The Robot Cat From the Future! Doraemon Vol.1 Manga Review.

One of the well-loved works of Fujiko F. Fujio tandem, Doraemon is about a story of cat coming from the future that is helping Nobita, an idiot 4^th grader with his life with his gadgets coming from his pocket.

The first episode that aired in Philippines back then is exactly the first episode of the series but didn't introduce the origins of our favorite robocat. That episode never explained why that cat arrived in Nobita’s time, until I bought the Filipino translated manga last December. To those who want a copy, go to the nearest Booksale outlet here in the Philippines and look for it. It cost Php 60-65 pesos per volume. I am planning to buy volume 2 next week.

Since I read the first volume, I think I would like to share three chapters of the manga that is relevant to the plot. The rest of the chapters are classic Doraemon fare.

The manga started with Nobita sleeping during laying his head on his room at the start of the new year, until he heard a strange noise telling him all the misfortunes that will happen to him during the day, looking around, he thinks that its just his imagination, until Doraemon pops up from his desk and introducing himself. After Doraemon spotted food, h e left and Nobita started to think that it is just an imagination… until his great grandkid from the future, Sewashi appeared along with Doraemon. Sewashi explained that in the future, great misfortune will happen to him and Doraemon is there to help him. To be exact, he will be married to Giant’s (Damulag to those used with the Filipino dub) sister, and he will have a debt that can’t be paid in his entire lifetime.

At first, Nobita did not believe and started throwing things at the two, later on the said misfortunes happen to Nobita and later were convinced with Sewashi, and the rest, is history.

The next chapter is simply about Nobita trying to escape a car accident… and ended up with a car accident anyway thanks to a toy car thrown at his head! The other relevant chapter is about how his parents ended up together, it all because of Nobita and Doraemon after all!

On to the review, one thing that I liked about the manga is that humor is still intact even though it is translated in Filipino. The artwork as always, is still the classic Doraemon we all love, except that he is getting thinner per chapter (Note: In the first chapter, both his head AND his body are at the same size, it is better describe as two soccer balls glued together). Since it is the first time Doraemon is helping Nobita, at first, he is reluctant to help Nobita in ever problem he had faced. Now I know why Nobita is very, very lazy in the anime!

To the specifics, Nobita is the same Nobita we love, an idiot, lazy and always bullied by Suneo and Giant, idiot, because he was not able to get what his great grandkid is speaking. To be exact, when he discovered that Sewashi is his grandkid, he replied, “How come I become a grandfather if I am still a kid.” Idiot. Bullied, I think you know what I am talking about.

Doraemon, is not properly developed in this first volume, he was only introduced here as a robot cat from the future that will help Nobita in everything. End of description.

Sewashi, even though he appeared for about 3-7 pages in the volume, his character is properly established, and he is best described as the grandkid from the future that is willing to help his grandfather to give him a better life. He even revealed that in his childhood, he never had a toy because of his great grandfather’s never ending debts. Poor kid.

So far, this volume pretty much gave me a good time and best recommended to old and new fans of Doraemon. It is a fun tale, and Doraemon’s gadgets are worth a drool to techies.