2112: The Birth of Doraemon (2112年 ドラえもん誕生) is a Doraemon short film that aired in theaters in 1995. It serves as a prequel to the franchise, showing the life of Doraemon before traveling to the past to help Nobita Nobi.
This work also appeared in the second generation hyperspace Time Machine, which was a favorite for many years. (The second generation 3 CGI was used in the screening of the diary Genesis Simultaneous.)
Plot[]
November 1969, Shōwa 44. Manga artist Fujiko F. Fujio and his team are rushing for a new project that will be launched the following month, which involves a main character coming out of a desk drawer. For days, he cannot come up with anything, staying up even after his workers have returned home already. Disappointed, he heads back to his place, where his wife greets him and he takes a look at his sleeping children. Slumping on his chair, he laments on his lack of time, wishing for a time machine so he could plagiarize his works from the future for his present self. The camera pans into his drawer into a time tunnel obstructed by white light and the title card of the film appears.
On September 3, 2112, temporal terrorists attempt to escape the Time Patrol via a hyperdrive, warping just as the authorities surround them with more ships. The Matsushiba Robot Factory experienced a power surge as a result of their activities. The then factory-new Doraemon was struck by a lightning bolt from an unknown electrical defect while he is on a conveyor. The shock caused an explosion that ejected a metal screw, and he stumbles before falling from the heights of the factory (while piano notes play in the background) and into a dump truck, which was disposing the payload into an industrial furnace. Doraemon was unable to grip as the truck's bed remains tilted, but Noramyako appears in time and grabs him with her tail, saving him just as the truck leaves. Doraemon thanks her and they introduce themselves to each other, with Noramyako mentioning her profession as a dancer. When he can't explain his origins, Noramyako speculates that he fell from great heights (implying that she saw him earlier on). Recognizing him as a cat automaton too, she grabs his hands, telling him that they should encourage each other and contribute to the society. He agrees with her and Noramyako jumps away while dancing, much to the dismay of an infatuated Doraemon.
Doraemon returns to the academy and joins the rest of his kind, where Principal Teraodai informs them that they are cat automatons purposed as child caretakers. However, his performance was ultimately poor in general and is failing in several areas. When he is typing, he often overloads, causing frequent short circuits that paralyzes him. His poor stamina often results in him tripping and falling, where a hammer bashes at him while the conveyor runs backwards. In terms of aviation, he often deviates when using the Take-copter and flies erratically. He also eats much faster and consumes more food compared to regular models. Finally, while others are proficient at using Anywhere Doors, Doraemon has to search in his pocket for extended periods and instead of executing his instructions, he takes out a hoop and the portal warps him into the water.
Teraodai is concerned on Doraemon's poor performance, as his peers are manufactured under the same conditions and deduces that a manufacturing defect may be responsible. Doraemon apologizes while Teraodai hypothesizes possibilities, correctly guessing that an electrical strike and blunt force trauma were to blame. He then claims that outmodes will be thrown into the incinerator - much to the terror of Doraemon - before revealing that he was just joking. He then agrees to transfer Doraemon to another class for specialized machines with a tractor beam. Doraemon is terrified to find that Teraodai sent him inside another incinerator and screams at the principal for pulling off the nasty joke again, though Teradoai quickly reacts to the accident, grabs him with a mechanical scoop and throws him to the correct location. He falls inside the classroom just as the instructor is about to introduce him to several of his classmates (cat automatons such as Dora Med III, El Matadora and his partner Wang Dora). Jaides (a dog automaton) and Sunekuchi (a mechanical parrot) both scoff at his appearance as they were expecting a menacing tiger. The instructor quells the noisy Matadora and asks for Doraemon's name. Meanwhile, Noramyako, who was talking to Roboko, recognizes him and they have an intimate reunion, much to the jealousy of Jaides and Sunekuchi.
Jaides and Sunekuchi taunt Doraemon for being an outmode and attempt to take his 4D pocket. Doraemon escapes, causing the two menaces to give chase. Doraemon eventually falls and was about to be attacked by them when Noramyako takes out a puffy shuttlecock and kicks it, knocking out both Jaides and Sunekuchi. Doraemon is surprised at her arrival and is helped up. Dora-rinho arrives with a football and viciously attacks the two menaces as Doraemon and Noramyako laugh hysterically.
