Characters from Doraemon: Nobita's Chronicles of the Moon Exploration. Due to the film having a Hidden Villain and a massive plot twist halfway through, ALL SPOILERS WILL BE UNMARKED AND EXPOSED IN THE OPEN
The Moonbit World
The Moonbits
The Moonbits Adam and Eve.
The gang with all of them.
After Nobita's attempts to convince his friends that rabbits do live on the moon is met with ridicule and laughter, he then get Doraemon to create his own rabbit race, via Doraemon's futuristic Life Clay. They started off as an indigenous tribe living in caves, but quickly develops into a small community in a futuristic city within a crater on the moon.
- Adam and Eve Plot: Nobita and Doraemon started off by creating two Moonbits (after discarding the failed prototype), with Nobita naming them "Adam" and "Eve" and allowing them to reproduce on their own. Cut to a few days later, and the Moonbits already have their own mini-civilization of over a hundred in population.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: There's a recurring minor Moonbit who's dressed like Indiana Jones, 24-7, firstly showing up in an Indy-esque Show Within a Show in a theater. Said Moonbit returns in the final battle, using his whip to swing around the place and kick ass.
- Animal Mecha: Their transports are giant robots and vehicles shaped like rabbits, including several Hopping Machines with mechanical ears used by their border guards.
- Badass Adorable: These cute lagomorphs turn out to be very effective fighters, as Diabolos finds out the hard way.
- Big Damn Heroes: The climax have entire herds of Moonbits arriving - backed up by Luna, Shizuka and the giant Moonbit kaiju - to save Doraemon, Luca and the others, seconds before they can be dissolved by Diablo.
- Bunnies for Cuteness: They're just oh so fluffy and adorable to look at.
- The Cavalry: The entire army of Moonbits backs up the heroes in the final battle, and are pretty adept in kicking all sorts of ass.
- Killer Rabbit: Do not let their size and adorable appearance fool you; the Moonbits can pack a serious punch and takes down plenty of Diablo's minions in the finale.
- Moon Rabbit: They're based on the myth of moon rabbits, which Nobita begs Doraemon to help him create after being mocked by his classmates for believing rabbits do live on the moon. However, the Moonbits turns out to be far more intelligent than the other heroes could expect.
- Outside-Context Problem: Let's just say Diabolo definitely isn't expecting an army of a thousand cute, cuddly, puffball rabbits to suddenly invade his hideout, free his captives, and rip his machines into pieces.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: They're small, but two or three Moonbits can already take down a single human-sized robot mook. When in large numbers they rip Diablo's army a new hole with ease.
- Pokémon Speak: Their language consists of saying "Moonbit!" over and over.
- Portmanteau: Their names are a combination of "Moon" and "Rabbit". Named by Doraemon himself, no less.
- Righteous Rabbit: All of them are heroic bunnies who help out the heroes in defeating Diabolos and his henchmen.
- Rock Beats Laser: They fight with primitive technology, and emerged victorious against robots, lasers and mechanized turrets.
- Stock Animal Diet: Besides rice, their diet and technology are also based on carrots.
- Unconventional Food Usage: Their civilization uses rice-based technology after being taught by Doraemon, which they developed a way to mass-produce. Their buildings are all made of rice dough, and are somehow exceptionally sturdy despite being, well, rice.Suneo: Is that rice concrete?Gian: Somehow, I'm getting hungry.
- Waddling Head: They're basically furry, oversized rabbit heads on two legs.
- Zerg Rush: The Moonbits uses this tactic on Diabolo's robot army in the final battle. It works, they ripped the machines apart without suffering any casualties in the process.
Nobit
"Nobit, nobit, nobit!"
A unique Moonbit wearing glasses and the Moonbit community's leading developer of technology, whose knowledge in gadgetry proves crucial in saving the day.- Blind Without 'Em: He couldn't see a thing without his specs. After bumping into the gang early on, Nobita tries swapping his glasses with Nobit's... and gets dizzy in an instant due to how chronic Nobit's short-sightedness is. Nobit even momentarily use his glasses to confuse an enemy robot in the final battle!
