Doraemon (1979)

Clear all of your previous jaundice, because Doraemon is not as clear and transparent as it would seem on the surface; it should not be simply considered as another anime on par with the pace of all of the classics of anime. With its immensely large number of episodes, and the repetitiveness of its plot line in line with flat characters that hardly undergo any change, it is easy to assume that the anime is simply about the numerous different gadgets that Doraemon brought back from the future. To change your perspective, you only need an open mind, then you will see the truth as ... clear as daylight.

To begin, as much as you wish to believe that Doraemon is about a ne'er do well named Nobita and how his life changed for good from the arrival of Doraemon, the plot of Doraemon actually revolves around the fact that Nobita is a boy suffering from a severe mental disability, and all of the characters, including Doraemon, are the product of his imagination. In real life, Nobita would be a little boy on his deathbed who imagined the entire series in order to keep himself entertained and to ease his pain and depression.

From this perspective, the entire series of Doraemon now becomes a series about the different sensations of human life that the little boy would’ve felt had he not fallen into a mental disability. Every time Nobita becomes depressed in the story because he was bullied by Gian or Suneo, he is probably suffering pain from his mental disease; Gian and Suneo are simply the manifestation of his illness. Every gadget Doraemon pulls out of his pouch in order to save Nobita is a manifestation of something in real life used to relieve him of his pain; or rather, it may be the surgical tools of a doctor, since sometimes the gadgets cause him pain if Nobita goes overboard with them.

The settings also provide concrete evidence to the truth behind the series. The mental capabilities of a child is much greater than that of an adult, yet it is not all powerful; it is not able to create objects that he has never seen. Therefore we see that the neighborhood inside Nobita’s imagination is very small, with a sparse number of houses and even more sparse the types of people that can be met. For example, we can only see Japanese people in the neighborhood, there is hardly any foreigners. Furthermore, when Nobita is walking around, we almost always only see blank walls, side-walks, and telephone poles; when Nobita is flying, we can only see the clouds in the sky and numerous trees and houses, with many of the same structural build-up. There are hardly any miscellaneous people or things walking around, in accordance with the fact that Nobita’s imagination can only support what it considers as important.

Now, a little bit about the series itself. At this point, if you continue to believe that Doraemon is about how Nobita's life changed for the better because of the arrival of Doraemon, you will continue to enjoy Doraemon only as a remnant of a great series of memories, and possibly, a great childhood. However, considering the complexities of the plot as analyzed, Doraemon is actually a chilling insight to how the mind will react when driven to extremities of solitude. It is painful to consider how lonely and hopeless it must be for a child on his sickbed without being looked after by a friend, and possibly abandoned by his family for good. With this in mind, the boy now proceeds to indulge in escapism in order to run away from all of the emotional and physical pain that he is experiencing. We laugh at how silly it is, and gaze in wonder at the impressive gadgets that Doraemon can pull out of his pouch, yet behind the facade of happiness and wonder, behind the cover of the moral lessons, behind the desire and personality of an ordinary school boy, there exists a background of such darkness, such that in rereading the series, one cannot help but wonder at how strong a fortitude a child can possess.

Nobita’s friends are also very important in finding just what exactly the series is trying to do. In the beginning, we know that Nobita is very interested in marrying Shizuka, but becomes very agitated when he learns from his great-grandson that he instead marries Jaiko, Jaian’s little sister. Therefore, immediately in the second episode, he tries to change his fate by imagining himself traveling to the future and then… [I will not write a spoiler]

The changes that Nobita makes because of the arrival of Doraemon gives us a clue that Nobita indeed hasn’t given up hope of his recovery, and wishes to live long enough to give birth to the next generation. However, the fact that Nobita never changes the present from his imaginary excursions with Doraemon to the past and the fact that his own manifestation in his imagination reveals that Nobita accepts the fact he cannot change his sickly body, and is not afraid to face his circumstances head on. A line from the original opening of Doraemon:

How wonderful this is,
if only it would come true.

This dream, that dream,
so many of them.

A children's anime at best. I watched Doraemon as a child and as much as I loved it back then, I still love it now. Every thing is just cliche, but the endings are always so funny and classic. There isn't anything else I love more than watching Doraemon. I'm probably insane when my friends ask me what my favorite anme is, and I say Doraemon.

but really, this is a good anime that teaches children lessons, and probably a classic if you enjoy classics. It's a long anime, sure, but worth it. Every episode is completely stand alone, and easy to pick up, easy to ... put down without being confused because there really is no story in each of them.

Doraemon is a cat... A Robot Cat from the future who is very, VERY HANDY at all times thanks to his Special Pocket on his stomach that has tons and tons of tools and equipment to use to solve everything that is a problem.