Doraemon and his classmates went through various events during his days in the academy. In feasts, he and Jaides often display their monstrous food consumption. Along with Jaides and Sunekuchi, they were frequently punished by their instructor for failing simple questions. Together, they all played with children and exercised weightlifting (which is easily done by Jaides, yet Doraemon and Sunekuchi often fail at). He also enjoyed splashing water in rivers with Noramyako as well as sleeping in floating dormitories.
Just before the graduation day, Noramyako urges Doraemon not to bring his depression to the Robot Audition, though Doraemon isn't convinced due to his horrible academics as he frowns sadly while looking at his zeroes on his tests. Noramyako comments that his persistence is valuable and pretends to kiss him, causing Doraemon to blush hysterically and throw away his test papers, though she dodges him and claims that it was a joke. Then, Noramyako grabs a Dorayaki from her 4D pocket and offers it to him, claiming that it was a 20th century snack, reminding him that he should keep his spirits up. Upon eating it, Doraemon takes a liking to the snack and starts to frantically grab copies from her pocket in order to munch more. Noramyako is extremely irritated but laughs heartily, and comments on his persistence again.
The Audition occurs the next night where Robots demonstrate their performance and is streamed live to all of Japan, where if an audience member approves of a machine they could just take it home. Doraemon, Noramyako, Jaides, Sunekuchi and Roboko amongst the audience. Jaides himself claims to be anticipating the robots' demonstrations, while both Doraemon and Sunekuchi are extremely nervous. The first contestant is Dora the Kid, a cowboy who displays his shooting skills with the Air Cannon while causing panic with its wild recoil. However, his rampage resulted in the Time Patrol offering him a job opportunity as a police officer, much to his joy and everyone's relief. The second contestant, Dora-nichov, performs a Russian dance, but the circular light above him triggers his werewolf instincts, which concerns Noramyako. Luckily, Dora-nichov impresses two groups of horror actors, both offering him employment.
Jaides goes up as the third, though his horrible singing voice causes widespread devastation. Sunekuchi asks Doraemon to help and he quickly fires a bun with a slingshot into Jaides' mouth, defusing the situation, though Jaides is left with a feminine voice temporarily. Sunekuchi then panics terribly as he is the next one, and begs for Doraemon to help again. Doraemon takes out a golden bird, which supposedly soothes out nervous feelings, though Sunekuchi inadvertently falls asleep due to the gadget pacifying him, while Doraemon and Noramyako shout at Sunekuchi to keep him awake. Soon, Sunekichi and Jaides lie off-stage, exhausted, though Doraemon commends them as they were, at least, approved by the audience. He then turns away and admires Noramyako, whose ballet is well-received by many. The three commend on her and Jaides reminds Doraemon that he is next, causing him to scramble away, while Sunekuchi jumps and cheers for him.
After an awkward and brief introduction, Doraemon brings out a tiny drum and rattles it, though an electrical short circuit led to an explosion instead. He wipes off the dust and takes out a baby trolley, though it somehow accelerates rapidly and drags him at high speed before disintegrating upon collision with the ground. He tries to hold a fake baby and falls, and when using a jack-in-a-box, it punches him repeatedly. Near the end of the audition, just as he is about to lose hope, an infant Sewashi Nobi hits the buzzer, passing Doraemon. His classmates descend to the stage and they celebrate enthusiastically. Doraemon dances with Noramyako.
Later, Doraemon learns from Sewashi's parents that he pushed the button accidentally and are considering to send him back to the factory. In the end, they decide not to due to impracticality and Sewashi bonding with him while attempting to tear his whiskers. At their demand, Doraemon becomes Sewashi's caretaker and their friendship quickly strengthens over the years.
Years later, a young Sewashi wants to make a clay figure of Doraemon as a token of their friendship. He is almost done but before coloring it, he notices the ears are extremely off his expectations when comparing the figure to a photo and orders a mechanical rat to model the figure's ears after those of the real Doraemon. However, the rat misinterprets Sewashi's instructions as the other way around and dashes to Doraemon, who is taking a nap. Sewashi tries to stop it, but the rat begins chipping away at Doraemon's ears. Awoken and terrified, Doraemon starts to run frantically across his room as a helpless Sewashi arrives.
