Doraemon (1973 anime)

From Doraemon Wiki

This article is for the Nippon TV anime series from 1973. For the long-running TV Asahi anime series from 1979, go to Doraemon (1979 anime)

The Nippon TV-produced Doraemon anime series was a brief and unsuccessful attempt at adaptating the original manga series into anime. It was launched in 1973 on the Nippon TV network and only lasted 6 months. After it was cancelled, Doraemon remained exclusively as a manga until 1979 when TV Asahi produced and broadcasted a much more successful anime adaptation, which has new episodes still being made in 2008.

It's worth noting that the character designs in this anime adaptation appear more stylized than the character designs used in the TV Asahi anime adaption, which were more true to the original manga. It also used a different theme tune, which was possibly influenced partly by the theme tune and music to the original Pink Panther cartoons.

[edit] Core plot

See the "Core Plot" section in Doraemon (manga)

[edit] Cancellation

The show was cancelled because it had very low ratings and that the series was never really popular with neither general viewers or fans of the original manga. Apparently, according to a YouTube member who commented on a rare Doraemon clip from 1973, the creative duo behind the original manga, under the pen name Fujiko F. Fujio, complained about the series while it was still on air, another possible reason why it was cancelled.

[edit] Rarity

It's very rare now to find anything involving the show now other than it existed, it was produced by Nippon Television, it was on TV for only 6 months and it was very unsuccessful. Nearly all the footage involving the series also was destroyed by an accidental fire sometime after the show was cancelled.

[edit] Internet critique

On internet video site YouTube, in the comments to a video clip featuring very rare footage of the series, many fans who are old enough to remember the show being on air or just happen to know the show well, talked about the show's many flaws which might be possible reasons to why the show was never successful. One person said that the series emphasized on humour or "gag sense" way more than it needed and several other people said that the character design for Doraemon was too "plump" for the character (another noticable change in character design in this anime series was the whiskas being longer, stretching out out towards the sides of his face).

[edit] Opening Sequence

The opening title sequence to the series is worth noting as it's one of the only surviving peices of footage of this series that wasen't destroyed by the fire that destroyed nearly all footage of this show, being uploaded onto YouTube in Febuary 2006.

The opening sequence features Doraemon travelling back in time and coming out through Nobita's desk, then to go around Nobita's town with many stunned citizens and animals staring at him as he goes by. It ends with Doraemon placing Gian, who was chasing Nobita around with a baseball bat, on top of a really tall pillar with a gadget he pulled out of his four-dimensional pocket when he then gets completely distracted after running off, panicing from seeing a mouse (which was on a string that was held up by Suneo), which he then walks up a tall building and clings onto a clock, making the hand on the clock sway around as he holds on, with Doraemon still panicing as the opening sequence ends.

[edit] Voice Actors

• Kousei Tomita - Doraemon

• Yoshiko Ōta - Nobita Nobi

• Masako Ebisu - Shizuka

• Kaneta Kimotsuki - Gian

• Shun Yashiro - Suneo

• Noriko Ohara - Nobita's Mama

• Kazue Takahashi - Nobita's Papa

• Keiko Yamamoto - Sewashi