Characters from Doraemon: Nobita in the Wan-Nyan Spacetime Odyssey.
Note that because the story have a massive Tomato Surprise twist, all SPOILERS WILL BE UNMARKED.
The Strays
Pre-evolution
A pack of stray dogs and cats wandering around Tokyo. The first of them is a puppy Nobita stumbles upon during a softball game near a stream, which Nobita decides to adopt and name Ichi. Later on Nobita and Doraemon collected a second pet, a cat named Zubu, before the gang finds a whole pack of strays which used to live in the wilderness behind the hills until a major construction project rendered them homeless.Running out of options, Nobita and friends (behind Doraemon's back) decides to sneak the strays to 300 million years ago, a time before existence of humans, while applying the Evolution Light turning them into the first generation of andromorphic dogs and cats. A second Time Travel attempt to the past goes awry, leading the gang to 299,999,000 years ago - a millennia off the mark - where they discovered the andromorphic canines and felines have established a society of their own after a thousand years, the Wan-Nyan City.
- Abandoned Pet in a Box: Some of them, notably a litter of kittens found by Shizuka, are dumped in boxes by their irresponsible owners.
- Adaptational Villainy: The first feline adopted in "Stray Dog Ichi's Country" is nowhere as evil as Zubu.
- From Stray to Pet: But then the pet part didn't really work, so they went on to humanity thanks to the Evolution Light, before creating their own civilization 300 million years ago.
- Heroic Canines, Villainous Felines: Downplayed, but among the first adopted strays of the canines and felines, Ichi (a dog) is friendly and genuinely thankful over Nobita's rescue and remains loyal through and through, while Zubu (a cat), despite being rescued by Nobita and gang, still holds a grudge over his past and remains vengeful over humans, to the point of passing the teachings to his descendants to someday take over the human race. The rest of the stray cats however are neutral.
- Identical Grandson: Besides Zubu, keen-eyed viewers might notice several of the strays bears resemblance to the film's major characters, including a dachshund, Persian cat, Shih Tzu, bulldog, among others. The film's named characters like Duc, Chiko, Bulltaro and Sharmee could very well be their descendants.
- Meaningful Name: For the named characters, at least.
- "Ichi", or "one", being the first of the various animals Nobita comes across.
- "Zubu", or "wet", owing to Nobita and Doraemon rescuing him during a thunderstorm.
- Stray Animal Story: The entire pack was abandoned by their owners at some point in the past, making the forest behind the hill their homes. And then Nobita and friends adopts them before sending the pack into pre-human times.
- Uplifted Animal: They're ordinary stray cats and dogs before having the Evolution Light applied on them.
- World of Funny Animals: An entire population of andromorphic canines and felines, capable of speech and walking on both legs thanks to accelerated evolution for a thousand years.
Hachi and his gang
The gang, with Sharmee in the back
A group of urchins in the Wan-nyan City who became homeless after losing their parents and homes to Nekojara's illicit activities, the gang made a bad impression of themselves after a botched attempt at stealing from Sharmee in a restaurant, right in front of Nobita and friends. After a brief scuffle, they unexpectedly ends up becoming friends to the main gang.
The gang in general
- Adorably Precocious Child: All of them, after they're forced to stand on their own from losing their homes.
- Alphabetical Theme Naming: Oddly enough, all of them follows this trope except Hachi, the leader. With their names being Bulltaro, Chiko and Duc.
- But Now I Must Go: Towards the film's ending, prior to the cataclysm about to wipe out Wan-Nyan city, the group tearfully bids their new friends farewell. Nobita actually asks for Hachi to come back with him to the 21st Century, but Hachi's reply is that his responsibility is with his own kind.
- Disappeared Dad: All their parents mysteriously went missing, one after another, leaving them in the streets. It turns out it's because the parents are forced into Nekojara's servitude for constructing his time machine.
- Down in the Dumps: A automobile scrapyard is where their homes are located.
- Everyone Went to School Together: As revealed in a tie-in special edition bundled with the manga, it turns out Hachi, Duc, Bulltaro and Chiko are classmates when they're children.
