Headscratchers / Doraemon

• Why hasn't anyone fansubbed the anime version (besides the first few episodes of the first show and a few movies)? There must be SOMEONE out there who: knows Japanese, has children, and wants them to be able to read a hardcover book in one weekend.
  • Maybe the producers haven't realized how important these stories are to their fans overseas.
    • Shogakukan, Shin-Ei Animation, and Asatsu-DK definitely realize how important Doraemon is to billions of people outside of Japan—it's one of the most popular cartoon franchises in the world, and the anime is widely available in many non-Japanese languages. Various companies have tried many times to market Doraemon in English, which in this case usually means marketing to US Americans, and it just never took on. My theory is that Americans have many homegrown popular children's shows already (like Sesame Street), so it's harder to convince American children and parents to give the extra effort to understand a show with a different culture, even with the Americanizations that Doraemon English localization attempts usually contain.
  • Because it's Slice of Life and kodomomuke? A show branded as both typically gets overlooked by fansub groups for a large myriad of reasons.
  • Fansubbing is partially about getting recognition in the anime community. Since very few people in the English-speaking world (who don't speak one of the languages that Doraemon is more popular in) care about Doraemon, there would be little praise to be gained from doing so. The kind of person who identifies as an anime fan and knows how to access online fansubs is unlikely to be in the demographic that the show is meant for (young children). Combine with the fact that the 2005 series alone is over 500 episodes and counting, and that adds up to a whole lot of work for very little gain. A better way to get more Doraemon would be to learn one of the languages that it is consistently and officially released in (Japanese is the safest bet, but Spanish is the easiest to learn if you only understand English). Or, as the children who fondly remember the American English dub from 2014 or the UK and Indian English dubs grow up, maybe they will start to produce or demand English fansubs starting in 2030 or so.
    • Also as far as translating the books, some volumes were translated into bilingual English/Japanese for Japanese-speaking English learners, so you can start there (you don't need to be able to read the Japanese to understand the books). Apparently there is also an official English translation meant for native speakers on Amazon Kindle, but I can't find it.
• Just why is Noby/Nobita friends with Gian and Suneo! Yeah, I understand the whole The Friend Nobody Likes thing where if he tried to get rid of them they'd find it insulting and make him sorry, but aren't they mostly assholes to him either way?
  • A sad truth of childhood is that sometimes, you just want somebody to hang out with, even if you know they're going to bully, belittle, demean, and deride you. Nobita is the kind of friend that's such a loser and such a dork nobody would really want to be friends with him (I know how harsh that sounds, but look at it from a child's perspective), so he hangs out with the only people who'll give him the time of day—even though they're only hanging out with him so they can prey upon him.
  • Makes sense, I guess. But now that I think about it, why does Suneo put up with Gian? It's been implied several times Suneo is his sidekick only because he's too scared of the guy's wrath to protest. If you're the richest kid in the city, surely you or your parents could use the legal system against a bully who physically damages you repeatedly.
  • Suneo is an ass-kisser.

• This is something I've been wondering about for years at this point... WHY OH WHY do Gian and Suneo keep bullying Nobita all the damn time if they're just gonna be out-smarted by one of Doraemon's gadgets? Do they WANT to see how the weekly gadget overshadows their accomplishments? That's messed up...
  • They're young. A lot of kids (heck, a lot of adults) have a hard time actually learning from their mistakes and will just keep making them over and over. Most of us have known several people like this in real life, and again its made worse by them being kids.

• Just a little something I'm curious about. You know how Doraemon and his robot pals from the spin-off go to school, hold jobs, and are as sentient as humans? Have any of the mangas or animes dealt with What Measure Is a Non-Human?, Fantastic Racism or Just a Machine ? Say, would a robo-kitty be legally a mere piece of electric equipment to whomever buys him/her, or more like a servant/employee? The Nobi's may treat Doraemon like family, but what if an owner was not so open minded? I know it's a just a kids show, but I've seen a million of these plots in other family shows involving robots.
  • According to one episode where Nobita is judged for overworking Doraemon to the point where he's broken and needs to be repaired, there's a robot's rights law in the future where humans and robots are treated as equal and if someone treats their robot as their slave they can lose the robot's custody and they are forbidden to even see the exploited robot ever again.
• Just crossed by Fridge Logic, but why hasn't Nobita and co. been searched by the Time Police? They travel a lot and excess of their adventure can be seen in the present or the future (like Doraemon's Dimension Pocket in the Doraemon: Nobita's Great Adventure in the South Seas). Heck, in the manga (not sure if also true in the movies) Shizuka commit genocide on a sentient robot race by altering their past 10.000 years back. Aren't they the same with those Time Criminal they stop then?
  • This answer may be full of guessworks. Most people under Time Police's custody do things for their personal gains (criminals) or things that greatly affects the timeline they visit which may contribute to major changes in history. Poachers and dinosaur hunters in Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaurs can cause early extinction of some species. A scientist in Doraemon: Nobita and the Windmasters awakens a storm spirit that can decimate a continent if not the world. Shizuka's decision to change the past has things to be considered: Had she not done them, Earthlings would've been captured and turned into slaves so she's picking a lesser evil choice of available two. Second, Shizuka goes to Mechatopia which has been established to be in another galaxy or planet so there's a possibility of this matter being out of their jurisdiction. Third, it has been implied that the residents of Mechatopia have been reborn as other types of harmless robots, so Shizuka probably doesn't kill any of those robots at all. Nobita and others are mostly tangled by time-travelling plot in the adventures or do things for others. Then again, the concept of time police is kinda poorly thought in this series.
    • At this point the Time Police have busted so many time criminals via our Ragtag Bunch of Misfits heroes tripping over their plots that it's not unimaginable that they're actually being monitored on purpose. Shutting them down wouldn't get the same results.
    • Not to mention, arresting Nobita and co. would mean taking them to the 22nd century criminal court so they can be prosecuted. If that really happens, then when the hearings take place, Nobita and co. would definitely testify about how Time Police needed helps from children to do their job, and there are many futuristic gadgets that can verify this fact. So, arresting Nobita and co. would be a very bad PR for Time Police.
• How are the majority of Doraemon's gadgets legal? Nobita is living proof of what happens if they are misused. They normally don't have any safety features to prevent people from abusing them.
• In "A World Without Sound", how come no one uses or even mentions sign language? It seems like it could be more convenient than writing everything down on pencil and paper.
• So... just how does the whole Sewashi thing work? He acts as if Nobita changing who he's gonna marry in the future won't change the fact he will exist... despite the fact that it should. This has always been a major plot point I never understood.