Stand by Me Doraemon is a Doraemon movie released in 2014. It is the first CGI installment of the Doraemon (Film Series) and was also intended to honor the 80th anniversary of the franchise's creator, the late Fujiko F. Fujio. It summarizes what Doraemon is all about and serves as a good introduction to the series.
Directed by Takashi Yamazaki (who also worked on Lupin III: The First, Dragon Quest: Your Story, and Godzilla Minus One) and Ryūichi Yagi, the film combines some of the most well-known chapters of the comic into a cohesive narrative note .
Nobita "Noby" Nobi is a struggling fourth-grader with a difficult life. His great-great-grandson from the future, Sewashi "Soby" Nobi, builds the Do-Anything Robot cat Doraemon. Doraemon travels back in time to help steer Noby's life in the right direction using his wide variety of gadgets. Noby uses the gadgets for his own benefit and to impress his Love Interest, Shizuka "Sue" Minamoto. Eventually, Doraemon must leave Noby and return home.
This movie is one of the most successful Doraemon works. It grossed over $183 million worldwide, making it one of the highest-grossing anime films, and it won multiple awards, making it the highest-grossing film in the franchise. Bang Zoom! Entertainment produced an American English dub of the movie, though it was initially only distributed in Asia (the film was finally released on Netflix in the US on December 24, 2021). In fact, the movie's success led to a sequel film, Stand by Me Doraemon 2, which was released in 2020 (Netflix released that film outside of Japan and Southwest Asia on December 24, 2021).
This movie borrows many of its tropes from the manga chapters it adapts (see the note above), but it also introduces some original tropes.
Tropes unique to Stand by Me Doraemon:
- Adaptation Amalgamation: It combines stories from the first six volumes and one story from the seventh.
- Adaptational Badass: The movie adapts a short from the manga where Nobita, after growing up via the Time Cloth, travels to the future to save Future Shizuka, who is stranded in a blizzard. In the original short, Future Nobita spends the entire time sick in bed from a cold, while Present Nobita accompanies Shizuka until a rescue team arrives. However, in the movie, Future Nobita—after remembering the promise he made to himself as a kid—pulls a Big Damn Heroes and arrives right on time on a futuristic snowcat to save Future Shizuka and his younger self. Unfortunately, Future Shizuka gets hit with the inversion, as in the original manga, she never suffered from chronic hypothermia to the point of unconsciousness.
- Adaptational Consistency: The first Doraemon story, "All the Way from the Future World", published in 1969, features Doraemon hungrily eating a plate of mochi and declaring it the "best thing he's ever tasted." At the time, Doraemon's undying love towards dorayaki was not yet established. This movie recreates the scene, but with dorayaki in place of mochi.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Doraemon experiences this trope to develop his character. In the original story, he initially accepts being sent back to the past by Sewashi to help Nobita, but his patience wears thin due to Nobita's bratty behavior, leading to apathy, though their bond remains. Here, Doraemon is resentful of the situation from the start, forced to help Nobita by Sewashi, who programmed him to stay until Nobita is fully happy. However, he eventually softens towards him.
- All-CGI Cartoon: This movie and Stand by Me Doraemon 2 are the only Doraemon feature films to use CGI animation.
- All for Nothing: To improve his test grade using his own abilities, Nobita decides to study without Doraemon's gadgets. Unfortunately, he studies math, even though the test is about kanji, and Nobita still gets a zero.
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Spanish version includes a completely new theme song
by Fiver that is entirely in English. - Animated Outtakes: Some animated outtakes appear in the closing credits.
- Breather Episode: The other Doraemon movies tend to be Darker and Edgier or more adventurous than the series, but this film more closely mirrors the calmness and light-heartedness of the regular show.
- Brutal Honesty: Doraemon tends to be...quite straightforward in his assessments of Nobita.Doraemon: [when Present Nobita questions Future Shizuka's quiet demeanor the night before her wedding] Of course [Shizuka]'s upset. She's about to marry you.
- The Cameo: Sumire Hoshino from Perman appears in a poster for the film.
- Creative Closing Credits: The credits include some Animated Outtakes.
- Character Development: Doraemon initially comes across as somewhat jerkish when he first meets Nobita, viewing him as hopeless. Yet, as he spends more time with Nobita and assists him, he gradually softens and develops a strong friendship.
- Dub Name Change: All of the characters have names that match the Bang Zoom! English dub from Disney XD. However, the subtitled version shown on airplanes uses Sue's original Japanese name, Shizuka. The Netflix subtitle track for both movies also uses the original Japanese names.
