Nobita is often blamed for the loss against the baseball team’s rival, the “Tyranos”, Gian and Suneo still force Nobita to play because they do not have enough players.
Gian has a younger sister named Jaiko, whom he adores.

Suneo Honekawa

Suneo is the braggart who parades his material wealth in front of Nobita. He is often seen with Gian, who he bullies Nobita with; he actually hates Gian very much, so helping Gian to bully Nobita is probably to avoid suffering the same fate himself. Several stories start with Suneo showing off some new video game, toy, or electronic device his family has bought, or him needing Doraemon’s help. He has an extensive knowledge of science, and he is a talented artist and designer. He also has a younger brother Sunetsugu , who was adopted into his uncle’s family in New York.
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 and needs to wear diapers

when he sleeps, despite being in the fourth grade. He considers this as his secret weakness, and according to his mother, it is his only weakness.

from MOO_MOO (http://dora-doraemon.blogspot.com/2007/08/characters.html)

Minor Characters

dark1025 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:16:50 +0000

Jaiko

Jaiko is Giant’s younger sister who would have been Nobita’s wife in the future had Doraemon not intervened. She first appeared in the first story, before the introduction of Gian. Her name Jaiko is usually considered a nickname, but Fujiko never gave her a real name.
Jaiko goes by her amateur mangaka pen name Christine Goda , and sometimes submits her stories to publishing companies for prizes.

Hidetoshi Dekisugi

Hidetoshi is Nobita’s classmate and rival for Shizuka’s affections. He always gets perfect scores on his tests, but never shows off his abilities. He willingly helps Nobita whenever he has philosophical or scientific questions. His name literally means “brilliant over-achiever”, and his last name is a pun on dekisugiru, which means “over achieving”.

Dorami

Dorami, also known as Dorami-chan, is the younger sister of Doraemon. Strangely enough, they were siblings due to the fact that they shared half of the oil from a can. She lives in the 22nd-century Tokyo with Sewashi, Nobita’s great-great-grandson. She is yellow where Doraemon is blue, and she has ears that look like a large red bow. She likes melonpan and she is afraid of cockroaches. She is also shown to be more advanced than Doraemon. She sometimes visits Nobita with a time machine.

Sensei

nobita’s homeroom teacher. He is a very strict man and is impatient with Nobita, often sending him to stand in the hallway. His real name is unknown and he is only referred to as “Sensei“, but in the NTV anime his name is given as Ganari .

Kaminari

An old man who lives next to a vacant lot in which Nobita and the gang often play baseball. They often accidentally throw baseballs, rocks, and sometimes even one of Doraemon’s gadgets through his window, subsequently breaking it and knocking over his prized bonsai. The children refer to him as Kaminari-oyaji , because everytime this happens he shouts so loud that they all scatter. Kaminari is his

Tameru Kaneo

Tameru tends to accompany Suneo and Jaian. He has a friend whose name is not mentioned, and both of them are always seen together. Kane wo tameru, the way his name is read in Japanese, means “to save money” in Japanese.

Mini-Doras

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 communicates with Doraemon through the “Mini-Dora” language. They act as helpers for all sorts of jobs, such as repairing the internal mechanism of Doraemon.

Tamako Nobi ( Nobita’s family )

Tamako is Nobita’s mother, who is usually seen scolding Nobita, or sending Nobita on errands, but is shown that she loves her son very much.

Nobisuke Nobi

Nobisuke is Nobita’s father and a laid-back salaryman. Nobisuke is very considerate of Nobita, often seen arriving home from work to soothe Tamako’s anger directed at Nobita. He is also shown to be unable to drive or quit smoking, has a poor memory and sometimes he arrives home very drunk. He was once an aspiring art student.

Sewashi

Sewashi is Nobita’s great-great-grandson who sent Doraemon back to the past to look after Nobita. Sewashi was the person who first bought Doraemon in 2112 when Doraemon still had ears and was yellow.

Nobisuke

Nobisuke is Nobita’s son, who is named after Nobita’s father. He is a much better athlete than Nobita and is sly. He did not hesitate to beat young Nobita when young Nobita tried to stop Nobisuke from running away from home.

from MOO_MOO (http://dora-doraemon.blogspot.com/2007/08/characters.html)

Plot summary

dark1025 — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:28:19 +0000

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.

From wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doraemon )