is a 2014 Japanese animated
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
comedy-drama
Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...
film based on the ''
Doraemon
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio. First serialized in 1969, the manga's chapters were collected in 45 volumes published by Shogakukan from 1974 to 1996. The story revolves around an earless robotic ...
''
manga
are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
series and directed by Ryūichi Yagi and
Takashi Yamazaki
is a Japanese filmmaker and visual effects supervisor. Known for his blockbusters featuring advanced visual effects, he is considered a leading figure in the Cinema of Japan, Japanese film industry. Yamazaki is the recipient of multiple accolade ...
. It was released on 8 August 2014.
It is the highest-grossing film of the
Doraemon franchise.
Bang Zoom! Entertainment premiered an English-dubbed version of the film at the
Tokyo International Film Festival
The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. According to the FIAPF, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals and the second largest film festival in Asia behind the ...
on 24 October 2014.
''Stand by Me Doraemon'' was commercially successful in Japan. It was number one on the box office charts for five consecutive weeks and was the second highest-grossing animated film of 2014 in Japan, with a box office total of $183.4 million, behind
Disney's ''
Frozen''.
[2014年邦画ベスト10、山崎貴監督2作品で171億円!" ](_blank)
Eiga.com. (2014年12月16日) 2014年12月17日閲覧。 In February 2015, the film won the
Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year at the
38th Japan Academy Prize.
[第38回日本アカデミー賞最優秀賞発表!](_blank)
、日本アカデミー賞公式サイト、2015年1月16日閲覧。
A
sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
was released on 20 November 2020 in Japan.
The film is primarily based on the first chapter of the manga "All the Way From the Future", the 1973 chapter "Mountain Rescue", the 1980 chapter "Goodbye Shizuka", the 1984 chapter "Imprinting Shizuka", the 1998 short film "Doraemon Comes Back" and the 1999 short film "Doraemon: Nobita's Night Before a Wedding", though several other chapters are briefly brought up as well.
Plot
Nobita Nobi
is a fictional character and one of the main characters in the ''Doraemon'' anime and manga series created by Fujiko Fujio. Known as Sidney, Specky and Noby in some English localizations of the anime, Nobita is usually depicted as an elementar ...
is a fourth grader who constantly gets failing grades in his subjects due to his laziness and is always bullied by his classmates
Suneo Honekawa and
Takeshi "Gian" Goda. His great-great-grandson from the 22nd century,
Sewashi, who watches him every day, travels to Nobita's timeline while bringing along his robotic cat
Doraemon
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio. First serialized in 1969, the manga's chapters were collected in 45 volumes published by Shogakukan from 1974 to 1996. The story revolves around an earless robotic ...
. Sewashi reveals that if Nobita keeps up his act, he will have a disastrous future: he will marry Gian's sister Jaiko, have his company burned down, and be left with such great debt Sewashi's family still has to deal with it. To circumvent this, he orders Doraemon to help Nobita, twisting Doraemon's nose to prevent him from returning to the future unless Nobita gains a better future.
Being reluctant until the threat, Doraemon introduces his gadgets to help Nobita which helps him immensely. Though Doraemon warns Nobita not to be too dependent on his gadgets, Nobita asks Doraemon to help him woo his crush,
Shizuka Minamoto whom Doraemon reveals is the one Nobita will marry if his future is corrected. However, all his efforts end up making Shizuka closer to ace student,
Dekisugi Hidetoshi. Nobita's attempt to be equal to Dekisugi by studying harder is futile, and he decides to let go of Shizuka to make her happier. He does this by flipping Shizuka's skirt to reveal her underwear (but not looking at it), resulting in Shizuka screaming and holding her skirt down in embarrassment before slapping him and running away in tears. After a while, Shizuka realizes that Nobita had his eyes shut when he did this to her. This makes her start worrying about Nobita. She overhears Gian and Suneo's conversation about Nobita's self-esteem getting crushed by Sensei for recently failing another test, causing her to believe he is planning to commit suicide, Shizuka arrives at Nobita's house and resists Nobita's people-repelling potion to help him, which Doraemon reveals is the first step in Nobita and Shizuka's growing relationship to eventually becoming a couple.