- Cute Little Fangs: Has a single jagged front teeth that sticks out when his mouth's closed.
- Ditzy Genius: He's as smart as he's accident prone.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Nobit is the genius among his fellow Moonbits, building a Moon-traversing vehicle, his own version of the Take-copter (one resembling a carrot), and even reverse-engineer and mass-produce the Fringe Theory Club Badges allowing the Moonbits to enter our reality.
- Nerd Glasses: Part of his "look I'm the resident smart guy" attire.
- Pokémon Speak: Unlike the rest of the Moonbits, Nobit instead says "Nobit!" repeatedly, which his fellow Moonbits seem to understand without any problem.
- Punny Name: Nobit is basically like Nobita, but as a Moonbit. The other characters lampshades it a few times in the story.
- The Smart Guy: Among the Moonbits - he's the one who reverse-engineered the Different Opinion Club Members Badge and mass-produced them to his fellow Moonbits, allowing them to enter our reality so they could save the gang in the final battle.
- Uniformity Exception: He can be differentiated from the rest of his kind by his thick glasses.
The Rabbit Monster
Something tells us he doesn't want a hug.
The first Moonbit prototype Nobita creates, only to ditch aside after finding him to be too "big, ugly and unappealing". Said prototype ends up growing out of control and returns kaiju-sized terrorizing the Moonbit city, until Shizuka managed to tame it with Doraemon's Forgetting Flower.
- Ascended Extra: He's based on another failed prototype monster from the "Doctrine Association Badges" short, but he has a far bigger role than his manga equivalent (who's only in one scene before leaving).
- Adaptational Badass: Far, far bigger and stronger than his manga counterpart.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: While the monster in both the short and the movie are mindless wild animals, in this movie the monster eventually becomes an ally to the heroes, something the manga left out.
- The Big Guy: The largest of the Moonbits, after he's tamed by Shizuka and becoming one of the good guys. Besides knocking the cage containing Doraemon and friends aside, saving them from death via disintegration, the monster also rips apart the Anti-Espal Forcefield Generators Diablo was about to use on the Espals.
- Hair-Raising Hare: A giant rabbit monster.
- Heel–Face Turn: Not that he's a villain at the start, since the rabbit monster is just a wild animal acting on natural instincts, but he's introduced as an antagonistic force terrorizing Moonbit town until he's pacified. He then becomes one of the heroes and helps the Moonbit army kick ass in the final battle.
- The Juggernaut: Rips out entire turrets in Diabolo's lair, and flinging Diabolo's weapons into each other besides stomping enemy robots underfoot, with lasers doing zilch damage on him. He's easily the backbone of the cavalry in the final battle.
- Kaiju: He easily towers thrice over Nobita and the human characters. Compared to the diminutive Moonbits, the monster is huge.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Incorporate designs of rabbits and kangaroo in its appearance.
- Non-Malicious Monster: He was attacking the Moonbit town because he's hungry and confused. Once Shizuka tames him with the Forgetting Flower, the monster calms down, and was presumably fed off-screen by the other Moonbits before becoming one of their allies.
- Non-Standard Character Design: He's a more "realistic" looking giant monster, compared to the fluffy and adorable Moonbits. Justified since he's a prototype discarded by Nobita for looking "too scary".
- Prehistoric Monster: He is the first Moonbit prototype Nobita creates, only to discard in favour of a "cuter" design but somehow gains sentience of his own anyways, which makes him as old as the entirety of the Moonbit Kingdom (having existed before the Moonbit equivalent of Adam and Eve).
- Righteous Rabbit: After pulling a Heel–Face Turn, he joins the heroes in fighting against Diabolos.
- What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Subverted, he's portrayed as an antagonist early on and he looks as scary as a rampaging monster is expected to be (compared to the far more adorable Moonbits), but after he's tamed he quickly become one of the heroes.
Espals
A race of Human Aliens (save for having animal ears) from the destroyed Planet Kaguya, among the last survivors of Diabolo's genocide several millennia ago who wiped out most of their population. After fleeing to earth's moon, they hid underground to evade detection from probes and satellites of earth, forming their mini-community in a series of underground caverns.