- Expy Coexistence: Hachi and friends are direct counterparts to Nobita and the gang, and spends much of the film interacting with each other. The finale even have them embracing each other's direct counterparts as they wished each other goodbye!
- Kneel Before Frodo: All of them save for Hachi, when they realize Nobita is their "God" owing to a sacred Sphinx statue made by their founder and quickly kneeling before Nobita.
- Satisfied Street Rat: The entire gang are content with living on their own and stealing to survive.
- Street Urchin: Downplayed, their parents are still alive, but they're homeless after their parents were imprisoned and kept under Nekojara's custody.
Hachi
The leader of an urchin gang who unexpectedly stumbles into Nobita and friends, Hachi is the last of the bunch to appear, with Nobita about to give chase before stopping in his tracks when realizing the urchin's leader have an uncanny resemblance to his lost pet, Ichi. However, after Doraemon and gang becomes acquainted with Hachi's gang, Hachi still insists he isn't Ichi, despite Nobita's persistance.
MAJOR SPOILERS INCOMING
President Ichi
Old Ichi, prior to the fateful Time Travel trip
But as luck would have it, Hachi is indeed none other than Ichi himself - 30 million years minus a day ago, Ichi, failing to rendezvous with Nobita the following day, returns to the spot Nobita last left him, holding Nobita's kendama charm (now worn as a necklace) even as he grew up. Day after day, before turning to years and decades, Ichi relentlessly returns just to see Nobita one last time.
Sadly, the reunion never happened, with Ichi eventually becoming the first President of the andromorphic felines and canines and leading his fellow animals to building the Wan-Nyan City. After his retirement, the now-elderly Ichi, still holding on to Nobita's promise, decides he'll look for Nobita personally using a prototype Time Machine, but along the way Ichi accidentally hits a Time Warp that de-ages him to infancy before dropping him a thousand years into the future, where he's adopted by a cat scientist.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: While Hachi by no means a full-blown Jerkass, in the manga, he's more hostile towards Nobita and the gang and even scolds Duc for nearly revealing their secret by pulling his tail, and only acknowledges Nobita as his friend after the drill incident. In the movie, he befriends Nobita after the chase, and even going as far to wish him luck in his quest to find Ichi right in that moment. He does retain his distrust at the gang at first regarding their secret in the movie though— however, the scene of him pulling Duc’s tail was cut from the movie.
- Badass Adorable: A child who can put up a capable fight with his extendable kendo sword.
- The Chosen One: In the tie-in Special Edition comic prequel, a feline Fortune Teller read about young Hachi's fate and realize he's the leader and hero destined to save the population of Wan-Nyan City from extinction in the future.
- Crash-Into Hello: How he meets Doraemon and the gang in the manga... by doing a drop-kick on Doraemon while the robot cat is using the Psychokinesis Eye Drops on Chiko.
- Determinator: As Ichi, he will never stop waiting for Nobita to return, even when he's an old dog well past his prime.
- A Father to His Men: President Ichi clearly cares for his citizens and his people, if the flashback of a crowd cheering over him is any indication.
- Fountain of Youth: As an elderly Ichi, his attempts to travel to Nobita's timeline hits a snag when an unexpected Time Warp de-aged him to an infant before dropping him a thousand years into the future.
- Furry Reminder: In the manga, at least. When Hachi gets into an intense arguement with Nobita which goes south, he ends up biting Nobita's shin. Proving that an andromorphic dog is still, well, a dog.
- Good Luck Charm: The kendama necklace, the last memento he had of Nobita and he's never seen without. As President Ichi, he's holding the necklace while addressing his people, and when regressing to infancy a thousand years later his adoptive mother kept his necklace along with him. The same necklace somehow saves him from a rampaging Killer Robot in the prequel OVA, though it's more of a case of Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane.
- Happily Adopted: He's a dog raised by a family of cats, and loves his adoptive feline family as much as a biological one.
- I Will Wait for You: As Ichi, he's willing to wait for Nobita, even until he's well into old age. He got his wish a millennia later.
- The Leader: To the street urchins.
