Doraemon is a manga
series, later adapted into anime, created by a mangaka duo named Fujiko Fujio.
Their names are Hiroshi Fujimoto and Moto Abiko. The manga ran for a very long
time, from 1969 to 1996 and, at the end, weighed in at 45 volumes. In 1973 it
was adapted into an anime series and it still running, despite being dropped by
various directors. In total, the anime series’ total number of episodes is a
staggering 2165(!), thus making it the second longest animated series in Japan
and, most probably, in the world. The series also has an impressive 30 movies.
Now, such a colossal
number of episodes and movies must mean that it is good, right? That it probably
has good writing, engaging stories and character interactions, right? Since it
has messages about integrity, perseverance, respect, courage and/or family
along with global warming, pollution etc. It cannot possibly fail, true? Wrong!
It fails hard on every level. The series is seriously messed up and just wrong.
The series is about a complete wreck of a human called Nobita Nobi who
struggles through life. He has neglectful, sometimes even abusive, parents,
always gets a zero at school, has no friends and is bullied constantly and
mercilessly by two douchebags called Suneo and Gian who claim to be his friends
(right, and I am cyborg pirate ninja Jesus). He also has a love interest, a
girl named Suzuka, because she is the only one who is kind to him. One day his
predecessors send a robotic cat, called Doraemon, to help, through time from
the 23rd Century because his hopelessness caused them serious
financial problems and thus want to help him. Doraemon has a thing called a 4D
pocket, but I prefer to call it a God pocket because it contains any gadget and
machine that can be possibly imagined. It has time machines, dimension
creators, inter-dimensional transportations, shrink and enlargement rays etc.
Despite this god-like ability, Doraemon fails in every episode. At the start of
EVERY episode we get Nobita either getting another abysmal grade at school,
getting beaten by the bullies or screamed at by his parents, usually by his
mother because the father is mostly absent, working, if not that then minding
his own business. There are instances of the Nobis interacting like a decent
family but those are few and far between. Anyway, after Nobita suffers through
his first order of abuse of the day, he then runs to Doraemon, obviously crying
his eyes out, and asks for help, which he gets either willingly or reluctantly,
where Doraemon gives him a gadget to fix the problem. Nobita, expectedly, being
so desperate for some humane treatment and some love, abuses this gadget, and
is made look like an arse in the end where he supposed to learn a lesson. Good God,
my soul just hurts because of this and I don’t even believe in souls or God.
You know what the
worst part is? Is that this got many cultural awards and Doraemon has received
the honour of being the Anime mascot Also, this crap is supposed to be for kids!
When I found all that out I was left speechless in shock. Just how is this
possible? Shouldn’t, for example, Astro Boy get this place since he was made by
Osamu Tezuka, the father of anime and manga?
In short, this series
is a depressing, soul-scarring, losing-faith-in-humanity inducing massive piece
of ... fail. Therefore I am giving it a well-deserved 0.9 out of 10. I would
give it an even worse grade but, believe it or not, there are worse series out
there. It still doesn’t deserve a 1, though.
PS: I haven’t exactly
stopped watching this at episode 200. I don’t know when I stopped watching but
I had to press some episode number otherwise I wouldn’t be able to upload the
review.
Screenshots