- Exact Words: Doraemon's final gift to Nobita unintentionally causes this due to its function. When activated, it creates a single gadget to solve Nobita's immediate problem. In this case, he asks for something to successfully get revenge on April Fool's Day, which results in a lying potion that makes everything the drinker says a complete lie. While this works as intended, he accidentally allows Doraemon to return to his time because he's moping about Doraemon not coming back while still under the potion's effects. The gadget was never explicitly stated to only focus on one problem...
- "Eureka!" Moment: While stranded with an unconscious Shizuka in a blizzard, Nobita feels like he's running out of time, but then remembers he's in the future where his grown-up self exists. This leads to the brilliant idea of promising his future self to save them both. It works, and Future Nobita arrives to the rescue.
- Face on the Cover: A movie poster features Doraemon with tears in his eyes.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Initially, Doraemon is resistant to Nobita and only assists him out of programmed obligation, needing to make Nobita happy to return to his original timeline. Nonetheless, he gradually warms up to Nobita, appreciating his kindness, eventually becoming reluctant to leave him when the time arrives.
- Gratuitous English:
- The English title Stand By Me Doraemon is the same as the Japanese version. Some dubs keep this title, while others translate it.
- The Spanish version includes a theme song by Fiver that's entirely in English.
- Hard-Work Montage: Nobita studies vigorously for a math exam, opting not to rely on Doraemon's gadgets for once, with Doraemon as his tutor. However, he forgets to check his schedule – the exam is actually for language, not math. Mood Whiplash quickly follows.
- Hate Plague: A self-inflicted example occurs when Nobita drinks a potion from Doraemon intended to make everyone hate him, so he can distance himself from Shizuka. He finishes the entire bottle before Doraemon can warn him about the side effects.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: The lying potion produced by Doraemon's final gift causes the consumer to utter astronomical-level lies, such as causing an instant rainstorm when Nobita deliberately praises the nice weather.
- Irony: After years of running late for school and other appointments, Nobita shows up to his own wedding a day early by accident, mistakenly believing he is late.
- It Only Works Once: Doraemon's farewell gift to Nobita is a small, pad-like device shaped like him. When activated, it provides a single gadget to solve his current problem. This one-use item produces a lying serum to resolve Nobita's April Fool's Day issue.
- Male Gaze: In the "Goodbye, Shizuka" segment, Nobita lifts Shizuka's skirt up to make her hate him. During this time, Shizuka, upon closer examination, sways her hips towards the screen in surprise, as it was behind her. The angle provides a clear view of her butt, with her skirt raised high above her waist. However, in Nobita's case, he doesn't look.
- Mundane Solution: While Present Nobita (aged to look like his future self) attempts to impress Future Shizuka with his wilderness survival skills, like navigation and starting a campfire, Shizuka simply uses modern technology such as a GPS and a lighter.
- My Future Self and Me: After traveling to the future, Nobita, artificially aged by the Time Cloth, has a brief conversation with his future self before returning to the present.
- Mythology Gag:
- After becoming part of Nobita's household, a Continuity Cavalcade montage features a dozen of Doraemon's gadgets, including the Memorization Bread, Dress Up Camera, Gulliver Tunnel, and Compaction Cloud Gas. These are all references to Doraemon shorts from the manga and TV series.
- Nobita accidentally breaking a vase, with Suneo threatening to rat him out to Sensei before Doraemon restores the broken item, leaving Suneo dumbfounded, mirrors another short from the first volume, though the circumstances are somewhat different.
- Doubling as a Noodle Incident, Nobita loses a bet with Gian (the bet's specifics are never revealed) and must either fight Gian or eat spaghetti with his nose.
- In the previous installments of "Goodbye, Shizuka", Nobita flips Shizuka's skirt and/or dress to make her dislike him. This film retains that scene.
- Origins Episode: The movie presents an reworked origin for Doraemon and Nobita's first meeting and subsequent friendship.
- Stable Time Loop: Future Nobita saves his present self and Shizuka from dying in a blizzard because Present Nobita uses her watch and GPS to remember the exact time and location they're at. This changes Future Nobita's memories, prompting him to save them. It's also implied that this prevented Shizuka's death, had Nobita not looked into the future out of worry.
- Wingding Eyes: Doraemon exhibits this expression periodically, most notably when Sewashi activates the lock on his nose, forcing him to stay with Nobita initially. In this scene, Doraemon's eyes rapidly change expression a dozen times within five seconds.
- Woken Up at an Ungodly Hour: A reboot of the series alters Doraemon and Nobita's first meeting, with Doraemon arriving in present-day Japan in the middle of the night, emerging from Nobita's desk while he is asleep, instead of the original afternoon arrival. Nobita wakes up, rubs his eyes, and sees a robot cat coming out of his drawer.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: When Nobita and Doraemon visit the future on the day before the wedding, they overhear Shizuka's father telling her that although Nobita may not be skilled or ambitious, he is a good person because he cares about everyone, which is what makes him a good man.