Doraemon

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Public doesn’t matter if the show can be fully appreciated to anyone.

Here is one of biggest classics and my first manga I have ever read and completed all volumes, Doraemon. While it's not being known well outside of Asia/Japan, it's a franchise that truly deserves its high popularity and reputation over the years. If Dragon Ball popularized the manga, Doraemon is also one of them and really close to it. Even nowadays, it still lives in as one of the greatest success as a manga franchise with about 50+ volumes, thousands of episodes from 3 anime series and a mass produced merchandise since 1970, ... so more than 50 years ago.

You may first think that Doraemon is a kids show, and it's not good nor interesting, because it isn't made for us. What I can say about that, is sure, demographically, it's a kid show, but you're wrong. The art may look cute, protagonists are children and the story isn't much complex, but it's far more than what you may expect. I will explain it now with details, why this franchise rocks and I would recommend it to anyone.

Story: 8

The story of Doraemon can be easily described without few introduction and can be watched in almost any order, appealing to anyone that can start anytime, anywhere. Each chapter is one story, for about 10 pages, sometimes longer. That's why, it's easy and common to give fillers in this series, which is the reason why the anime is so long! Sadly, since the main author passed away, the manga serialization ended and focused more on the anime side afterwards, which is still running with a lot of chapters remakes and episodes. I will focus this review on the manga side.

The introduction is pretty simple. An elementary schooler, named Nobi Nobita is a lazy kid with almost nothing good, bad luck, bad grades and weak against others, until Doraemon, a Cat Robot(without ears) arrives from the 22th century with a time machine from his desk drawer, in order to fix his mistakes and change him. Although Doraemon isn't really competent than you might think, he has a lot of Sci-Fi gadgets that each have a special effect that will help him for any situation.

You may wonder that, well it's simple as that. However, what is really amazing in this manga is the amount and various degrees of themes, comedy and creativity. You may firstly expect something absolutely normal, but with the help of Doraemon, it turns out to be something completely different and surprisingly entertaining. If you are a fan of any popular known comedy show, such as Saiki K. and especially Gintama, you will definitely understand what I mean and you will find something that is really similar in your tastes, with its terms of episodic, funny, various and imaginative situations and characters. Just like those comedy series, Doraemon has some great classic parodies in the old era such as Star Wars, E.T., Ginga Tetsudou and Uchuu Senkan Yamato. It was rather ahead for its time for those ideas and it should be considered like the ancestors of many of the popular series nowadays.

The situations in Doraemon are diverse, fun and hilarious. Never in any other show I've seen, it will throw simple kids attacked from an extraterrestrial that doesn't exist and ending up contacting the prime minister to help them, sometimes even depositing money to a bank and going 100 years into the future to claim this money with 1000 times more interest, children paying taxes in order to buy a soccer ball, going back during World War II and saying to a Japanese War Officer that the Japan will lost, searching a dictionary for the specific homework questions and answers, or even a manga author that can't figure out to write about the rest of the story, which ends up buying his unwritten volumes in the future and criticizing himself for being a lazy author.

Enough said, those examples should be funny to you, the possibilities is so vast and creative that I can't describe all of them for about 800+ chapters. However, you only need to read a few chapters, if not, about 2-3 volumes to understand its strength and its potential. Some chapters can be unexpectedly emotional and heartwarming, that may make you cry or learn about some important morals and ethics in the society.

On the other side, there are some small flaws in the story. If you judge the story too much in depth, you may find some plot-holes or some inconsistencies, because this story is simplistic and the author forgets sometimes about complex, out-of-range details. However, that was already expected in my case, since it's not a story that you care for details but for fun and mostly as a slice-of-life/comedy. For those who may have concerns with that, just think like after every chapter, the world is back to normal and the characters won't age, even after hundreds of chapters. It's just like you try to think that RPG Games have some high-level of inconsistencies or almost no logic compared to the real world, so that shouldn't be something critical or disturbing.

Some may also find inconsistencies or concerns about the overall narrative of the manga, since it's an old manga. Just read a few volumes, and you will mostly forget about it. Fortunately, I didn’t realized much of a progressive drop in quality in this manga, so there should be no issues about that.

Art: 7

The art itself is pretty simple and works well as this kind of series. However, I faced inconsistencies during some chapters, where the tone didn't match or sometimes it lacked a lot of detail. Knowing that the author serialized a lot of series at the same time, it was also expected. Fortunately, it's rather solid overall and simple designs won't ruin something, it's not a story that need some complex details, after all.

Characters: 9

The characters are really simple, distinguishable and well-defined with their purpose in a slice-of-life, adventure, comedy, Sci-Fi and episodic series. You can find a lot of these stereotypes in recent comedies series, so you should be familiar with them.

Doraemon and Nobita are primarily the main characters of this story. Mostly always together, they explore various situations. Even though sometimes they are not the focus, they are always related to the focused characters and always appear in the story as usual.

Doraemon is the cat robot and his personality is often similar to a human one, or something like robot or even cat one, which is rather funny and absurd. Although he is a robot, he is somewhat of a defect and because of that, he is inferior to other robots, and a bit like Nobita, which is weak against others. There are some surprisingly touching chapters that represents him and most of them explore its gadgets and develop amazing and creative situations.