An air ambulance sends both Sewashi and Doraemon to the hospital where the latter is detained by a pair of medical automatons and has his ears bandaged. The doctor laughs hysterically and claims it is rather easy to repair, adding that they are just decorations. Doraemon assures Sewashi that it will not be painful and the latter leaves to wait outside. The doctor then starts his usual procedures, but is disrupted when a fly causes Doraemon to sneeze, slamming him into the console. His unintentionally activates the console in panic, causing multiple mechanical arms (holding a toilet plunger, 3 brooms, a brush, sponges, crowbars, pincers with handkerchiefs and several others) to swarm Doraemon and shave his ears off-screen. Noramyako, who has gotten wind of the incident, visits Doraemon at the hospital with roses, greeting Sewashi along the way. She discovers that Doraemon's ears were permanently removed and he is now bald. After making sarcastic remarks over his mistakes while trying to hold his laughter, the doctor and the nurse quickly leave the room in panic. Doraemon initially frowns and then tries to smile, but Noramyako was also unable to hold her laughter, dropping her flowers and laughing uncontrollably, much to his dismay.
Doraemon leaves the hospital and is soon seen atop a monument. He sighs sadly and rubs his bald head, but eventually decides to do something to cheer him up. He takes out a potion of Liquid Courage, which supposedly enlightens the user. However, after drinking it, a confused Doraemon inexplicably feels a rush of misery. Unable to bear his pain, he wails in anguish and screams loudly about his disasters in life as sparks emerge from his body.
Another earless robot cat is seen flying with a Take-copter; she notices a blue Doraemon with yellow spots on a beach and lands by him. She introduces herself to him as Dorami, a sister model to him developed as a complimentary solution to child care. Doraemon, now with a coarse voice, sobs and embraces her. Dorami asks about his degraded color and sadness, to which he replies that he cried hysterically for three days straight and his tears corroded his yellow bodywork, leaving the blue base paint behind. Dorami thinks that a gadget might be the bane of his weeping, though he denies it and claims he drunk Liquid Courage. Dorami checks the label on empty vial and discovers that it is actually a potion of Liquid Sorrow. Doraemon realizes that he used the wrong potion by mistake, which caused him to recall sad memories instead, and he wails loudly again.
Dorami then informs him that Sewashi went missing looking for him and Doraemon cries once more, blaming himself for putting his friend in danger. Dorami chastises him and prompts him to do something. Considering that he needs to cheer himself up before he can do anything, Doraemon tries to grab Liquid Courage again and promptly drinks all the liquid. Just when he is finished, Dorami notices that it is actually Lightning Speed. Doraemon panics and Dorami warns him that he will rapidly accelerate and launch himself away if he attempts to move. A mortified Dorami soon finds Doraemon sprinting off in the other direction, dropping the potion's vial and unable to control his limbs. He complains of stiffness as he dashes across the waters with surface tension, eroding the last yellow spots on his body.
A temporal ripple appears where the terrorists emerge with authorities in hot pursuit. Meanwhile, a sad Sewashi sits on the grass just as the terrorist aircraft swoops down and the criminals agree to use him as a hostage before grabbing him with the claws off-screen. A police jet is about to engage them but the cops are forced to hold their fire after learning Sewashi was taken hostage. Sewashi struggles and screams for Doraemon, who hears is his call and, unable to yield, slides all the way up a ramp and is launched into the exhaust of the terrorist aircraft, jamming his head, resulting in rapid heat build-up within the vehicle. The engine becomes severely damaged and fails, causing the aircraft to lose power and crash inside an incinerator dome, ejecting both Sewashi and Doraemon away from the site upon impact. The terrorists complain about the heat and panic terribly after seeing the fiery liquid below before staggering outside, only to discover that the authorities have them surrounded and they concede mutually. The police promptly arrest them off-screen.
Sewashi and Doraemon hug and plan to return home, only for Doraemon to realize that he lost his 4D pocket while over the water. Their panic was short-lived, however, as Dorami arrives with Noramyako on a hovering disc. Noramyako, who now has white fabric wrapping her face, hugs Doraemon, explaining that her jaw dislocated due to laughing at the bald Doraemon for extended periods and had to hold it on with something. She apologizes to him then comments that he looks even better than before. A happy Doraemon blushes enthusiastically, while Dorami and Sewashi happily look on.