All Espals in General
- Aliens Speaking English: They can perfectly understand humans and freely converse with Nobita and gang, thanks to their Translator Microbes. Nobita even lampshades on "how do they understand the human language since they're aliens" - cue a telepathic answer from Luca.
- But Now I Must Go: In the film's Bittersweet Ending. Doraemon and gang have to bury their Different Opinion Club Members Badges in order to keep the Espals a secret from the rest of the universe, and the Espals are quite aware they will never see their earth friends again. The memories however will last for an eternity.
- Badass Adorable: They look like children, but are wielders of Ether abilities who can use their powerful psychic abilities to take on armies.
- Little Bit Beastly: They have animal ears, most of them rabbits, though some of their more "unique" members (like Aru) have canine ears instead.
- Lunarians: They've been living under our moon's core for over a milennia.
- Human Aliens: They look exactly like humans, save for having those weird markings around their eyes and rabbit ears.
- I Believe I Can Fly: Thanks to their telekinetic powers, all the Espals can fly by creating an energy aura around their bodies and levitate from there.
- Last of Their Kind: They're among the only survivors of their race after the genocide carried out by Diablo in their backstory.
- Mind over Matter: They can move objects with their Ether powers, with the released Espals flinging Diablo's minions everywhere by waving their hands.
- Really 700 Years Old: The Espals arrived on the moon a millennium ago, and have been living beneath the moon's surface ever since. They barely aged as seen in their flashback - Luna and Luca are roughly the equivalents to human toddlers back then, and in the present-day they look like humans the same age as Nobita and gang.
- Small, Secluded World: Whatever little populations of Espals remaining lives in a secluded world underneath the moon, away from contact from either humans or other aliens. For good reasons, too, considering Emperor Diablo have his scouts everywhere in space.
- Telepathy: All the Espals have the ability to communicate with their minds, either between their own race, or non-Espals.
- Translator Microbes: Another package from their Ether powers. Nobita wonders how did they understand earth's language, being an alien civilization living beneath the moon - the telepathic reply from Luca is that they can read the thoughts of other races, analyze them in their own alien language, and process a reply in the native tongue.
Luca Tsukino
When Nobita first met him.
During his Human Alien Discovery moment.
The New Transfer Student of Nobita's class which Nobita meets randomly at the back of the hills early on, but there's more to him than it initially appears. He's actually an alien Espal posing as a human, whose alien identity he hid underneath his cap.
- The Ace: Posing as a human in Nobita's class, Luca excels in sports, studies, and sticks out of the crowd, briefly earning the ire of Gian and Suneo.
- Alien Among Us: He's an alien Espal hanging out with humans on earth, posing as a transfer student.
- The Eeyore: While posing as a student in Nobita's class, Luca seems to be in a downer mood 24-7, which is understandable given his backstory. He does lighten up when Nobita starts hanging out with him.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He gives Luna, who's injured in her leg during the attack, his Different Opinion Club Members Badge so she can escape with the Moonbits. Unfortunately this leads to his own capture by Diablo's forces.
- Hold the Line: With Diablo's human soldiers, led by Godart, incoming, Luca deliberately allows Doraemon and gang to pass the Anywhere Door - and closes it without entering, telling Nobita he needs to stay back to save the other Espals, despite Nobita's protests. And then a stray laser bolt destroys the door, stranding Luca before his attackers.
- Human Alien Discovery: When he reveals himself as an Espal, an immortal alien race with animal traits, to Nobita and the others. By removing his cap and revealing his long rabbit ears.
- Mystical White Hair: His hair is pale silver, and the moment he's introduced audiences can tell there's something special about this new character. Turns out he's a millennia-old alien from the moon posing as a human while trying to escape a genocidal AI after him.
- Never Bareheaded: At least when he's posing as a human student in Nobita's class. His cap stays on him even in moments when it would seem impractical, such as during a school race (lampshaded by Gian and Suneo who calls him "that new guy who's always wearing a cap") - as it turns out, the cap is there to conceal his rabbit-ears.
- New Transfer Student: How he's introduced into the film - Nobita randomly meets Luca while collecting some Susuki grass in the hills for the upcoming Moon Festival, and the very next day Luca is a new student in the same class as Nobita, Shizuka, Suneo and Gian.
- Purple Is Powerful: His default clothing is his purple jacket and cap, and he's one of the most powerful new characters. His Ether aura is also in purple.
- Super-Speed: During a race in recess, Luca easily beats every single student, winning a class race (with the runner-up at least twenty meters behind him) almost effortlessly. Ina later scene he divulged that he secretly used his Ether powers to speed himself up.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Luca is oblivious towards the concept of "friendship", even after Nobita hangs out with him and the two of them have forged a close bond. Again, justified since he's an alien.
Luna Tsukino
If there's a cuter Cute Monster Girl in anime...
Luca's older sister and the den mother of the Espals, which various of their younger members looked up to. Like her brother, she once scouted earth for a new place to live after Planet Kaguya's destruction thousands of years ago, inspiring the Princess Kaguya myth in the process.
- Aliens Among Us: In the past, when she lives among the humans in Meiji-era Japan as Princess Kaguya.
- Badass in Distress: She's quite the capable asskicker and sees plenty of action, but Diabolo managed to capture her while fleeing - and the other heroes need to save Luna before she can be disintegrated alive.
- Been There, Shaped History: As it turns out, Luna is actually the inspiration behind Princess Kaguya from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, after arriving in ancient Japan some few centuries ago.
- Cool Big Sis: To her brothers, Luca and Aru.
- Cute Monster Girl: She is a sweet, innocent young girl, save for having rabbit ears.
- Injured Limb Episode: She suffers a nasty leg injury while battling Diablo's army, and barely escapes with her life if not for Nobit and Mozo saving her. For much of the third act she's nursing a leg injury as Shizuka takes care of her, but Luna heals in time to partake in the final battle against Diablo's army.
- Legend Fades to Myth: Her stint as Princess Kaguya becomes part of Japanese Mythology as time goes on.
- Meaningful Name: Her name is Latin for "Moon", which is appropriate since she's a member of an alien tribe living under the moon.
- Miko: She's dressed as one for the entirety of her screentime.
- Named After Their Planet: During her past as Princess Kaguya, she names herself after her destroyed homeworld, Planet Kaguya.
- Ship Tease: A brief one with Suneo, when Suneo managed to save her as she fell off Diabolo's exploding ship. Towards the end when the gang are saying their permanent goodbyes, she thanks Suneo for the rescue, and Suneo breaks out in Ocular Gushers.
Aru
The youngest of the Tsukino sibling, and the strongest of the Espals, having the ability to create shockwaves by shouting. He's also a clairvoyant who can briefly see into the future, but only during dire moments.
- Adorably Precocious Child: He's young, and as dedicated to find a home for his fellow Espals as his older siblings.
- Cheerful Child: A cute Espal kid who gets along easily with the gang, especially forming a close bond with Gian and Suneo.
- Make Me Wanna Shout: His Ether powers allows him to release a powerful, shockwave-inducing yell that can destroy an entire building-sized cave. It appears that none of the other Espals have this ability (not even his older siblings, Luna and Luca) and in the finale he gets to use this power on Diabolo's forces once he's freed.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In his attempt to save Suneo and Gian from crashing into a cavern wall, Aru uses his powers... to destroy the entire cavern. The ensuing explosion unfortunately alerts Diabolo's mooks, giving away the Espals' hideout leading to their capture.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: His size is equivalent to an earthling child, but he's no slouch when it comes to using his powers to kick ass.
- Seers: He have the abilities to see into the future, though his powers needs to be used sparingly and in limited amounts. Also, he couldn't deliberately look into the future, his visions only manifesting in dire situations.
Mozo
"Lose to a rabbit? I'll show them!"
Luca's pet alien tortoise, who is perfectly capable of speech, and one hell of a Deadpan Snarker to boot. He frequently boasts about his speed and indestructible shell - both which are proven to live up to their reputation in the finale.
