Manga adaptation cover.
Doraemon the Movie Story: Nobita's Great Battle of the Mermaid King is a manga adaptation of the 2010 film, Nobita's Great Battle of the Mermaid King. Written and illustrated by Yasunori Okada, it was released in Japan by Shogakukan on February 2010 (a month ahead of the movie version released on March 6, 2010).
Differences between the anime and manga
- The event took place during summer in the movie and spring in the manga version.
- The Manga adaptation of this movie makes it clear that Sophia The Mermaid is heavily inspired by The titular character of the original little Mermaid fairytale by Hansen Christian Andersen.
- In the manga version there is a scene that calls back to Nobita's Dinosaur 2006, Nobita's New Great Adventure into the Underworld ~The 7 Magic Users~, Nobita and the Green Giant Legend, and The Record of Nobita's Spaceblazer. This is a self-parody of a scene depicted in the original Doraemon: Nobita's Monstrous Underwater Castle. However, there is a contradiction in that no one except Doraemon, Nobita, and Dorami should be able to remember the event from "Adventure into the Underworld" as it occurred in the Parallel World.
- In the manga version, it is Doraemon who wore Sophia's clothes instead of Shizuka.
- In the movie version, Bulkin and his army are from the same race as the Mermaid Tribe, but they are depicted as invaders from other planets and are from the Demon Fish Race instead in the manga.
- There is a depiction that the time flow of Aqua stars and earthling people is different.
- Queen Undine's appearance is much older in this version.
- Dr.Mejina and Tragis didn't appear in the manga.
- The location of Aqua star was not revealed in the movie version, in the manga version is the oldest civilization of human beings Sumer's "legend about an ancient civilization that gained knowledge from the half-human half-fish god" and the response of the mermaid sword, Ozaka In addition to being found to be Sirius of the earth. The legend implied that the ancient civilization may had gained knowledge from the people of Aqua Star.
- In the movie version, Sophia inherited the throne from Undine before going to fight against Bulkin and his army, but in manga version this occurred after the Bulkin's defeat.
- In the manga version it was Haribo who absentmindedly revealed that the Mermaid Sword is a counterfeit, unlike in the movie which Bulkin noticed it by himself.
- In the movie version, Sophia who came back to the ocean floor, but in the manga version it goes to Aqua stars for each aqua base in the undersea city. In the manga version, I could not completely restore the sea, but in the movie version I can undo it.
- Sophia wore a blue dress in the manga, instead of pink like in the movie.
- The climax scene of Nobita being trapped in the whirlpool had Sophia going back to save him like in the movie but was injured by Buriking. Nobita, although having his mermaid suit damaged by Buriking's attack, filled with determination to save Sophia, managed to swim for the first time to outpace Buriking's whirlpool while carrying Sophia with him. Also, the Demon Fish were all captured at the same time by Dorami opposed to only Buriking's group were captured (at first).
- Sophia had a much more clear traumatic childhood backstory in the Manga adaptation, like Sophia's Manga-only parents and grandfather have been dead in a war when she was a baby.
- Shizuka gets to keep Sophia's princess tiara at the end of the Manga version.
- Nobita gets seashells from Planet Aqua at the end of the Manga, while Doraemon does silly poses at the end credits of the original anime movie.
- This Manga adaptation has expanded into 195 total pages, while the anime movie version only lasts for 99 minutes long.
Gallery
Trivia
- According to Japanese Wikipedia, Sophia the Mermaid was heavily inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid.
Where to read this manga
While there has not been an official English translation of this manga at all, you can read the Chinese scanlated version online.
| The Merpeople Sophia ● Haribo ● Queen Undine ● Dr. Mejina |