- Moses in the Bulrushes: Shortly after being de-aged and ejected from the time warp, where as a baby he's adopted by a feline family. And he's destined for greatness as he (re-)grows up to adulthood.
- Older Than He Looks: Owing to the fact that he starts off as an elderly Ichi (who's presumably nearly a hundred years old, if his beard and brows in the flashback are any indication) before getting accidentally de-aged, and then aging for another ten years in his new life as Hachi, he's easily the oldest character in this film.
- Meaningful Name: His second name, "Hachi". A reference to Hachiko
the real-life Japanese Akita hound who literally waited a lifetime for it's master's return. - Our Founder: The Wan-Nyan City's presidential office have a framed, life-sized portrait of first President Ichi in the main room.
- Regained Memories Sequence: Hachi, after nearly drowning in the climatic chase, eventually have his memories of his past coming back to him, that he's the de-aged Ichi from a thousand years ago.
- Spanner in the Works: Hachi, being the one named character to escape capture from Nekojara's thugs, later sneaks into the holding cells and releases the heroes.
- Sticky Fingers: He just can't resist from stealing stuff, though it's justified since he's a child out in the streets on his own.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
- He does have quite a few similarities to Peko / Prince Kuntakku from Doraemon: Nobita and the Haunts of Evil, being a stray dog adopted by Nobita, having two different names, is a capable fighter using a sword and being an andromorphic animal protagonist (though Peko is an andromorphic dog right from the start pretending to be a normal pet, while Ichi needs to be exposed to the Evolution Light) destined to lead his fellow animals in the future.
- His Moses in the Bulrushes backstory also makes him one to Gusuke from Doraemon: Nobita and the Winged Braves, as a seemingly-ordinary baby with a Mysterious Past destined to save his own kind.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Hachi is none other than a de-aged Ichi, accidentally sent a millennia into the future. He finds out this truth himself after nearly drowning at the climax.
- Undying Loyalty: As Ichi, his dedication to wait for Nobita's promised return lasts him all the way until he's an elderly canine, to the point where he decide if Nobita isn't coming back for him, he'll then search for Nobita himself.
- Walking Spoiler: The fact that he's none other than Ichi, de-aged and displaced a thousand years later, a pretty huge plot point unrevealed until the end.
Bulltaro
A bulldog and the de-facto Number Two after Hachi, who serves as the muscleman to the gang of urchins. He quickly become chums with Gian after the two of them have a fight.
- The Big Guy: The largest and strongest member of the urchins.
- Boisterous Bruiser: A huge bulldog who turns out to be quite chummy. He's in fact the first member of the urchins to befriend the main cast, namely towards Gian after a short scuffle.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: Much like his counterpart Gian, with their goodbye having both of them with Ocular Gushers.
- Bully Bulldog: Inverted, he's a rough and tough bulldog but he's also the first of their gang to become friends with the main cast.
- Defeat Means Friendship: While their fight ends in a standstill rather than either one of them defeated, Bulltaro became besties with Gian after they pummeled the snot out of each other (in the manga it's a Bar Brawl, while in the anime it happens backstage).
- A Dog Named "Dog": A rather literal version, being a bulldog named Bulltaro.
- Go Through Me: When Duc and Chiko tries running off with Sharmee's necklace, Doraemon and co. gives chase, only for Bulltaro to block them while name-dropping the trope nearly word-for-word. Gian complies, fighting Bulltaro while everyone continues the chase. Later on it turns out Gian and Bulltaro became buddies after knocking each other out.
Duc
A andromorphic dachshund urchin and one of Hachi's gang.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: He's white-furred in the manga, a somewhat odd color for a dachshund (Duc's name suggests he's meant to be one from the start). In the anime he gets a more accurate light brown coat which is common in dachshunds. note
- Brutal Honesty: In both the manga and anime.Duc [referring to Doraemon]: This one's even naked!
- A Dog Named "Dog": Duc is a dachshund.
- Flat Character: He didn't really have much development besides providing some minor exposition and attempting to explain the urchin's secret plans to Doraemon and gang before getting stopped by Hachi.