- Abnormal Ammo: He uses himself as a bullet for the Air Cannon in the final battle.
- Fastball Special: He's used as ammo to destroy Diabolo for good, by allowing himself to be shot out of Nobita's Air Cannon.
- Genius Bruiser: He's an alien turtle, and an insanely powerful one at that. Besides having speed and an indestructible shell, he's also a genius in operating machinery and proves crucial in defeating Emperor Diabolo for good in the final battle.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: He boasts that his shell is the strongest substance in the entire universe, and he's proven correct when he volunteers himself to be used as ammo to take down Diabolo.
- Speedy Snail: Or Speedy Tortoise, but he can unleash his Super-Speed powers to dodge lasser blasts and take out enemies in battle.
- Talking Animal: He's a talking turtle, though it's justified since he's not of earth.
- Wise Old Turtle: He's an intelligent alien turtle who is two thousand years old.
Planet Kaguya
Commander Godart
As a minion of Diabolo.
No more helmets post Heel–Face Turn.
The second-in-command of Emperor Diabolo who carries out his orders, but there's more to him than meets the eye.
- Cool Helmet: Wears an awesome red helm with horns that resembles a Samurai, when leading Diabolo's human soldiers around.
- The Dragon: The direct subordinate under Diablo, who leads the warlord's soldiers on Espal hunting campaigns.
- The Faceless: In the first half of the film, anyway. Godart's helmet stays on even when he's off-duty, but the moment he realize he's serving a genocidal dictator he ditches his helm.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: In the final battle, when he's on the side of good, Godart takes on Diablo's army sans helmet.
- Horns of Villainy: He wears his horned helmet when he's a minion of Diablo. The moment he had a Heel–Face Turn after realizing he's being used, Godart removes his helm for the remainder of the story.
- Heel Realization: Godart went through one of these when realizing he's been used by Diabolo to commit widescale genocide of the Espals, with his first act post-redemption being releasing Luca.
- Law of Chromatic Superiority: He's the Commander of Diabolo's army, and the only one clad in red armour. His soldiers and followers in contrast all wears blue.
- Master Swordsman: He's an expert in swinging that sword of his, demonstrating his skills by cutting down enemy robots in seconds.
- Mook Lieutenant: When he leads his soldiers in capturing the Espals.
- My God, What Have I Done?: He originally carries out Diabolo's orders to hunt down the Espals, believing that capturing them is the key to restore Planet Kaguya to her natural state. And then, he finds out Diabolo intends to carry out total genocide of the Espers to empower himself, causing Godart to realize he's serving a power-hungry dictator.
- Stab the Scorpion: Shortly after realizing Diabolo's true nature, a pissed-off Godart draws his sword on Luca... to cut his chains, before telling the boy to run.
- Unwitting Pawn: Used by Emperor Diabolo to commit a widescale genocide on surviving Espals, while under the believe that he's saving Planet Kaguya.
- I Want Them Alive!: His orders to his men are to capture the Espals alive, instructing them to use Anti-Espal Forcefield Generators which knocks them unconscious for ease of capture and even scolding a few of his mooks for firing live rounds on Luca.
Emperor Diabolo
How he appears for most of the film...
... until he ditches his cover and shows his true form...
... taken even further as a sentient flying fortress!
The all-powerful AI superweapon invented by Planet Kaguya multiple millennia ago, having gained sentience of his own, Diabolo develops a superiority complex that have him looking down on human-like lifeforms, prompting him to carry out genocide of the Espals and turn the once-beautiful surface of Planet Kaguya into a wasteland. Posing as the Kaguyans' leader, he's been ordering a galaxywide hunt for all surviving Espels ever since.
- Acid Pool: Have one of these in his lair, which he intends to drop Doraemon, Nobita, Godart, Suneo and Gian in. The acid can dissolve victims into energy particles for Godart to absorb, but luckily Shizuka, Luna and the Moonbits arrives right on time.