Then, there's that spoiled little kid named Nobita, who is a very annoying little boy who always fails when it come to their school test and quizzes and what's worst is that, he is a very lazy kid and he has always been a victim of being scolded by his mother. In Doraemon's case. Nobita always wants to "borrow" something to Doraemon ... to do something silly, but Doraemon, most of the time, refuses to because he doesn't trust Nobita for doing something using his tools. But when Nobita sometimes baits him by giving him Doraemon's food, or when Nobita then throws tantrums, Doraemon has no other choice but to force himself to gave it to Nobita. But most of the time, even though Nobita is somewhat silly, he's still a kind person and he do his best to use Doraemon's equipment for good measures.

Doraemon (1979) is one of my childhood memories from early 2000s and this anime introduces me into the world of anime. When I was a kid, I always watch this show every morning, with the other anime line-ups after that, like Detective Conan, Pokemon, even the 90s animes like Voltes V, Dragon Ball Z and Daimos. Everyday, after that morning show which ends in around 8:30am, this anime is the appetizer for my Monday to Friday morning anime. Especially when my Mom is cooking for our breakfast, this anime is my waiting shed.

Doraemon is very hilarious at times, nothing more and nothing less. It has also some important lessons of each episode which is great for all children to enjoy.

Although I didn't watch the original Japanese Dub, the Filipino Dub version here in the Philippines is quite great though. Especially when one of the characters in Doraemon, Takeshi Goda, or Gian, is alias here in the Philippines is "Damulag", literally translates into "Giant" or "Water Buffalo", which is quite a hilarious name for the guy like him.

I don't watch this anime in order though, as the channel who provides us this anime is set in a random two-episodes-per-one-day show. Which is great...

I like this anime, it's really fun to watch and it feels like the anime from the past is really damn great! Whenever I watch that anime, I feel like I'm a little child who always woke up in the morning just to watch my favorite anime of all time. I really like it! But now I'm an 18 Year Old Teenager, I felt my heart is so deeply close to this anime. It really warms my heart though...

Anyways, enough with the drama, if you saw this anime, whatever that time is... You better judge it yourself. This anime is awesome and funny... And I recommend you to watch this anime! I'll definitely say this anime is fantastically spectacular!

The story centers around a complete loser who is lazy, stupid, irresponsible, and wears a pair of impossibly large glasses. He is in love with a girl in his class but he never had the courage to tell her how he feels. He is constantly being bullied by two boys in the neighborhood: a fat guy with confidence in his athletic abilities with a heart of gold and a wealthy boy who's got a bird's beak for mouth. In 22nd century, Skynet decided to send advanced robots back to the present day to destroy humanity. Skynet sent different robots to different countries, and for Japan, ... they sent a blut fat robot cat called Doraemon. It's mission, help the loser boy overcome otherwise insurmountable obstacles through futuristic gadgets, so the boy may survive the natural selection and breed even more losers, thus weakening humanity's genes so the robots can take over.

Doraemon is a must for children!

It was the first anime I have ever watched and the first manga i have ever read.

The story is very easy to understand and perfect for children! The art is really nice and the sound quality on point!
Characters like Doraemon, Dorami and Nobita can really brighten up your day! Especially if you had a bad day at work or school.

Enjoyment is also there.

The only bad thing is that some episodes are really boring but maybe thats because Im not in that age anymore.
...
Overall a very classic anime that you have to know about!

Overall I gave it an 8, Though it is Japanese, I would rather classify this as a cartoon, it is funny, cute, and innocent, I watched this all the time when I was a kid and recently watched all 1700 episodes, and man oh man is it a good "anime" The story, kind of like a Disney cartoon, random in each episode, not a real... plot as you will say,
Sound, 10/10 for what time the anime was made, character 7, not too bad, not too great, like Goldie Locks, kind of in the middle, art 10/10, again, for when it was made.


I really recommend this ... as a good anime to watch, and it can also boost your episodes.

Spacetoon 3alam al moghamarat, aka this shaped my bloody childhood so i love this anime as a result of that i remember the countless times i laughed at the main characters, it might not have the best story, or the best art but it sure as hell had funny characters and was very enjoyable throughout i didnt watch the entire anime, but i watched a huge chunk of it and i have been rewatching some of it to satisfy my thirst for nostalgia, although many of the jokes dont land right now because im older, i still remember the countless days i awaited the release ... of the next episode.