After seeing his older self rejecting Shizuka's invitation to mountain climbing, Nobita disguises himself as his older self to help Shizuka, who becomes separated from her group during a heavy blizzard. His efforts to help Shizuka do more harm to himself, but make Shizuka feel that she has to accompany Nobita, saying "Yes" before collapsing from the cold she contracted from her earlier conversation with Nobita. Forcing himself to remember the moment, the two are rescued by Nobita's older self, who recalled the memory. Nobita learns from his older self that Shizuka was answering to latter's proposition to marry her. Meaning that Shizuka will indeed marry Nobita. After hearing that Shizuka's father has also accepted Nobita as his daughter's spouse, Nobita and Doraemon return to the present timeline. Nobita visits Shizuka declaring that he will make her happy whatever it takes.
As Nobita's future has been changed for the better, Doraemon's programming commands him to return to the future in 48 hours. Noticing that Doraemon has a hard time leaving due to his worry for him, Nobita confronts and has a brutal fight with Gian to prove that he can defend himself without Doraemon. Seeing that Nobita refuses to give up, Gian forfeits as Doraemon tearfully takes Nobita home before leaving in peace the next day. During April Fools, Nobita is tricked by Gian into believing that Doraemon has returned. In anger, he drinks a solution Doraemon gave to him, which makes the opposite of everything the consumer says comes true. Finishing his retribution against Suneo (who was chased by a dog trying to bite him) and Gian (who was being dragged away by his mother, who was preparing to punish him), Nobita goes back home while lamenting that Doraemon will never return. To his surprise, Doraemon suddenly returns and tells Nobita that he has gotten permission to stay with him because Nobita said that Doraemon would never return, still with the effects of the potion, and the opposite became true. They both hug and cry in happiness.
Production
In 2011, the producers said: "Different from the other Doraemon films, this will be a special film".
The production team spent 18 months on the character design and
CGI animation began after the film recorded the voice of characters.
Adaptation
The plot combines elements from the short stories "All the Way from the Country of the Future", "Imprinting Egg", "Goodbye, Shizuka-chan", "Romance in Snowy Mountain", "Nobita's the Night Before a Wedding" and "Goodbye, Doraemon..." into a new complete story – from the first time Doraemon came to Nobita's house to Doraemon bidding farewell to Nobita.
Voice cast
Soundtrack
The ending theme, ''
Himawari no Yakusoku'' (ひまわりの約束, lit. "The Sunflower's Promise") was composed and sung by
Motohiro Hata.
Release
The film was released in
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
on 8 August 2014, and in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
on 6 November 2014. In
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
and
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
, the film was released on 10 and 11 December 2014, respectively. In
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
and
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
, the film was released on 19 December 2014. In
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
, the film was released on 31 December 2014. In
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
, the film was released on 29 January 2015 and in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
, the film was released on 5 February 2015. The film was released in
Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
on 12 December 2014, with broadcast on 1 June 2015 by K+ NS The film was released in the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
on 17 June 2015, announced by ''SM Cinema'' on
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
, and distributed by VIVA International Pictures & Multivision Pictures Entertainment. The film was released in
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
on 11 September 2015
The film was released in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
on Thursday, 28 May 2015 becoming the first and only Japanese film to be released in mainland China after ''
Ultraman
The , also known as ''Ultraman'', is a Japanese science fiction media franchise owned and produced by Tsuburaya Productions, which began with the television series '' Ultra Q'' in 1966. The franchise has expanded into many television shows, fi ...
'' in July 2012 in three years. Altogether, the film was released in 60 countries worldwide. The film was released in the US on
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
on 24 December 2021.
In Japan, the film was released on
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
, in a deluxe and normal edition, and on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
by
Pony Canyon
, also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966, which distributes music, films, home video, and video games. It is affiliated with the Japanese media group Fujisankei Communications Group. Pony Canyo ...
on 18 February 2015. The DVDs and Blu-rays released in Hong Kong feature English subtitles. The
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
release in Singapore also includes English subtitles.
Reception
Box office
The film earned a total of internationally by 7 January 2015,
and was also the third-highest earning film in Japan in 2014 with , behind ''
Frozen'' and ''
The Eternal Zero''.
Outside Japan, the highest revenue came from China ($86.92 million), Hong Kong ($5.1 million), South Korea ($3.3 million),
Italy ($3.2 million), Indonesia ($3 million) and Thailand ($1.2 million).
In Japan, the film earned ¥767 million in the first 2 days and ¥988 million after 3 days. After 40 days, the film earned ¥7 billion and ¥8 billion after 76 days. The film – after the release day – was ranked 1st in cinemas in Japan for 5 weeks continuously. As of December 2014, the film earned ¥8.38 billion ($70 million) in Japan.