- Anti-Magic: His minions are equipped with Anti-Espal Seals, which dampens their powers and makes them easier to capture. But he did not anticipate an army of Moonbits to utterly destroy his seal projectors in the final battle.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Diabolo is a Weapon of Mass Destruction created by the ancient people of Planet Kaguya, only to gain sentience and eliminate all life on it.
- Bad Boss: He's frankly quite a dick to his underlings. When Godart humbly responds his scouting mission to be a failure, Diabolo angrily drops a mini-tidal wave on Godart while cursing him for his failure before threatening to demote Godart's ranks.
- Big Bad: The main villain of the picture, being a powerful rogue AI who destroyed an entire civilization in the past and is attempting genocide on the survivors.
- Boom, Headshot!: How he's finally defeated - with Nobita firing the Air Cannon (using Mozo as a bullet!) while being powered by Luca. Mozo ends up in Diabolo's forehead and penetrates to the back of his head, killing the warlord permanently.
- Combat Tentacles: He can extend tentacles from inside walls and acid pools to ensnare the heroes, using them to lash out on Nobita, Doraemon, and gang.
- The Dreaded: The moment Doraemon and the boys (sans Shizuka, who's nursing the injured Luna in the Moonbit Kingdom), posing as native Kaguyans, mentions Diabolo's name, the crowd of Kaguyans completely loses it.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness: He rules over Planet Kaguya via a sinister-looking citadel called the Dia Palace in the heart of the city's slums.
- The Faceless: He initially appears as a shadowy silohoutte behind blinds as he issued orders to Commander Godart, and remains in this state for much of his screen-time until rather late into the film - in order to conceal the truth that he isn't a human, but in fact a sentient AI.
- Flying Face: His true form after revealing the Diabolo behind a set of blinds is just a puppet - the real deal is a disembodied mechanical head built into a machine.
- Hidden Villain: He isn't revealed completely until more than two-thirds into the picture, with Godart as his lackey carrying out his orders for much of the film.
- Horns of Villainy: Unlike his minion Godart, though, his horns are permanently grafted on him. And he's proud of his genocide and craves even more power.
- Knight of Cerebus: And how – every single moment of comedy dies down the moment Diabolo appears onscreen, with each and every scene he's in played seriously.
- Mecha-Mooks: His personal guards are all robots, clad in outfits resembling Meiji-era courtiers and with face-obscuring masks. Gian managed to knock off one of their heads, only to result in a Robotic Reveal.
- One-Winged Angel: In his final form, once the Espals have escaped, Diabolo then merges himself with the rest of his fortress (the third image above).
- People Jars: He imprisons the captured Espal kids in stasis tanks filled with Ether-draining liquids, meant to dissolve them into energy particles for him to absorb.
- Puny Earthlings: His opinions towards humans, and human-like aliens in general.
- Sapient House: Of the AI variety, Diabolo is a sentient computer system inhabiting the living fortress – called the Dia Palace - that controls the entirety of Planet Kaguya, where he can manipulate the security features in said fortress remotely.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: A sentient AI represented by a gigantic head clad in medieval-era armor, and controlling a legion of robotic soldiers for hunting an entire race into extinction? Never knew Poseidon have a space equivalent.
- This Cannot Be!: Says this once Nobita managed to fire Mozo - propelled by Luca's Ether powers - into his forehead."There's no way I could lose... to a mere human..."
- I Want Them Alive!: His orders are for his minions to capture Espal children alive... because he wants their Ether essence, which he will then forcefully extract from their bodies to empower himself. The Espals are no good to him dead.
- Would Hurt a Child: While the "child" part is likely subverted, given the Espals are over a millennia old despite looking like children, they are still kids in nature compared to Diablo who is probably tens of thousands of years in age. And Diablo have NO qualms abducting Espal kids to be disintegrated alive for their power sources. Plus, there's the fact he's willing to dunk human children into an Acid Pool to be turned to energy particles.
Club and Cancer
Two of Godart's soldiers who had slightly more screentime and characterization compared to the others.
- Fat and Skinny: Club and Cancer, in that order.
- Meaningful Name: They are named after constellations.
- Those Two Guys: Always seen together, right down to their final scene when the duo tries retrieving Godart after the final battle.