I really can't describe this anime... it has just been too good, inspirational, adventurous, emotional, and stylish... I love this anime and also want to say one thing this is not a baby anime or childish anime i know this anime has astonishly(i know that's not a real word though) gained popularity but there aren't less people who still think it's childish it is 7+ and 7+ means literally any age above 7- never would you see kids in its genre; cause it's not like that
Firstly, it has great future scenes, buildings, future world, and doraemon has very cool gadgets and time machine is the ... most cool thing ever...
It is emotional many animes are not like that... this is a unique one... unique plot... i thank fujiko f fujio for such an emotional, interesting, motivating, and addictive anime...
Yes, one more thing... this anime has very great movies like 'stand by me doraemon' and its sequel... these show us the power of anime... this shows how much better than even real movies anime can be... i can't actually describe it, but i get a very good vibe by watching this... i recommend you to watch it more... then you will that it's not a typical and ordinary animation; it is extraordinary

Well, I could go very long with this one. What could you exactly talk about Doraemon? There are millions of great things that you could talk about Doraemon. Whether it's affecting the anime world, how it inspired children when we were kids, animation, drama, movies that aren't canon but you could be talking about them for miles and miles ahead about how great they are, the backstory of every single character in Doraemon that could make a whole movie out of it, Nobita's future with Shizuka and how he's been living with Doraemon, Stand By Me: Doraemon that's undoubtedly one of the best anime movies ... in the world, influence on Japan and the whole world, in Florence in Southeast Asia, and hundreds of things you could mention to show how strong Doraemon's influence is. Doraemon is an anime that you don't need to worry about how the story goes because every story, episode, or chronicle has its own story. It doesn't need to be in order, and you don't need to watch every single episode to recollect everything because every single one of Doraemon's episodes has its own story, much like how Tom and Jerry have their own story in every episode. Doraemon can be watched from a young age to the oldest; it's like how Lego sets are designed for ages 1 to 99 to play with. It's just like that because Doraemon is simply the anime that can bring people together, allowing them to sit and enjoy like the friends they are, just like the friends they are with Nobita, Doraemon, Giant, Shizuka, Suneo, and the people they are friends with. If you have a bad day from work or feel like you want to seek happiness for your life, this is the anime that will really help you out a lot or feels like you need something to relax, watch Doraemon.

Ok so I am only 42 years late to watching this but I really enjoy watching Doraemon even though I never grew up with it.

Watching Doraemon to me is like sitting down as a child and watching Spongebob, there is no story to really focus on because its something new every episode. I can just watch Doraemon in the background and feel like a kid when I used to watch Spongebob everyday.

Thats all I really have to say about it, its like watching cartoons when you were a kid.

I highly recommend watching this if you are in the mood to feel like a kid watching ... cartoon network or something like that.

8/10

These days it goes against the grain for a person to rip on a cult classic.
Allow me to do just that, write a review that'll do this series justice.

Art 4/10:
Severely dated, by today standards this series comes off immediately as an eyesore. Absolutely pathetic by the 80s animation criteria. This series came out around the time of the VHS era, the time when animation was purely hand drawn and devoid of any graphical rendering from CGI. I am a sap for smooth hand drawn animation and I can sympathise if the series cannot deliver those moments all the time, since that demands painful labours ... and a creative knack for animation per se. But Doraemon was lackadaisical from start to finish, not a single moment throughout the 1787 episodes when I thought there was a redeeming scene that might salvage this utter disaster area, animation-wise.

Sound 4/10:
Mediocre in every possible sense. I have no gripe on the sound effects since they're par for the course. The voice acting feels forced, as if the VOs just treated this like a run of the mill kid show and phoned in their run of the mill performance. The OP song is cringe worthy to the point of obsession-inducing but that is my personal beef.

Character 4/10:
The show is laden with characters with the most cliche tropes you can possibly imagine: The challenged protagonist, the posh snub, the aggressive macho, the bland cute girl,... Notice the way I didn't go into further description of these certain character about their traits and background because there wasn't any to speak of.

Story 4/10:
The story revolves around this spineless 8 year-old who was accompanied by a sentient robot from the future and his daily struggles with his life and peers. The robot was sent back to him with a view to helping him cope with his challenges and hardships as well as shaping him into a functional unit of society. Now the series did try to get a little creative by throwing in these futuristic devices which the characters capitalise for their own means, ultimately resulting in hilarity by the end of every episode. Unfortunately I cannot overlook the fact that the plot for this series straight up refused to develop into any particular direction and as a result, this became a major grind for me. After the 10th episode I immediately realised what kind of show I was getting into.

Enjoyment 4/10:
Again I must address the fact that character progression is non-existent in this series, too was any twists and coup de theatre that I was desperate praying for towards the end of doraemon. Perhaps this might get immensely more interesting were all of the hubbub being carried out just simply a figment of the protagonists's rich imagination, but then again this is not those kind of shows.

Overall 4/10:
Doraemon is amongst the most insipid, trying series out there. I don't get how this is hailed as the embodiment of many people's childhood and such. Why can't your people's childhood be something a little more tasteful like Legend of The Galactic Heroes, or Neon Genesis Evangelion?

Doraemon was okay, production quality was good and the story was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it!