The film performed well in Hong Kong, which was partly boosted by the sudden death of the long-time voice actor of Doraemon,
Lam Pou-chuen, a month before the movie's local release. It became the all-time highest-grossing Japanese film in Hong Kong (breaking ''
Ring
(The) Ring(s) may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV
* ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...
''s record), the highest-grossing film of the
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...
period in Hong Kong (from 18 to 21 February) and the
all-time fourth highest-grossing animated film in Hong Kong, behind
Pixar
Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...
s ''
Toy Story 3
''Toy Story 3'' is a 2010 American animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The third installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' series, it was directed by Lee Unkrich, the editor ...
'', ''
Monsters University
''Monsters University'' is a 2013 American animated Coming-of-age film, coming-of-age comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. A prequel to ''Monsters, Inc.'' (2001), it was directed by Dan Scanlon (in his fea ...
'' and
Inside Out.
It also broke the opening-day record (previously held by ''
Ponyo
is a 2008 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Mitsubishi, and distri ...
'').
In China, the film scored a single-day record of US$14.2 million (breaking ''
Kung Fu Panda 2
''Kung Fu Panda 2'' is a 2011 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and written by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berge ...
''s record) and a four-day opening record of US$38.5 million (breaking ''
How to Train Your Dragon 2
''How to Train Your Dragon 2'' is a 2014 American animated fantasy film loosely based on the How to Train Your Dragon (novel series), book series by Cressida Cowell. Produced by DreamWorks Animation and written and directed by Dean DeBlois, it i ...
''s record).
In just five days it earned $53 million to become the highest-grossing non-Hollywood animated film in China (breaking ''
Boonie Bears: A Mystical Winter''s record). It is currently the third highest-grossing animated film in China ($86.9 million), behind ''
Kung Fu Panda 2
''Kung Fu Panda 2'' is a 2011 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and written by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berge ...
'' ($92.2 million) and ''
Big Hero 6'' ($86.7 million). It ended its run in China with ($86.9 million).
A web survey was published, giving a closer look at the attendees. The audience consisted of 20.4% were children, 21.5% were in their 20s, 20.4% were in their 30s, 20.4% were in their 40s. 47% were male while 53% were female.
Accolades
Related products
* New translation "Doraemon"
:::Fujiko · F · Fujio (writer), Hiroshi Sasaki (editor), Fujiko Pro (monitoring)
:::A book containing 7 short stories, with commentary by Hiroshi Sasaki.
* ''Stand by Me Doraemon'' Animation Visual Story''
::Fujiko F. Fujio (Writer)
:::Adapted from the film
* BD / DVD
::Released 18 February 2015 with PCXE-50408 (BD special version), PCXE-50409 (BD Normal version), PCBE-54251 (DVD Limit Version)
Cultural impact
On the Japanese talk show ''Room of Tetsuko'', Doraemon in 3D image was invited to interview and was broadcast on television on 8 August 2014.
The film helped ease diplomatic tensions between China and Japan. Nagoya University professor Kawamura Noriyuki said that the film was able to help the Chinese people have a better look at the Japanese people.
Sequel
On 12 December 2019, the sequel, ''Stand By Me Doraemon 2'', was announced. Ryūichi Yagi and
Takashi Yamazaki
is a Japanese filmmaker and visual effects supervisor. Known for his blockbusters featuring advanced visual effects, he is considered a leading figure in the Cinema of Japan, Japanese film industry. Yamazaki is the recipient of multiple accolade ...
return as directors, with Yamazaki once again penning the script. Largely based on Doraemon's 2000 short film ''
Doraemon: A Grandmother's Recollections'', it was originally slated to be released on 7 August 2020, but, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, the release was postponed to 20 November 2020.
References
External links
*
*
First traileron
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
Official Movie Website on
Toho
is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...
Official Book Website
*
{{Authority control
2014 3D films
2014 anime films
2014 computer-animated films
2014 films
2014 science fiction films
Doraemon films
Animated films about friendship
Animated films about father–daughter relationships
Films directed by Takashi Yamazaki
Films produced by Shūji Abe
IMAX films
Japanese 3D films
Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year winners
Shirogumi
Shin-Ei Animation
Japanese computer-animated films
Japanese animated science fiction films
Films scored by Naoki Satō
Animated films about time travel
Animated films about shapeshifting
Toho animated films
2010s films about time travel