Nobita, on the other hand, is a weak, lazy and sometimes bad behavior, but in the end of the day, he is a highly likable and relatable character that represents a great impression of a failed guy. Still, he excels his skills in a few areas and he remains really entertaining to me.

The rest of the main characters represents mostly their friends or their family, most notably 3 others, which are Shizuka, Suneo and Gian (Takeshi). Shizuka is the only girl of the 5 and Nobita's classmate and love interest. She appears in most chapters, in a really good, or sometimes accidently bad ways in multiple situations.

Suneo, on the other hand, is what defines a stereotypical rich guy and somewhat tricky behaviour. He is one of the biggest Nobita friends, and also one of his 2 bullies at a time. Since his family is rich and Nobita's family is poor, he represents often the reason why Nobita wants to outstand him.

Gian, is primarily Nobita's biggest bully and sometimes an amazing friend (Watch a movie for fun, you will know what I mean). He is the kind of guy that "Your things are mine, My things are mine." What I find really funny and entertaining in this character is when his behaviour change greatly at times and when he sings or cook something, things get interesting and stressing at the same time.

What is also really funny in the manga, is that no matter where you go in time and place, you can always find someone like Nobita (weak one) against other bullies which looks a lot like his friends/bullies. Also, (almost) every character doesn’t have a perfect personality and they have a lot of strengths and weaknesses, giving them many possibilities during various situations. They may seem linear, but they are more than that.

A bit on the other side now, there are some characters which I see a lot of time, but they aren't much explained, like their name or don't have much some distinctive connections between the main characters. Again, that's not much of a thing, but as a slice-of-life series, expect yourself to see a lot of characters that may appear one or two times in the entire manga.

Enjoyment: 9

I highly enjoyed it most of the time and I was impressed for its comedy, creativity, episodic storytelling, high variety of emotions, likable characters and unique situations. I can definitely agree that as for its genre and demographic, Doraemon is clearly above average in this aspect too. The chapters are really memorable and you will remember them for years to come, sometimes as a morality lesson.

Although not every chapter was a hit for me, since it has various themes that I wasn't interested much, such as romance. Of course, with more than 800 chapters, there can be some weak ones, but also stronger and much more memorable ones.

Overall: 9

A true classic and a must-watch, despite its demographic that may turn off some people. Give it a chance for a few chapters or volumes, you won't regret it.

Recommandations, references!

Gintama (A lot of similar aspects, like its episodic nature, plus a lot of Doraemon references)
Jojo (Stand abilities are similar to Doraemon gadgets and some crazy, funny situations)
Saiki K. (Psychic Powers are the substitute for Doraemon gadgets, likable characters)
Seto no Hanayome (A few gadgets, species jokes and similar kind of humour, really funny. Also some references to Doraemon)
Dragon Ball (Serialized about in the same times, was a bit inspired on Doraemon’s Sci-Fi settings)
Osomatsu-san (Similar artsyle and narrative, even though it's not the same author, lot of Doraemon references and similar comedy situations)

Read then re-read in my native language countless of times as a child and now reading it in English as well just brings back all the nostalgia. Even as an adult, every single chapter remains fresh and hilarious in a heartwarming way. I highly recommend this series for all children and adults. It was truly the first manga that taught me creativity. Each problem that Doraemon faced and solved with his ingenious "futuristic" tools excited and helped develop my childhood curiosity and love for learning. Beyond scientific exposure, Doraemon taught me empathy, how to be a great friend to others and how to uphold my ... ethical responsibilities in society even as a child.

Doraemon (ドラえもん) is the very first Manga that I ever read in my entire life. It is Fujiko F. Fujio's masterpiece.

Story (10/10):
Nobita Nobi is a young boy who suffers from poor grades and bullying. In the future many years from the present one of Nobi's descendants sends Doraemon, a robotic blue cat back to the past to guard and protect Nobi. Doraemon has a large variety of gadgets that are hidden in his pouch that he uses to help Nobi. Doraemon's goal is to help Nobi now with his problems and struggles so that he has a better future than the one that ... Doraemon sees in the future. Fantastic and very interesting, especially for the younger audiences.

Art (10/10):
Fujiko F. Fujio is a fantastic Mangaka and this is his masterpiece. Doraemon has the best art that he ever drew in a Manga. Perfect art design and quality.

Characters (10/10):
All the characters are extremely likable in their own ways. Nobita is the failure that everyone can relate to with his struggles. Shizuka is the happy and friendly girl that people can relate to in real life. Suneo and Takeshi are the typical bullies that most people can relate either because they have been bullied or are bullies in real life. Fantastic characters that everyone no matter what your age and characteristics are you can still relate with.

Enjoyment (10/10):
Doraemon is the very first Manga that I ever read in my life. It is amazing. I enjoy it every time I read it. I have re- read this series half a dozen times. That is how much I love it.

Overall (10/10):
Doraemon isn't just for kids. It is for everyone. It is loaded with great morals for everyone and I do mean everyone, to learn and to become a better person by such as fixing your mistakes. A masterpiece and one of the greatest Manga of all-time in my opinion. 10/10.