Nobita's Wannyan Space-Time Odyssey

''Doraemon: Nobita in the Wan-Nyan Spacetime Odyssey'' (ドラえもん のび太のワンニャン時空伝, ''Doraemon: Nobita no Wan Nyan Jikūden'') is a 2004 Japanese animated science fiction disaster film, based on the 24th volume of the same name in the ''Doraemon Long Stories'' manga series. Directed by Tsutomu Shibayama, the film premiered in Japan on March 6th, 2004. It is the twenty fifth Doraemon feature film and served to celebrate both the 25th anniversary of the 1979 television series and the 25th anniversary of the feature film series. Partially based on the 1980 chapter "A Home for "Ruff", it was the final Doraemon film released in the 1979 series and to star the original voice cast.

Plot

The film opens with an elderly dog entering a time machine, planning to travel to the future to meet someone who gave him a kendama. However, the machine hits a time-space anomaly and malfunctions, causing the dog to regress to infancy. He is then found by a researcher cat.

In the present, Nobita finds a stray dog drowning in a river after playing with Gian and Suneo. He feels sorry for the dog and secretly brings it home, hiding it in a "kennel on the wall." He names the dog Ichi (from "One," a homophone for a dog’s bark in Japanese) and plays with it using the kendama. Soon after, he also adopts a stray cat he names Zubu (meaning "wet" in Japanese), found during a rainstorm. Nobita’s mother becomes suspicious and checks his room.

To avoid getting caught, Nobita and Doraemon use the Anywhere Door to travel to the mountains, where they discover more abandoned pets endangered by deforestation. With too many animals to care for, Nobita and his friends decide to send them 300 million years into the past—before any other life existed. Using the Ray of Evolution, they enable the animals to use a food-making machine, then leave, with Nobita promising Ichi he’ll return.

When they try to visit the animals the next day, a time-space anomaly forces them to land 1,000 years after their intended time. To their shock, the dogs and cats have used the Ray of Evolution excessively and formed a futuristic, civilized society.

With their time machine broken, the group must wait for repairs. Meanwhile, they explore the society and meet a gang of teen thieves—Bulltaro, Duk, Chiko, and their leader Hachi. Nobita suspects Hachi is actually Ichi, despite the time difference.

They visit an amusement park believed by the thieves to secretly house their imprisoned parents. Together, they drill into the park and discover a room with a time machine. However, they are ambushed by guards. Doraemon is stunned and captured; the others are imprisoned.

Meanwhile, the government predicts a cluster of asteroids will strike Earth. They order Noradium, a material needed to build evacuation spacecrafts. But Noradium is stolen by Nekojara, a corrupt official.

Doraemon wakes up to meet Nekojara, who reveals his plan to use a Noradium-powered time machine to take revenge on humans for abandoning animals. He intends to use the Ray of Evolution’s devolve function, as described in a prophecy written by his ancestor, Zubu. He tricks Doraemon into fixing the ray by threatening to kill Shami, a cat idol Doraemon loves—who is actually his minion.

Freed from prison, Nobita and the others launch a mission to rescue Doraemon and recover the Noradium. Doraemon breaks the Ray of Evolution and escapes with Shami, who turns against Nekojara after he attacks Doraemon. Nobita and Hachi manage to stop the time machine, but a meteor hits it, sinking it and destroying the Noradium.

Hachi is submerged underwater, and Nobita rescues him. This triggers Hachi’s memory—he is Ichi, the elderly dog from the beginning. He recalls hiding a Nobita-shaped statue made of pure Noradium. The group retrieves the statue and brings it to the government. Nekojara attacks again but is defeated.

With the Noradium, the government completes multiple spacecrafts and evacuates everyone—including Nekojara and his minions—just before the asteroids hit.

The film ends with Nobita and his friends bidding farewell to Ichi and the other animals as they leave the city moments before it is destroyed. During the credits, Nobita and his friends return to the present and say their goodbyes.

Cast

Release

The film was released in Japan on March 6th, 2004. It got released later on in Hong Kong on August 3rd, 2006.

Box office

Doraemon: Nobita in the Wan-Nyan Spacetime Odyssey grossed a total of $3,755,037 in its opening week in Japan. It was the second highest-grossing film in Japan in its opening week, only being beaten by '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King''. The film grossed a total of $26,114,674 in Japan.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Doraemon The Movie 25th page
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{{Tsutomu Shibayama

2004 films
2004 anime films
Japanese animated science fiction films
2004 science fiction films
Japanese science fiction films
Nobita in the Wan-Nyan Spacetime Odyssey
Films directed by Tsutomu Shibayama
2004 animated films
Animated films about dogs
Animated films set in amusement parks
Animated apocalyptic films
Animated films set in New Zealand
2000s children's animated films
Japanese children's films
Toho animated films