Doraemon Super Baseball Side Story (ドラえもん超野球(スーパーベースボール)外伝, usually shortened to Dorabase) is a sports manga Spin-Off of Doraemon created by Mugiwara Shintaro that runs from 2000-2011, with a total of 23 volumes.
Despite the title, it is not a manga about Doraemon playing baseball, and Doraemon only appears as a guest character. Though, it does show that Doraemon was on a baseball team before he left to live with Nobita.
It follows the Edogawa Doras, an amateur baseball team in Tokyo (specifically, Edogawa) which is notorious for not ever winning since they were formed. All the members used to be exclusively of robot-cats before Hiroshi and Mika-chan joined in. The main lineup consists of pitcher Doraemon (later replaced by Hiroshi, the first human member of the Doras), first Hyoroemon, second Pyokoemon, third Kuroemon, left fielder Aimond, right fielder Guriemon (He later quits the team to study biology in Hokkaido, and is replaced by Chibiemon, but later reappears in two different points of the series), center Toraemon, shortstop Suzuemon, catcher Pakuemon, and manager-slash-backup Mika-chan, who is also the only (first) other human member besides Hiroshi, and the only girl. New characters were later introduced that joined the team, such as The aforementioned Chibiemon to replace Guriemon in right fielder position, Mike-emon, who joined the team to destroy it from the inside but was eventually accepted, and the 2nd Doras squad, which was formed by Coach Doranosuke., along with many other characters from opposing teams.
Despite its reputation, they continued to play until Kuroemon, tired of losing, made an ultimatum: if they lose one more time (in this case, against the Mongas), the team will be disbanded. The others were unenthusiastic about this, much to his disappointment. After Doraemon left, Kuro realized how much potential he has to be a great pitcher because of his strong shoulders. He joins the team, and promptly tries to learn how to control his fast pitching after a long time of not playing. Later on, Aimond became determined to beat the Mongas after the captain broke his prized baseball bat. The others catch up on this, and they eventually win - partly because Guriemon can predict what kind of ball Monga will throw by looking at his Idiot Hair.
After their first victory, the team practices even more and gets better every day. They considers signing up for a tournament, but decides that they're still not pro enough. It all changed, however, when Kuro steps in a game to replace an injured player. He meets his old friend from robot school, Shiroemon, after so many years. They used to be each other's Only Friend before Shiro broke off their friendship because he wanted to be better, and Kuro told him to relax and enjoy life. It was a shock for him to see him so different from what he used to be, and the biggest shock came when he saw his Signature Move: The White Ball. Kuro then became determined to join the Big Dome Cup in order to defeat Shiro's strong team, Arakawa Whiters.
And for the baseball rules itself, nothing much has changed except that the use of three randomly-selected gadgets are allowed for both teams.
Dorabase contains examples of:
- The Ace: Shiroemon, Doraichiro and Kuro to some extent. Drump, Emoll and some others would also qualify. Basically, one that can put up a fight with The Doras after Volume 2.
- And Hiroshi, considering that he is considered The Ace of Edogawa Dora. In fact, every team has one character that is considered as their Ace.
- All There In The Author's Doodles
- Always Someone Better: Shiro, to Kuro.
- Art Evolution: Inevitably happens after 11 years. The art style shifted from being similar to the original Doraemon to a different one; Shiro gets slightly taller, his ears got noticeably longer, and general changes.
- The Atoner: Monta, who had a criminal record for battery.
- Outside his criminal records, this is also the reason why Monta refused to use any kind of throw but straight. His old friend is involved in an accident right before he get a chance to have a rematch. During the previous match, he broke his promise to throw nothing but a straight for the whole match.
- Batman Gambit: Drump's plan to get back at Shiro for refusing to join his team is to trick him into making a strong ball that he can't handle, thus injuring his shoulder.
- Boring, but Practical: During the WABC arc finale, this trope is played straight with Shiro, since he knew that his new Signature Move is too Awesome, yet Impractical because his catcher can't adapt to the move yet, and White Ball is simply not enough to beat Aimond. He decided to throw an extremely fast straight instead.
- Hiroshi is chosen as a team member for the WABC not because of his forkball, but because of his extremely powerful straight. Likewise, Monta also has an extremely fast straight.
- Doraichiro did not have a Signature Move like every other batter in the series. Despite this, he stayed as one of the top batter and the most consistent batter in the series.
- Captain Ersatz: Benkei looks way too simmilar to War Machine.
- Character Development: Hoo boy. The whole Doras team gets this in the first volume when they became stronger in baseball thanks to their training in an uninhabited island. Many of the key team rivals get it as well.
- Shiroemon's shifts from being a Jerkass "villain" to sympathetic rival. Especially after Kuro, who he often looked down at and considers a "dumb robot", manages to hit his White Ball, he develops respect for him and even acknowledges him as a Worthy Opponent.
- Drump was originally introduced as a Jerkass American baseball player looking down on Japan and only hell-bent on making a powerful team and winning everything, but after being defeated by Doras, he becomes a nicer person who respects his peers and plays baseball for fun instead of focusing on winning. Even when he seems to return to his old ways in the WABC arc, he has an excuse for it (see Hidden Heart of Gold below).
- Monta was a very hot-blooded guy at the beginning, quick to start fights and is known for viewing his teammates as useless. As time goes on, he adopts a calmer attitude and gradually respects his teammates more.
- Chekhov's Gun: The story started with Kuro finding out the fact that Hiroshi has a strong shoulder and he can throw a powerful balls. Until the WABC arc, Hiroshi's power is not brought up again. Instead, he is well known for his Fork Ball.
- Childhood Friends: Hiroshi and Mika, Shiro and Kuro, and Drump and Bave.
- Crowd Chant: Happens sometimes.
- Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Subverted, since Amoll wins against Shiro anyways. He does eventually get defeated by the Doras in the finale.
- Disappeared Dad: Hiroshi's father died long ago.
- Eagleland: The series portrays American players from both sides, good and bad. They are usually portrayed as ruder and more callous than the Japanese players, but are still good-natured beneath it all.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The shape of the W ball and subsequent evolutions. The Dragonfly ball stops in the air, and one might wonder why it's not called the Hummingbird ball instead.
- Face–Heel Turn: The Doras 2nd squad, under the influence of Doranosuke. They later changed back to good, however.
- Flashback: Happens occasionally, mostly centering around Kuro/Shiro or Hiroshi's backstory.
- Forgotten Friend New Rival: Shiro and Kuro to each other.
- Friendly Rivalry: How Kuro and Shiro's relationship is as of now. Also towards every other team, except the 2nd Doras squad.
- Generation Xerox: As much as a generation for "robots" can be, the future Doras team from the 23rd century is just as bad as the original Doras before they got better, as shown in an extra story in volume 20. It consists of most of the original characters from different teams with little physical changes and names, such as 46emon and 96emon (pronounced Shiroemon and Kuroemon). Also, in the end a 24th century Shiroemon is shown (named Masshiroemon), and it is heavily implied that he formed his own team.
- Groin Attack: More than often, a dead-ball will often hit the crotch of a character. Hyoro gets about three of them, while Suzu gets one in the WABC match against Cuba.
- Grudging "Thank You": Inverted at the end of volume 5, after Shiroemon's shoulder is fixed with help of the Doras and Pokoemon, though partially because Drump told Dr. Mark to do so without having to win against him. Shiro thanks Kuro sincerely and offers a handshake, but Kuro refuses, saying that he's still Shiro's rival no matter what.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Doranosuke. He simply want to make a powerful team. How he achieved that goal, however is a different story, since he started as a fairly normal Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass coach that helped Kuro at times, while later on he is responsible for 2nd Doras squad Face–Heel Turn.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: Drump, during the WABC arc, seems to go back to his old Jerkass Smug Snake personality. It turns out that Babe, his old friend we see in the previous episodes, became badly wounded and hospitalized during a baseball match and this is why he became so determined to win the WABC tournament for the sake of Bave.
- Hot-Blooded: A lot— Kuro and Hyoro are the most notable examples from the main characters, and Aimond can be one when he gets serious. From the rivals' side, we have Monta, and it's why he and Hyoro can't stand each other.
