Doraemon Comes Back

Doraemon Comes Back
DVD cover of release including The Doraemons: The Great Operating of Springing Insects! and Dorami-chan: Mini-Dora SOS!!!
Kanji帰ってきたドラえもん
Revised HepburnKaettekita Doraemon
Directed byAyumu Watanabe
Screenplay byNoboru Shiroyama
Based on
Doraemon
by Fujiko F. Fujio
Produced by
Starring
Edited byHajime Okayasu
Music byShunsuke Kikuchi
Production
company
Distributed byToho
Release date
  • March 7, 1998 (1998-03-07) (Japan)
Running time
27 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Box office$32.1 million

Doraemon Comes Back (帰ってきたドラえもん, Kaettekita Doraemon) is a 1998 Japanese animated science fiction comedy-drama short film. It premiered in Japan on March 7, 1998 on a triple feature with The Doraemons: The Great Operating of Springing Insects! and Doraemon: Nobita's Great Adventure in the South Seas.[1] It won the 16th Golden Gross Award for Excellence (Silver Prize) at the 16th Golden Gross Awards.[2] It is largely an expanded version of the 1974 chapters "Goodbye Doraemon" and "Doraemon Comes Back".

Parts of Stand by Me Doraemon were largely based on this short film.

Plot

As usual, Nobita is bullied by Gian and runs to Doraemon crying. However, Doraemon looks depressed. In fact, Doraemon has to return to the future world. Nobita desperately tries to stop him, but after hearing his father's words and remembering the Daruma doll that reminds him of his late grandmother, he remembers that "just like the Daruma doll, you get up even if you fall," and accepts saying goodbye to Doraemon.

After the farewell party, the two boys, unable to sleep, take a walk through the town at night. While Doraemon is away, Nobita encounters Gian, who is also out for a walk at night. When Gian tries to hit him because of what happened earlier in the day, Nobita, knowing it's a futile effort, takes on Gian alone to dispel Doraemon's worries. When Doraemon searches for the missing Nobita, he sees Nobita standing up to Gian no matter how many times he's hit, and finally makes Gian give in. Nobita, battered and bruised, proudly tells Doraemon about how he defeated Gian all by himself, and Doraemon is moved to tears. Doraemon takes Nobita home, and after making sure he falls asleep, returns to the future world.

Nobita grapples with the loneliness of Doraemon's absence, while Doraemon spends his days visiting the park, the place of their last shared memories. Despite this, the two are trying to move forward, thanks to the emotional support of Shizuka and Dorami.

One day, Nobita is told by Gian that he has seen Doraemon. Nobita buys some dorayaki and searches for Doraemon, but it turns out that the Doraemon he saw was a fake, disguised as Suneo. It was all Gian's way of getting revenge for their fight the other day, using April Fool's Day as an excuse. Filled with frustration and anger, Nobita ignores Shizuka, who has come to check on him out of concern, and runs away, leaving the dorayaki he dropped behind. He uses the Lie 800 that Doraemon left him to turn what he said into lies to get revenge on Gian and Suneo, but suddenly feels empty and forgives them.

When Nobita returned home, his mother asked him, "Did you get to see Doraemon?" to which he replied, "Doraemon isn't coming back." But when Nobita returned to his room, he saw the real Doraemon. The effect of the Lie 800 was still in effect, so it was a lie that Doraemon wasn't coming back. Shizuka, who had come to check on Nobita out of concern, and Gian and Suneo, who had come to apologize with a large amount of dorayaki, were also reunited with Doraemon, and everyone made peace.

Cast

Character Japanese voice actor
Doraemon Nobuyo Ōyama
Nobita Nobi Noriko Ohara
Takeshi "Gian" Gōda Kazuya Tatekabe
Suneo Honekawa Kaneta Kimotsuki
Shizuka Minamoto Michiko Nomura
Tamako Nobi Sachiko Chijimatsu
Nobisuke Nobi Yōsuke Naka
Mrs. Gōda Kazuyo Aoki
Clerk Seiko Tomoe
Child Yūko Satō
Dorami Keiko Yokozawa

Production

The short film features significant additions and deviations from the original manga chapters, most notably that Shizuka, Dorami, and Nobita’s grandmother, characters who weren't featured in the original stories, were added in to play major roles.

Doraemon Comes Back is the first out of five in a series of Doraemon short films directed by Ayumu Watanabe that released from 1998 to 2002.[3]

The "Doraemon Moving Series", consisting of this work, Nobita's the Night Before a Wedding, A Grandmother's Recollections, Ganbare! Gian!!, and The Day When I Was Born, were all made by people who wanted to carry on the spirit and legacy of Doraemon series creator Fujiko F. Fujio after he died in 1996 by selecting to adapt stories from the manga.[4]

Ayumu Watanabe, director of Doraemon Comes Back, would go on to serve as director of the twenty-sixth Doraemon feature film, Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur 2006, a remake of the first Doraemon feature film Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur.[4]

Soundtrack

Theme song

"Blue Sky in the Pocket" (青い空はポケットさ)
Lyrics: Hiroo Takada / Composition and Arrangement: Shunsuke Kikuchi / Vocals: Satoko Yamano

Insert song

"Doraemon Comes Back (Suite)" (帰ってきたドラえもん (組曲))
Featured as Track 21 on Disc 1 of the "Doraemon Sound Track History ~Shunsuke Kikuchi Music Collection~" album[5][6][7][8]

Release

The short film was released in Japan on March 7, 1998.

