Our 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 time-line, Nobita experienced nothing but misery and misfortune manifested in the form of poor marks and grades, physical disasters, and bullying throughout his life. This culminates in the burning down of a future business he set up which leaves his family line beset with financial problems. In order to alter history and better the Nobi family's fortunes, Sewashi sent him a robot called Doraemon.

 Doraemon has a pocket from which he produces many gadgets, medicines, and tools from the future. The pocket is called yōjigen-pocket (lit. 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 dōgu has been approximated at 4,500. It is this constant variety which makes Doraemon popular even among adult readers/viewers. In the series, the availability of dōgu depends sometimes 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" (very similar to the ones 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 appear also in Fujiko F. Fujio's other works such as 21-emon, Kaibutsu-kun,Kiteretsu Daihyakka, Mikio to Mikio or 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 characters is Shizuka Minamoto, who serves as a friendly interest for Nobita. Shizuka is intelligent and is Nobita's good friend. Nobita's main human friends and/or rivals include Takeshi (nicknamed 'Gian', from the English word giant), a consummate bully, and Suneo, a wealthy but cunning and arrogant brat. There are many recurring supporting characters, such as Dekisugi, Nobita's parents, Gian's mother, his school teacher, his descendants from the future, and Doraemon's little sister, Dorami.

The stories are formulaic, usually focused on the everyday struggles of fifth 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 often 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.

Unfortunately when in possession of 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. However, by the end of the story, there is usually retribution to the characters who end up misusing them, and a moral is taught.

Doraemon talks about his past on a Japanese TV program and explains why he’s lost his ears and how he turned blue.

Did you know that Doraemon was once yellow and had ears? He looked just like he does in this photograph. The video clip bellow shows Doraemon being interviewed by Tetuko, a very famous Japanese TV host, on her show, Tetuko no heya (Tetuko’s room), which has aired every weekday for the past 30 years. Tetuko interviews very well known people and, although it’s very odd to have a cartoon character as a guest, this time it’s Doraemon’s turn. And Doraemon has revealed what he originally looked like.

Doraemon is actually a robot who travels to the futureunder Sewashi’s (Nobita’s great-great-great-grandson’s) orders, in order to make changes that affect the present. When Doraemon lived in the future, he was yellow and had ears. But, one day, a mouse robot ate his ears and Doraemon cried so hard that the tears rubbed the yellow off. That’s how he turned blue.

Doraemon’s story begins in the 22nd Century. He was a defective robot who was auctioned off and sold to a very poor family. The family- Nobita’s descendants- were living in misery due to the huge debts inherited from their great, great, great grandfather. Sewashi decided this could not go on like that. So, he sent Doraemon back to the past in order to help Nobita become a better person. The idea was that this would change the future and so improve the family’s lot in life. 

Doraemon arrives in the past, popping up in Nobita’s desk drawer. He lives with Nobita from then on and tries to stop him from becoming a failure. Each time Nobita gets into trouble, Doraemon digs into his fourth dimension pocketand uses gadgets from the future to fix the problem.