2112: The Birth of Doraemon (2112年 ドラえもん誕生) is a prequel Doraemon short film to the series about the life of Doraemon from birth, before coming to Nobita Nobi. The prequel shows the life of Doraemon before traveling to the 20th century: When he was made with partial malfunctions, how he lost his ears, and when he met the Nobi family and decides to return to the past to help Nobita. The original movie was made in order to understand the initial setup of the Doraemon manga series and 1979/2005 anime series and how it all began for Nobita.
This work incidentally is also a piece that appeared last back in the second generation hyperspace Time Machine, being a favorite for many years (or in relation to time made in the diary Genesis Simultaneous in the screening of second generation 3 CGI has been used).
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 entire days, he isn't able to come up with anything, staying up even after his workers have returned home already. Dismayed, 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 an area obstructed by white light, through a temporal tunnel (where the title card of the film briefly appears) and into Japan two decades later.
In 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 everyone's relief and his joy.
The second contestant, Dora-nichov, performs a Russian dance, but the circular light above him triggers his werewolf instincts, which concerns Noramyako. Thankfully, Dora-nichov impresses two groups of horror actors, both of which offers 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 to no approved users, an infant Sewashi Nobi hits the button, much to everyone's relief. 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, though in the end they decide not to - Partly due to impracticality and also due to Sewashi bonding instantly with him while attempting to tear his whiskers. At their demand, Doraemon becomes Sewashi's caretaker and their friendship quickly strengthened over the years.
A young Sewashi wants to make a clay figure of Doraemon as a token of friendship. He is almost done but didn't color the figure yet and finding the ears extremely off his expectations when compared to a photo, he orders a mechanical rat to model the figure's ears after those of the real Doraemon. However, the rat misinterprets Sewashi's instructions and does it the other way around. Sewashi was unable to stop the rat, which dashes to Doraemon - who was taking a nap - and starts chipping away at his ears. Terrified, he starts to run frantically across his room as a helpless Sewashi arrives.
An air ambulance sends both Sewashi and Doraemon to the hospital where he is detained by a pair of medical automatons and had his ears bandaged. The doctor laughs hysterically and claims that it is rather easy to repair, adding that they are decorations anyway. 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 caused Doraemon to sneeze, slamming him into the console. As he panics in terror, multiple arms (including a toilet plunger, 3 brooms, a brush, sponges, crowbars, pincers with handkerchiefs and several others) swarm Doraemon, who screams loudly while the ears are shredded off-screen. Noramyako, who has gotten wind of Doraemon's fiasco, visits him at the hospital with roses, while greeting Sewashi along the way. However, she instead 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, though Noramyako was unable to hold as well - she drops her flowers and begins to laugh uncontrollably, much to his dismay.
A sad Doraemon escapes the hospital and reaches the summit of a monument (presumably with the Take-copter), still frowning sadly. He sighs sadly and rubs his bald head, but eventually decides to do something to cope with his depression and takes out "The Source of Enthusiasm", which supposedly causes the user to become happy. However, after drinking it, a confused Doraemon inexplicably feels even worse. Unable to bear his pain, he cries in anguish and screams loudly about his disasters in life as sparks emerge from his body and the screen fades to black.
A Take-copter appears, carrying another earless cat automaton who finds a blue Doraemon with yellow spots on a beach and greets 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, cries loudly and tearfully embraces her. Dorami asks about his degraded color and his sadness, to which he replies that he cried hysterically for three days straight and the corrosion eventually ate away at his bodywork, leaving the base paint behind. Dorami thinks that a gadget might be the bane of his hysterical weeping, though he denies sadly, since he supposedly drunk "The Source of Enthusiasm". Dorami checks the empty vial and discovers that it is "The Bane of Gloom". Doraemon finally reaches the conclusion that he drunk the wrong potion, 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 he sprays tears again, blaming himself for putting his friend in danger. Dorami chastises him and prompts Doraemon to do something. Considering that he needs to cheer himself up before he can do anything, Doraemon attempted to grab "The Source of Enthusiasm" and promptly drinks all the liquid. Dorami notices that it is in fact "Energy Burst" just as he is done and he panics terribly. She warns him that he will rapidly accelerate and launch himself away if he attempts to move, though moments after, he sprints off in the other direction, unable to control his limbs, mortifying her as the potion's container was dropped on the sand. Doraemon 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 cop jet is about to engage them but were forced to hold their fire when Sewashi has extremely taken hostage, much to the anger of the police. Sewashi struggles and screams for Doraemon, who answers his calls, but unable to yield, Doraemon instead 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 embrace and they plan to return to Sewashi's place, 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 Sewashi. However, Sewashi instead says that their friendship is the best gift he can offer. Dorami and Noramyako finish making their cake and calls them over, where he and his friends celebrate enthusiastically with Doraemon commenting on the Dorayakis present on the cake. They are interrupted when a red miniature Doraemon falls into it and starts eating the cake. More copies of them proceed to swarm from the sky, much to their terror. Then, Santa Claus suddenly arrives on a reindeer and falls of his sleigh while sinking into the snow. Everyone approaches the site and is surprised to 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, though Doraemon clarifies it as juice, much to Sewashi's delight. Led by the Principal, they cheer enthusiastically and the scene switches to the crude 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.
Doraemon pops out of a drawer, terrifying Fujiko, who recognizes 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 combines the cat and the toy as a futuristic machine with a 4D pocket, whose purpose is to help a schoolboy with his advanced technology. The machine then becomes Doraemon, who suddenly comes alive in Fujiko's imagination and breaks the 4th wall as he introduces himself. The film abruptly cuts to an end.
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 Jaibee
- 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 (mistaken with Liquid Courage by Doraemon again.)
- Seed Celebration
- Time Machine
Gallery[]
- Main article: 2112: The Birth of Doraemon/Gallery
Trivia[]
- Though the film is animated in a 4:3 aspect ratio, DVD releases of the film crops it to widescreen, until its inclusion in the Fujiko F. Fujio 90th Anniversary Film Masterpiece Selection restores its original aspect ratio.
- This is the only time where Fujiko F. Fujio's self-inserted avatar appeared in the animated media.
- This is one of the rare short films that neither Nobita, Shizuka, Gian, nor Suneo makes an appearance in the plot, as the events took place before Doraemon was dispatched by Sewashi to aid Nobita.
- Although Nobita and his friends does appeared at 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 it's remake.
- This was the anime premiere of The Doraemons, as well as the animated debut of the members.
- Although Fujiko F. Fujio once stated that the film is the true canon version of the events, both the 2005 episode Doraemon's 100 Year Time Capsule and Stand by Me Doraemon 2014 film essentially retcons several elements of the film's plot and lore, like his electrocution, original colour, and his fall into the incinerator. The 2005 anime also adapted Doraemon's original 1974 backstory in one of the episodes as well, despite that it's no longer canon.
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