On Christmas, Sewashi gives Doraemon a new figure, now updated to match his current appearance. Doraemon complains that he doesn't have anything to give Sewash, but Sewashi instead says that their friendship is the best gift he can offer. Dorami and Noramyako finish making a cake and calls the boys over. Doraemon comments on the Dorayaki on the cake. They are interrupted when a red miniature Doraemon falls onto the cake and starts eating it. More Mini-Doras proceed to swarm from the sky, much to their terror. Then, a figure resembling Santa Claus suddenly arrives on a reindeer-driven sleigh, which he falls off of and sinks into the snow. Everyone else approaches the site and discover Principal Teraodai, who emerges from the snow. He commends Doraemon's bravery against the terrorists - the Time Patrol arranged for the manufacture of his miniature replicas as a token of gratitude, which resulted in the Mini-Doras that joined them earlier. Teraodai then gives Doraemon a brand new 4D pocket and advises him to provide everyone with a drinking glass from it. Doraemon reaches into the pocket and pulls out a flask containing an orange substance. The cork pops off and distrubutes its contents as particles, which immediately materializes into filled glasses in everyone's hands. Noramyako asks if it is alcohol, and Doraemon clarifies it as juice, to Sewashi's relief. Everyone gives cheers and the scene switches to the clay Doraemon figure made by Sewashi. Years later, Doraemon pilots a Time Machine back into the past as per Sewashi's request to drag his family out of poverty by helping his ancestor, Nobita Nobi, which Doraemon considers his Christmas Present to Sewashi.
Back in 1969, Fujiko is terrified by the sight of Doraemon popping out of a drawer, but later realizes that it was an illusion. After complaining that he slept for a night and thought of nothing, he wanders around, witnessing a cat lying on another house and also another toy that vaguely resembles Doraemon on the ground. Inspired, Fujiko brainstorms a futuristic machine with a 4D pocket, whose purpose is to help a schoolboy with his advanced technology. The machine then suddenly comes to life in Fujiko's imagination and breaks the 4th wall, introducing himself, ending the film.
Cast[]
- Nobuyo Oyama as Doraemon
- Chisa Yokoyama as Young Doraemon
- Keiko Yokozawa as Dorami
- Yuko Yamakuchi as Noramyako
- Minoru Yada as Fujiko F. Fujio
- Ichiro Nagai as Principal Teraodai
- Kazuya Tatekabe as Jaides
- Kaneta Kimotsuki as Department shank
- Nishihara Kumiko as Wang Dora
- Ryouichi Tanaka as Mr. Robot
- Chisa Yokoyama as Dora The Kid
- Mie Suzuki as Dora-nichov (now Tadashi Yuu Ryuuiti Hitoshi)
- Seki Tomokazu as Moderator
- Nishihara Kumiko as Moderator
- Yoshiko Ohta as Sewashi Nobi
- Chikao Ohtsuka as Dorumanstein
- Masashi Hirose as Black Mask
Gadgets used[]
- Take-copter
- Anywhere Door
- Pass Loop
- Small Light (the batteries die and Doraemon throws it away.)
- Singing Birds Buns
- Birds Tense Relief
- Liquid Sorrow (mistaken with Liquid Courage by Doraemon.)
- Lightning Speed (also mistaken with Liquid Courage by Doraemon.)
- Seed Celebration
- Time Machine
Gallery[]
- Main article: 2112: The Birth of Doraemon/Gallery
Trivia[]
- The film is presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio, but most DVD releases of the film crop it to 16:9.
- This is the only time where Fujiko F. Fujio's self-inserted avatar appeared in the animated media.
- This is one of few Doraemon short films that doesn't feature Nobita, Shizuka, Gian, or Suneo in the plot, as the film takes place before the main setting of the series.
- They do make an appearance in the ending credits, which is a recap of the events of Chapter 001.
- The two terrorists of whom the Time Patrol were chasing were the Dinosaur Hunters (Black Mask and Dorumanstein), the main antagonists of movie Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur and its remake.
- This was the anime premiere of The Doraemons, as well as the animated debut of the members.
- Fujiko F. Fujio once stated that the film is the true canon origin of Doraemon despite many elements of its plot being retconned or rewritten in later media, such as the 2005 anime episode Doraemon's 100 Year Time Capsule and the Stand by Me Doraemon film.
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