It was screened theatrically in a triple feature with the nineteenth Doraemon feature-length film Doraemon: Nobita's Great Adventure in the South Seas and the Doraemons short film The Doraemons: The Great Operating of Springing Insects!.[9]

Reception

Box office reception

Because the short film was screened as a triple feature with The Doraemons: The Great Operating of Springing Insects! and Doraemon: Nobita's Great Adventure in the South Seas, it grossed ¥2.1 billion yen ($32.1 million) at the Japan box office.

Awards

It received the 16th Golden Gross Award for Excellence (Silver Prize) at the 16th Golden Gross Awards[2]

Post-release

Home media

DVD

  • "The Movie: Doraemon Comes Back / Dorami-chan: Mini-Dora SOS!!! / The Doraemons: The Great Operating of Springing Insects! (DVD, Shogakukan, EAIN: 4988104028693, ASIN: B00MDJV8KW, April 1, 2005)[10]
  • "The Movie: Dorami-chan: Mini-Dora SOS!!! / The Doraemons: The Great Operating of Springing Insects! / Doraemon Comes Back [Doraemon the Movie 30th Anniversary Limited Edition]" (DVD, Shogakukan, November 3, 2010)[11]
  • "DORAEMON THE MOVIE BOX 1998-2004+TWO" (DVD, Shogakukan, September 3, 2012)[12]

VHS

  • "The Movie: Doraemon Comes Back / The Doraemons: The Great Operating of Springing Insects!" (VHS, Shogakukan, ASIN: B00005FTP0, March 1, 2000)[13]

Streaming

In 2024, for the occasion of the 90th anniversary of Fujiko F. Fujio, Doraemon Comes Back alongside numerous animated short films of Doraemon, Perman, Esper Mami, and Chimpui were made available to stream on Prime Video in Japan as the "Fujiko F. Fujio's 90th Anniversary Film Masterpiece Selection".[14][15][16]

Further reading

Books

  • "A Collection of Heartwarming Doraemon Classics: Doraemon Comes Back: Nobita's the Night Before A Wedding (This Is Animation)" (Nook, Shogakukan, ISBN 978-4091015501, October 1, 1999)

See also

References

  1. ↑ 帰ってきたドラえもん (1998) (in Japanese), eiga.com, Retrieved April 30, 2026.
  2. 1 2 過去のゴールデングロス賞 第16回ゴールデングロス賞受賞作品 (in Japanese). Japan Association of Theater Owners. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
  3. ↑ Shotaro Miya (July 29, 2022), “渡辺歩③ 大事なことはすべて『ドラえもん』から教わった” (in Japanese), Febri, Ichijinsha, Retrieved May 1, 2026.
  4. 1 2 Nobuyo Ōyama, "I Was Doraemon: 26 Years of Tears and Laughter" (『ぼく、ドラえもんでした。 涙と笑いの26年うちあけ話』) (in Japanese), Shogakukan, June 2006, page 169, ISBN 978-4-09-387654-4
  5. ↑ ドラえもん Sound Track History～菊池俊輔 音楽集～ (in Japanese), Amazon Japan, Retrieved April 30, 2026.
  6. ↑ Shunsuke Kikuchi – Doraemon Sound Track History 菊池俊輔音楽集 (in Japanese and English), Discogs, Retrieved April 30, 2026.
  7. ↑ DORAEMON SOUND TRACK HISTORY ~Shunsuke Kikuchi Music Collection~ (in Japanese and English), VGMdb the music of visual arts and games, Retrieved April 30, 2026.
  8. ↑ ドラえもん Sound Track History 〜菊池俊輔音楽集〜 (in Japanese), Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd, Retrieved April 30, 2026.
  9. ↑ 1998年配給収入10億円以上番組 (in Japanese), Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, Retrieved May 1, 2026.
  10. ↑ 帰って来たドラえもん (in Japanese), suruga-ya.jp, Retrieved May 1, 2026.
  11. ↑ 映画ドラミちゃん ミニドラSOS!!!/ザ☆ドラえもんズ ムシムシぴょんぴょん大作戦!/帰ってきたドラえもん【映画ドラえもん30周年記念・期間限定生産商品】 [DVD] (in Japanese), Amazon Japan, Retrieved May 1, 2026.
  12. ↑ DORAEMON THE MOVIE BOX 1998-2004+TWO (スタンダード版) [DVD] (in Japanese), Amazon Japan, Retrieved May 1, 2026.
  13. ↑ 帰ってきたドラえもん/ザ・ドラえもんズ ムシムシぴょんぴょん大作戦!【劇場版】 [VHS] (in Japanese), Amazon Japan, Retrieved May 1, 2026.
  14. ↑ プライムビデオで、『藤子・F・不二雄生誕90周年記念 映画併映作傑作選』『テレビシリーズ傑作選』が配信中。「2112年 ドラえもん誕生」など併映作や、『パーマン』『21エモン』『エスパー魔美』『キテレツ大百科』などから20エピソードが視聴可能に (in Japanese). Denfaminicogamer. March 7, 2024. Retrieved August 30, 2026.
  15. ↑ 『映画ドラえもん』シリー ズ &なつかしのFキャラクター作品に加え Amazonプライムビデオに 「ドラえもん誕生日スペシャル」 エピソードが13本追加! (in Japanese). Dora-world.com. September 6, 2024. Retrieved August 30, 2026.
  16. ↑ 『藤子・F・不二雄 生誕90周年記念 映画併映作傑作選』 ✧₊ 見 放 題 独 占 配 信 中　₊✧ (in Japanese). Twitter. March 6, 2024. Retrieved August 30, 2026.
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