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Localization simply means the Doraemon series, which has been localized to different countries to help people understand it easily, or just because of cultural and political reasons.
The most famous case is the USA English dub, Korean version or the earlier unofficial Taiwanese Chinese translation of the manga were edited out any Japanese cultures, and for latter two's case, to prevent getting the series banned there due to anti-Japanese laws.
Chinese[]
- In the earlier Hong Kong serializations of the manga, buildings (such of house) were modified. For example, Nobita and his parents sleeping in ground were changed to them sleeping in actual bed.
- Dorayaki were known as 豆沙包 (Bean Paste) in Hong Kong or 甜餡餅 (Sweet Pie) in Zhang Lin's Guangdong Chinese dub.
- In earlier unlicensed Taiwanese translation, Japan was localized into Taiwan. This was done due to anti-Japanese sentiments in Taiwan back in 1970s-80s.
- Tokyo were changed to Taipei, and the mountain behind the school Nobita and his friends attend were changed to the Alishan mountain.
- Hokkaido were localized into Harbin, China.
- In earlier Hong Kong serialization version of "The Girl from Memory" chapter, atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II were changed to "Japs' bomber planes" were bombing cities everyday at war.
- In the earlier unlicensed Taiwanese translation, though the bombing of the Allied Forces was unchanged, Japan was changed to Taiwan getting bombed at the end of World War II (while it still under Japanese rule), based off the Taihoku Air Raid.
- In the unofficial Taiwanese translation of the manga chapter "The Elephant and the Uncle", the star emblem on the Japanese soldier's hat were edited out probably due to Taiwanese regulations regarding depictions of Imperial Japanese soldiers from World War 2 back then.
- In the unofficial Taiwanese translation of the manga chapter "Flying Through the Sky on the Letter "ワ", almost any Japanese kanji were translated into Chinese texts, and the "ワ" (Wa) kanji were redrawn into "力" (Chinese: Lì; Japanese: Chikara), the Chinese/Japanese text for "power". The mountain was also localized into Alishan mountain too (see above). Those edits were reverted into original, unmodified form in official Taiwanese Chinese translations.
Comparisons between the Taiwanese versions of a page of a manga chapter "The Elephant and the Uncle". Note that the Japanese soldier's star emblem on his hat were edited out in the left side of the image (the 70s-80s unofficial Taiwanese Chinese translation)
Comparisons between the Taiwanese versions of a page of a manga chapter "Flying Through the Sky on the Letter "ワ"" Note that Japanese kanji were replaced with translated Chinese texts, and the "ワ" kanji were redrawn into Chinsee/Japanese kanji "力" for "power".
- Due to some reasons, the mainland Chinese translation of the manga will replaces any references to romances, such of renaming the title of a manga chapter "Gian's in Love" to "Gian is on Trouble" (Chinese: 烦恼中的胖虎 Fánnǎo zhōng de pàng hǔ) and a few etc., and a Chinese dub made in mainland China has skipped episodes that focuses on love or romantic.
Character name changes[]
China[]
- Doraemon - 阿蒙 (Early)
- Nobita Nobi - 虎子 / 康夫 (Early)
- Mini-Doras - 迷你阿蒙 (Early)
- Shizuka Minamoto - 小靜 (Early, also "probably" used on unofficial Chinese storybook adaption as an nickname)
- Suneo Honekawa - 小強 (Early)
- Takeshi Gouda - 大熊 (Early), 大胖 (Early)
Hong Kong and Taiwan[]
- Doraemon - 叮当 (Early, also "probably" used on unofficial Chinese storybook adaption), 哆啦A梦 (Present, also used in China)
- Nobita - 叶大雄 (Early), 野比大雄 (Present, also used in China)
- Shizuka - 源宜静 (Early), 源静香 (Present, also used in China)
- Suneo - 牙擦仔 (Early, Hong Kong Children's Paradise serialization version), 阿福 (Early, also used on unofficial Chinese storybook adaption, see above), 骨川小夫 (Present, also used in China)
- Takeshi/Gian - 肥仔 (Early, Hong Kong Children's Paradise serialization version, also used in 1980s unofficial Chinese storybook adaption sold in Chinese mainland), 技安 (Early, also used in China), 刚田武/胖虎 (Present, also used in China)
- Dorami - 叮玲 (Early), 哆啦美 (Present, also used in China)
Indonesian[]
- Like in Taiwan and Korea, in the earlier Indonesian publications of the manga, Japan was localized into Indonesia, and Japanese yen currency were edited into Indonesian rupiah.
Italian[]
- Doraemon's gadgets are referred to as "Ciusky", a made-up term based on the Milanese dialect exclamation "Ciusca!" (which could be loosely translated as "Wowzers!")
Character name changes[]
NOTE: This only applies in the first Italian dub airing in the 1980s.
Korean[]
- The entire Japan was localized into Korea.
- In episode 60 of 1979 anime series, the Japanese yen at the end of the episode was localized into Korean won. 2001 MBC dub even edited it into an green ₩10,000 with Sejong the Great completely.
Character name changes[]
- Doraemon - 동짜몽 (Dongjjamong), 도라몽 (Doramong), 도라에몽 (Doraemong) (Note: the "Dongjjamong" name was used on unofficial Korean versions of the manga, and "Doramong" was used on earlier official Korean translations of the manga)
- Nobita - 노진구 (No Jin-gu)
- Takeshi "Gian" Gouda - 만퉁퉁 (Man Tung-tung) (Note: this is his real name, the nickname "Gian" is retained)
- Shizuka - 신이슬 (Sin I-seul)
- Suneo - 왕비실 (Wang Bi-sil)
- Jaiko - 만퉁순 (Man Tung-sun)
- Sewashi - 노장구 (No Jang-gu)
- Tamako - 오진숙 (O Jin-suk)
- Nobisuke - 노석구 (No Seok-gu)
- Hidetoshi Dekisugi - 박영민 (Bak Yeong-min)
Thai[]
Character name changes[]
- Doraemon - Dorēmon, later interchangeably used with Doraemon
- Dorami - Dorēmi
- Gian - Giant
- Dora-rinho - Doraninyo
- Nobi-rinho - Nobininyo
Spanish[]
Character name changes[]
- Doraemon - Robotín (Mexican Spanish dub of Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur), El Gato Cósmico
- Nobita - Pepito (Mexican Spanish dub of Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur)
- Shizuka - Andrea (Mexican Spanish dub of Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur)
- Takeshi Gouda - Cantimplora (Mexican Spanish dub of Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur)
- Suneo - Enrique (Mexican Spanish dub of Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur)