Present |
I feel like my stomach is too full...
— Nobita Nobi, Doraemon (manga)
Nobita Nobi (
Nobita is voiced by Yoshiko Ōta in the 1973 series, Noriko Ohara from 1979-March 2005, and Megumi Ōhara from April 2005 onwards.
Appearance
Nobita is a boy of average height with fair skin. He usually wears a yellow shirt and navy blue shorts. He has straight black hair, black eyes and wears big round glasses. His appearance remains unchanged in every anime & manga adaption, except his height.
In the 1973 anime, Nobita had black hair, round glasses and a red shirt with navy blue shorts. He was also shorter than his other versions.
In the early episodes of the 1979 anime, Nobita wears a yellow shirt and navy blue shorts but still has black hair. He is also a little taller. In the later episodes he is a lot taller than his other versions, in fact, the tallest among all the versions. His black hair, glasses, and yellow shirt remained the same.
Nobita is of medium height in the 2005 anime. He wears different clothing in many episodes. His signature clothing, however, is a yellow, light blue or red polo shirt and navy blue shorts. His glasses and black hair remain the same.
The CGI Nobita has realistic straight black hair with bangs and a yellow polo shirt with a white collar, blue navy shorts with blue jay shoes. His eyes are much bigger and now remain unchanged even without or with glasses than his other adaptions and his glasses have black frames.
Personality
Nobita is the hero at best and the villain at worst. At the beginning of the series, Nobita is a rather lazy person who has a cycle of constantly napping after school, keeping him up late when he wakes up late for school. This cycle of laziness occurs almost every day, keeping him up late at night and wake up late the next morning, hindering him academically. Nobita is very dependent on Doraemon and begs for multiple things, much to his disapproval. Many things that Nobita wishes for include; vengeance on his bullies, a better product than what Suneo brags about, and privileges.
While his laziness is an issue, he slacks around in school. He regularly arrives late, is tardy with homework, and gets 0% on both exams and tests. The Classroom Teacher usually punishes him for this with after-school detentions or making him stand by the classroom door for long periods of time. His refusal, procrastination and dislike of studying while at home puts him back from excelling even further. His mother is constantly disappointed and angry with his lackluster performance. He later tries to hide his poor scores, which has proven unsuccessful. He also doesn't like to study, which only further hinders his performance in school. Nobita is not very athletic either, much to Gian's frustration. He is terrible at baseball and many other sports, often letting down Gian's baseball team. He doesn't have very good endurance as he run, walk or swim for a short period of time then easily get tired and exhausted very quickly (notable traits which even Kiteretsu from Kiteretsu shares) much to his friends' frustration.
Despite Nobita's flawed personality, he is a good person that is a rather likable character with a couple of positive traits. He is good-hearted and generous to others as well. He is known to take pity on stray animals and is kind to most people who needs help. In some episodes, it is implied that his poor academic grades is due to his lazy nature as opposed to a lack of intellectual ability.
Nobita's best trait is his great creativity. His thoughts from out of the box lead to new and bizarre ideas of ways to use Doraemon's high tech devices. An example of this is the new sport of free flying with the use of Doraemon's "power of wind" fans (fans that can create a gust of wind with just a gentle swish) and how he used the voice hardener, a device considered useless to Doraemon, for transportation. Another example of his creativity was when he was provided with an imagination pill to make him think that he was in a swimming pool while being taught how to swim. Unfortunately, he imagined a preschool pool at which he accidentally stepped on a child's foot. In one of his dreams, he, as a genius, successfully produced a rocket to Mars in his bedroom. Both events show Nobita's amazing talent at thinking outside the box. Nobita's creativity is proof enough of his high intelligence. Also he has an extensive knowledge about science, environment and Doraemon's gadgets.
Despite not doing well academically, occasionally, Nobita is able to easily score a good mark or do well on a test. His imagination is the reason why he can write a great narrative, even with so many spelling and grammatical mistakes. Although not good at drawing, he still managed to write a 32 paged comic. While considered clumsy, he possesses unparalleled marksmanship. He is also good at weaving string figures (cat's cradle) and has risked his life to save towns and people in full-length movies.
Relationships
Doraemon
— Nobita assuring Doraemon that he will be fine without him, though Doraemon is not convinced, Stand by Me Doraemon
Nobita and Doraemon can be called the closest friends of all time. They both have a strong bond and will never leave each other's side. As seen in many episodes, Nobita and Doraemon cannot live apart from each other and are always by each other's side, in times of danger, times of happiness, or times of sadness, Doraemon always have a gadget to helping Nobita, despite Doraemon's constant annoyance of Nobita's lazy behavior and habit of pouncing on and/or wrapping his arms around him while whining and crying like a baby. Sometimes when villains pose as Doraemon, only Nobita could properly recognize him.
Shizuka Minamoto
— Nobita, Stand by Me Doraemon
For more information on their relationship and the list of scenes that was centered around them, see Relationship Between Nobita Nobi and Shizuka Minamoto
Shizuka is Nobita's childhood friend whom he's had a crush on for a very long time. He often uses Doraemon's gadgets to impress or help Shizuka but is unintentionally trumped by Hidetoshi Dekisugi. Despite this, Nobita will eventually marry Shizuka and have a child named Nobisuke. Shizuka starts off as a friend to him, but eventually develops a secret crush on him (in Doraemon: Nobita's Three Visionary Swordsmen, Shizuka dreamed that she was Princess Shizuka, married Nobita, whom she dreamed he was Silver Knight Nobitania).
Nobita likes to visit Shizuka house to play or do homework together, but she hate it when Nobita try to copy her notebook. Nobita is always invite Shizuka to play and try something new with him and Doraemon. (using Doraemon gadget). Sometimes Nobita is seen walking through the Anywhere Door (Doko Demo Doa in Japanese) to Shizuka bathroom and witnessing Shizuka taking a bath purposely or accidentally. Whenever Nobita doesn’t stop looking at Shizuka while bathing and continues blabbing or something else, she literally smacks him, splashes him with water, calling him a pervert, and/or throws a lot of things at him until he leaves. Whenever Nobita says something rude either purposely or accidentally, Shizuka would take offense to the point of snubbing and leaving him for his bluntness and rudeness, which leaves Nobita feeling stupid and guilty for driving her away. While they quarrel very rarely, they usually reconcile anyway.
In the episode The Two Shizuka-chan, Shizuka and Nobita went shopping together and Nobita bought a gadget that could create an aggressive, energetic clone of anyone. Near the end of the episode, when he looked at two Shizukas, he couldn't distinguish them from each other and started asking them miscellaneous questions about himself. Both Shizukas answered the questions correctly, so he instead asked if Shizuka liked him and both of them started blushing. Though the real Shizuka stayed silent, whereas the clone is disgusted and yelled at him, allowing Nobita to identify the original and destroy the clone. This is one of the many pieces of evidence that Shizuka really likes Nobita.
Takeshi Gouda
— Gian's true feelings about as seen in one 1979 anime episode
While Gian is typically a bully that torments him, their relationship is somewhat good as sometimes they gang up on Suneo, and (though slightly forceful) Nobita tries to help Gian if possible. He often gets beaten by Gian, who could even claim "If I don't bully Nobita a day, I can't eat and sleep anymore." Gian has many reasons or none for constantly wanting to beat up Nobita, such as whenever Nobita teases him, being blunt, and ruining his day either purposely or accidentally. Basically, Gian thinks he is trying to teach Nobita a lesson in being more respectful to him or simply he takes so much joy in making Nobita even more miserable than before. Gian can be extremely dependent on Nobita and always asks or tells him to do whatever he wants and gives him the most impossible tasks. Nobita claims that he hates Gian so much that he wanted him to get him out of his life forever. But during the Truthful Robot episode, their counterparts do not wish to be hostile. They are also shown to be very close to each other during plots with more threatening antagonists. In the movie Nobita's South Sea Adventure, when Nobita falls into the sea Gian holds his hand and tells him not to let go. Also, in some other episodes he helps Nobita, as in one episode, Nobita gets sick, and Gian helps him off the ground.
Suneo Honekawa
— Suneo to Nobita after Nobita rescued him from being beat up by Gian
Nobita's arch-rival and friend. He is a fox-faced rich kid who loves to flaunt his material wealth with everyone, which makes Nobita very jealous, contributing to many plots where Nobita seeks retribution, often with or without the support of Doraemon. He is often seen with Gian, being forced to bully Nobita, though deep down he sometimes actually feels sorry for him, as he also finds Gian somewhat disagreeable. He has a habit of inviting Gian and Shizuka to something or some place in earshot of Nobita, only to always leave him behind. While Gian is a complete bully to Nobita, Suneo is more of an irritant, due to his arrogant attitude. Suneo sometimes blames Nobita for every bad deed Gian comes to know about, like drawing Gian on the school board. Even so, they are sometimes shown to be laughing and joking together, sometimes even ganging up on Gian when they have had enough. Nobita and Suneo may have conflicts, but they can still be good friends.
Hidetoshi Dekisugi
— Nobita questioning why Dekisugi likes doing Home Ec, Winning Shizuka-chan Back Part 2
Nobita's one-sided proclaimed eternal rival. He is jealous about his and Shizuka's friendship, as well as being jealous of his talent in almost any subject or activity, being shown as the complete antithesis to Nobita. The jealousy eventually dissipates when Nobita grows up and marries Shizuka (proven when Nobita agrees to look after Dekisugi's son, Hideyo, when Dekisugi and his wife have to travel to Mars).
Despite the jealous feelings, Nobita is eager to help Dekisugi. In It's Solved! The Dekisugi Case, Nobita manages to catch the culprit who harrased Dekisugi overnight through the telephone calls, in which Dekisugi thanked Nobita for helping him.
Tamako Nobi
Nobita's mother. She often scolds him for his bad grades on tests and for not doing housework. Due to her harsh demeanour, Nobita views his mother as a brute, mean, heartless, dismissive, and unsympathetic person, who wants to make Nobita suffer to the point of having to apologise to her for no reason, even though all she wants is his well-being. He believes her to be more terrifying than anything else, including monsters.
Nobisuke Nobi
Nobita's father. He usually goes to work and sometimes sees him when he is at home. He is caring and less strict than Nobita's mother. He's shown to have a more laid back and easy-going nature. Even though there are moments where he has been angry at Nobita, he often ends up feeling guilty about it later. He is in the same league as Nobita when he faces Tamako, even though he's sometimes pushed by his wife to play the "bad cop". Nevertheless, he is shown to always be compassionate to his family. His name is in hiragana, while Nobita's son, also Nobisuke, is named in katakana.
Nobisuke
Nobisuke is Nobita and Shizuka's first and the only known child. Unlike Shizuka, Nobita doesn't seem to be troubled by Nobisuke's behavior and they are often on good terms. His name is in katakana, while Nobita's father, also Nobisuke, is named in hiragana.
Sewashi Nobi
— Sewashi to Nobita, All the Way From the Country of the Future
Nobita's great-great grandson who sent Doraemon to the 21st Century to take care of Nobita and help him along. Sewashi is naturally close to his ancestor, although Nobita still doesn't like it when Sewashi calls him Grandpa.
Names in different languages
Etymology
- Nobita's surname Nobi means "field, wilderness" (野) (no) and "ratio, proportion" (比) (hi/bi).
Trivia
- Nobita bears a strong resemblance to many other Fujiko Fujio characters, such as Eiichi Kite (who also shares certain qualities of Nobita such as being a kind of light bullying from Butagorira & Tongari, being a somewhat introverted weakling & fearing earthquakes) from Kiteretsu Daihyakka. In physical talents, he resembles both Kiteretsu & Kenichi Mitsuba from Ninja Hattori-kun & (to some extent) Michio from Ultra-B.
- In the Spanish and Taiwanese versions of Kiteretsu Encyclopedia, he is a cousin of Eiichi Kite. Additionally, the title for the Kiteretsu Encyclopedia anime in Spain is "Kiteretsu, el primo más listo de Nobita (Kiteretsu, Nobita's Smarter Cousin).[1]
- Nobita is the youngest out of the boys (in the 2005 series, excluding Doraemon), being born on August 7.
- Nobita cries much more often in anime (especially 1979 anime) than in the manga.
- Nobita sometimes mistakenly writes the kanji "ta" (太) as the Japanese kanji for "inu" (dog) (犬). This becomes a plot point in the 2004 film Doraemon: Nobita in the Wan-Nyan Spacetime Odyssey.
- Nobita's eyes are never drawn consistently without glasses. Sometimes they look like sleepy eyes, sometimes they look like the number three, sometimes they are black dots like Gian's eyes, and sometimes, like in the case of the recent movies, they look like normal eyes.
- When represented as a bird, Nobita is always related to the sparrow, representing normality and weakness. When it comes to animals in general, Nobita is usually a turtle, representing weakness and slow moving.
- Nobita sometimes carries a Take-Copter in his pocket, so that he can use it if needed.
- His name comes from the word "Nobita (伸びた)" which means "to grow up and to be strong and clear". His name also seems to be a combination of his father's name, Nobisuke, and his mother's name, Tamako.
- Nobita's name is not actually changed in the English dub. The name "Noby" is only a nickname (and diminutive) and his name is still actually Nobita. This is stated in the official Doraemon USA website. The only characters who actually had their names changed were Suneo and Shizuka (to "Sneech" and "Sue", respectively), as "Big G" is also a nickname.
- In the first few stories of the manga, Nobita is implied to be nine years old. This is confirmed when in Memories of Grandma, Nobita and Doraemon go back to the time when Nobita was three years old. Nobita mentions that they have gone six years in the past, implying that he is currently nine.
- His parallel counterpart is an extremely smart girl, with records akin to Hidetoshi Dekisugi.
- Nobita holds the world record on falling asleep, his record being 0.93 seconds. *So far, he is the only main character to have flashy, glowing white eyes. This is frequently shown in the 2005 anime. This most likely due to him wearing glasses unlike other main characters and same applied to Tamako.
- Nobita is sometimes addressed by his surname with Japanese suffixes by many people.
- Nobita is the only one to feature the most past and future versions of himself out of all the main characters (his future versions never stay consistent in many episodes in the 1979 anime, but in his 2005 anime his future self has a different hairstyle, reminiscent of his mother & Shizuka's - albeit his glasses no longer would be in use).
- Both Nobita and Bon Namihira, the protagonist of Time Patrol Bon, became the basis for the legend of Sun Wukong (Monkey King) due to their interventions on the journey of Priest Xuanzang.