- Loose Lips: In both the anime and manga, Duc nearly spills the urchin's plans to Doraemon and gang, if not for Hachi telling him to zip it.
- Satellite Character: He spends the entirety of his screentime conversing with the other characters.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Despite Duc's relatively minor role, his attempts at stealing Sharmee's bell, with Doraemon and gang giving chase, leads to their inevitable encounter with Hachi and kickstarts the story's major plot.
Chiko
A Shih-tzu girl who's the sole female urchin of the bunch.
- Dog Stereotype: The Shih-tzu character is also the only female member of the bunch. Go figure.
- Furry Female Mane: She had a head full of hair that identifies her as the only girl among the urchins.
- Flat Character: Much like Duc, she's pretty much there to fill up the background.
- The Smurfette Principle: The only female member of Hachi's gang.
Nekojaraland Amusement Park
Sharmee
A Persian cat nightclub singer and a spy working under Nekojara. Doraemon inevitably had feelings for her with a Love at First Sight after seeing Sharmee perform in a restaurant, which she quickly reciprocates.Later on she's revealed to be Nekojara's hostage when the villain needs Doraemon around to fix the Evolution Light, but things aren't as it seems.
- Becoming the Mask: After pretending to be an innocent singer and used as a fake bargaining chip to force Doraemon into assisting Nekojara's schemes, she eventually turncoats over Nekojara's atrocities and joins the side of good.
- Damsel in Distress: Used as a hostage by Nekojara to force Doraemon into reverse-engineering the Evolution Light.
- Defector from Decadence: While Sharmee is already wary at Nekojara's ruthlessness, she finally decides to betray him when it's revealed Nekojara intends to hijack the Noradium supply and abandon the entire population of the Wan-Nyan Country to their deaths.
- Furry Female Mane: Like Chiko, she has a head of feminine red hair.
- Idol Singer: Her profession, and she's damn good at it. Her song during her intro even shows up as the end credits!
- The Mole: Working as a spy for her boss, Nekojara. But she had a Heel–Face Turn later on.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Among the feline characters, she has a head of human-like hair and is the only one that's coloured bright pink.
- Pink Means Feminine: She spends the entire story in her pink dress, which is the same color as her fur.
- Ship Tease: With Doraemon. Their subsequent goodbye at the story's conclusion have Doraemon breaking into Ocular Gushers.
Nekojara
The wealthy entrepreneur and billionaire behind the Wan-nyan City's largest Amusement Park, Nekojaraland.
On the surface, Nekojara appears as a well-respected member of the community and a powerful de-facto member of the city's council, but in secret Nekojara is anything but a good person, with his publicity hiding his cruel, ruthless persona. The basement of Nekojaraland is a hidden laboratory for constructing various illicit science projects and Nekojara's personal fleet of machines, built by dozens and dozens of innocent civilains enslaved and imprisoned under the park's facilities, among them the parents of Hachi and the urchins after they knew about Nekojaraland's dark secrets.
As it turns out, Nekojara is a descendant of Zubu, the first feline adopted by Nobita; the evolved Zubu, still holding a grudge towards humans, passes his teachings to descendants to reclaim what rightfully belongs to the felines. Nekojara, after reading a bible passed down the Zubu bloodline through generations, decides the best way to resolve it is by travelling to the future through a secretly constructed Time Machine made by studying a crashed model recovered by Nekojara's scientists a decade ago - none other than Ichi's prototype - and from there, ensure humans never comes to existance.
- Acrofatic: He's surprisingly quick on his feet while attacking with his sword, despite his size.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Where else in anime could you get a blue cat? Besides Doraemon, who's a robot?
- Amusement Park of Doom: Runs one called the Nekojaraland, which despite appearing to be the happiest place in the city it's actually a front for his hidden laboratory where his minions imprisons various scientists, researchers and workers forced to work for him. The prequel OVA even reveals there's a malfunctioning Killer Robot left unattended which attacks everything in sight!
- Ancestor Veneration: One of his few redeeming qualities; it seems like Nekojara does genuinely respect his ancestor, Zubu, with much of his motivation being driven towards fulfilling Zubu's wishes that felines should rule the world.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: He's the richest individual in the Wan-Nyan country and a capable combatant. He overpowers Hachi in a swordfight, and holds his own long enough against Doraemon for the Sword of Denkomaru to run out of battery. Doraemon only defeats him after getting a Heroic Second Wind from the sight of Nekojara beating up Sharmee.
- Bad Boss: He's not the nicest to his employees, the most evident part being having his subordinate, Sharmee, chained to a roller-coaster track to coerce Doraemon into serving him. Even if it's faked, it's still one heck of a risk.
- Big Bad: The main villain of the picture, a feline billionaire intending to abandon his entire race to be wiped out by a cataclysm while he travels to the future to rewrite history.
- Bullying a Dragon: Trying to pick on Doraemon, which doesn't end well for him.
- Cats Are Mean: And he's the meanest and the most despicable of the bunch.
- Chair Reveal: How he shows himself to a chained-up Doraemon in his office.
- Cheshire Cat Grin: Another expression he likes to make, especially in the ending where he tries crushing the gang with a giant robot.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: With the series' previous villains being an immortal alien, a vain Mayan sorceress, an ancient legendary world-destroyer, a robotic despot and an eldritch draconic abomination, Nekojara on the other hand is one of the more down-to-earth antagonists in a while, one that fittingly caps the movie series before the reboot.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's the billionaire and owner of the Nekojaraland theme park, the country's wealthiest resident, and a brutal slave-owner who wants to conquer humanity in the future while abandoning everyone else to their dooms.
- Defeat Means Menial Labor: In his final scene, Nekojara and his henchman Nyago are comically reduced to becoming janitors in one of the evacuation ships.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: While he's a cat himself, his army of thugs seems to comprise of an equal number of cats and dogs, though it's likely they're just hired mooks and Punch-Clock Villains (except Nyago who seems to be genuinely evil like Nekojara).
- Fat and Skinny: Whenever he's around with Nyango, his lanky hench-cat.
- Fat Bastard: Overweight, self-centered, and a nasty piece of work.
- I Have Your Wife: Uses Sharmee, which is revealed to be Chained to a Railway on a roller coaster, to force Doraemon into reverse-engineering the Evolution Light. Then quickly subverted when Sharmee is revealed to be his spy and minion.
- Identical Grandson: He bears an uncanny resemblance to his ancestor, Zubu, albeit a fatter version. The anime film even has a life-sized portrait of Zubu displayed in Nekojara's office for comparison.
- Kick the Dog: Or kick the robot cat, when he reveals to Doraemon that Sharmee is one of his minions all along, and then beats Doraemon into unconsciousness before ordering his mooks to dismantle Doraemon to scrap. Sharmee's intervention by telling him "Doraemon can still be useful to them in the future" is what saved Doraemon from such a fate.
- Large and in Charge: Largest among the characters and the main villain of the picture.
- Make Wrong What Once Went Right: Another villain from Doraemon films that follows this tradition, this time by ensuring humans never get to exist in by using a Time Machine to rewrite the future.
- Misplaced Retribution: He swears vengeance on humans over abandoning his ancestors and intends to eliminate all humans from existance, nevermind it was also a group of humans - Nobita and friends - who rescued his kind and sends them to the past so they could live in their own utopia. Unfortunately Nekojara's thirst for power and vengeance made him unable to judge both sides equally.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: His original goals for rewriting history to replace humans with cats is to respect his ancestor Zubu's wishes to reclaim what belongs to the felines, but doing so involves having Nekojara and his minions stealing the Noradium supply necessary to assist in the Wan-Nyan City's evacuation from the inevitable doomsday, condemning his entire race to extinction while Nekojara and his mooks survives. Which the villain doesn't seem to care about.
- Obviously Evil: Despite being introduced as a wealthy entrepreneur and having entire crowds of citizens cheering over him in his introductory scene... just look at that scary-looking grin of his. Is it a surprise that he's the film's true villain?
- Purple Is Powerful: Spends the entire film (except his last) in purple robes, and he's the powerful main villain of the picture.
- Rich Jerk: As wealthy as he is atrocious, if his attempts at condemning the Wan-Nyan city to extinction while he saves his own skin is any indication.
- Save the Villain: After Nekojara's plans to flee with the Noradium and have the Wan-Nyan City's population abandoned to their deaths are exposed, there's no reason for Hachi and the others to not just ditch him in the soon-to-be destroyed Wan-Nyan City, and leave Nekojara to his own fate. But they still did anyway, albeit demoting Nekojara into a janitor.
- Slasher Smile: It seems to be his default and most frequent expression, though he momentarily becomes Not So Stoic when a pissed-off Doraemon delivers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on him for hurting Sharmee.
- Smug Snake: Nekojara gleefully rubs his superiority over Doraemon while having the robot cat chained in his quarters, but the moment Doraemon gains an upper hand on him Nekojara quickly loses his cool.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Given how Hachi / Ichi is a SSS to Peko from Doraemon: Nobita and the Haunts of Evil, Nekojara on the other hand seems to be one for Daburanda. Both of them being andromorphic Fat Bastard animals (Nekojara is an overweight cat while Daburanda a Bully Bulldog) and a high-ranking political leader, plots to wipe out the human race, have forbidden weapons being secretly researched in their labs and innocent civilians imprisoned in his quarters to serve him.
- Taking You with Me: After Doraemon knocks him out in his office and the gang made their escape with the spare Noradium inside the Nobita-sphinx, Nekojara made one last attempt to kill the heroes by piloting a giant mech from his park to pursue them. Never mind the city is about to be wiped out in less than an hour...
- Villain with Good Publicity: On the surface, he's masquerading as an important figure of authority as well as a billionaire philantropist who cares about the citizens. All that being a cover for his true evil nature.
- We Can Rule Together: He makes this deal to a chained-up Doraemon, but when the robot cat refuses he then unveils Sharmee tied to his roller coaster's tracks and forces Doraemon to comply with his demands.
- Would Hit a Girl: Beats up the defenseless Sharmee when she refused to follow his orders. This however proves to be his undoing, providing a Heroic Second Wind for Doraemon to retaliate and pummel Nekojara to a pulp.
- Would Hurt a Child: Doesn't even hesitate to attack Hachi and Nobita for getting in his way. With the climatic chase having him piloting a giant robot in a last-ditch attempt to crush the heroes. In the anime he managed to grab hold of Suneo and Gian using said machine and is more than ready to crush them to their deaths.
Nyago
Nekojara's lead minion and second-in-command.
- Defeat Means Menial Labor: The same as his boss, Nyango's final scene after his arrest have him being reduced to a janitor mopping one of the evacuation ships.
- The Dragon: To Nekojara, though among the various Doraemon films Nyango is one of the least-developed dragons who merely serves as his boss' yes-man.
- Evil Gloating: In the anime film, Nyago taunts the captured heroes (sans Hachi) by chuckling at them via a video screen.
- Fat and Skinny: He's the skinny one when standing near his hugely-overweight boss, Nekojara.
- Identical Grandson: Early on in the present when Zubu is running around with some stray cats, one of them looks a bit like Nyago. It's likely to be his ancestor, rescued by Nobita and friends and taken to the past.
- Lean and Mean: Tall, skinny, and not really a nice guy.
- Mook Lieutenant: Much of his scenes have him leading Nekojara's thugs around to chase after the heroes.
- Satellite Character: All his major scenes have him conversing with his boss, Nekojara.
- Save the Villain: After he gets knocked out, the ending reveals Nobita and Hachi actually allows him to be taken alive aboard one of the evacuation vessels as a janitor rather than leaving him to die on the doomed city. Despite him repeatedly threatening Hachi and friends.
- Unexplained Recovery: He was last seen being knocked out (either by Hachi or Nobita, depending if it's manga or anime) and left in a room about to be flooded within seconds. Yet he somehow reappears in the ending, alive and working as a janitor.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Subverted. He's last seen getting knocked out by Nobita, and is absent for a good portion of the film... until it's revealed he's arrested off-screen and reduced to a janitor at the end.