- Idiot Hair: Komatsugawa has one, probably to emphasize that he is the weakest link in the Whiters. After he practices, his skills improved, but still retains the hair.
- Monga in the first volume also has one, which changes according to the ball that he's going to throw.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Monta and his team. Shiroemon, too. Drump also eventually evolves into this.
- Just a Machine: Gagne, Amoll's owner, considers Amoll this. Leads to a bit of
Fridge Horror, since all the other robot characters (sentient ones at least) can freely do whatever they want, implying that Gagne still thinks of robots as slaves that are bound to humans. - Large Ham: Considering how much the characters cry the names of their Signature Move, random screams, and the number of battlecries, most of the main players are this.
- Late for School: Kuro and Shiro do this often.
- Meaningful Name: Kuro and Shiro (black and white, respectively), and most characters in the Doras not named Hiroshi or Mika (Paku means "fat", Hyoro means "tall and thin", Tora means "tiger", Chibi means "small", etc.). Averted with Pyoko, Suzu, Aimond, and Mike-emon. The members of Akane Flyers are named after dragonflies. The name Drump from Devil Kings, which is created from combining the word 'dora' and 'trump' seems to emphasize his card-related Signature Move, and the author has repeatedly used references from countries of opposing teams in the WABC arc.
- Moe Anthropomorphism: An extra story in volume 17 has someone who looks suspiciously similar to Mugiwara Shintaro asking the characters to help him finish a manga before the deadline (without thinking why the hell he would ask a bunch of baseball athletes for help...), and they proceed to totally destroy it to pieces. Said manga is basically Dorabase With human characters!. And to top it off, some of the pages are blatant parodies of volume 3's pages. Oh, and the characters never comment on this.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Shiro is always quick to call Kuro a dumb robot, even though he has greatly improved overall. It may also be an insult that it took him so long to finally become better at baseball.
- One-Word Title: Subverted. The actual title is Doraemon Super Baseball Side Story.
- Only Friend: It is implied that Kuro and Shiro are this to each other, possibly because of their reputation for being a failure.
- The Rival: To Kuro, Shiroemon (who else?) and the Whiters (and vice versa). To a lesser extent, the Yamadera Bears and Devil Kings.
- Rival Turned Evil: Inverted with Shiroemon, who started off a selfish, Jerkass (though not totally evil) captain who believes that he is the only one needed for the Whiter's victory. He even almost kicked Komatsugawa out in his first match against the Doras. Character Development hit soon enough and he turns more sympathetic, being not much different from Kuro.
- Rocket Punch: Not exactly for combat, but Pyokoemon's Easily Detachable Robot Parts (with springs) are used to catch ridiculously high balls.
- Signature Move: A lot. Kuro's is the Deadly Daikon Moon Swing, Shiro's is the White Ball and its variations, Hiroshi's is the forkball (though this has been appearing less overtime), Aimond's is the Barbeque Impact, Drump's is the Queen Ball, Spade King, and Royal Straight Flush. Amoll/Emoll's is the Dragonfly Ball, Red Dragonfly Ball, and Variety of Dragonfly. Monta defies this by using extremely fast straightballs, and is shown to openly dislike variation balls.
- Standing in the Hall: One flashback scene showed Kuro and Shiro doing this.
- Token Minority: Sammy from the Devil Kings is the only black member.
- Token Non-Human: Subverted with Poko from Yamadera Bears - since all the members are actually transforming tanukis. Played straight with Shiroemon, Doraichiro, and Drump.
- Tournament Arc: One after another. Justified since it is a sports manga, if they didn't join any tournaments it'll be a Slice of Life series where they just practice.
- The Unfettered: Amoll, and to some extent the Akane Flyers. Even though he had great skills and a strong Signature Move, he probably needed to make sure that he wins through the Kabuto Mushi Cup. He didn't, but Gagne allows him to play baseball anyways. Drump also qualifies, though he usually does it outside the game.
- Worthy Opponent: Many, but most obviously Kuro to Shiro. Lampshaded a couple times.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Amoll. Also a (literal) Stepford Smiler Broken Ace, see above.
