Doraemon (2014-2015; US Dub)

Doraemon It’s not as much of a good idea to bring a Japanese pop culture icon to the United States as you may think. Gender: Male Type: Obnoxious Loudmouth Flanderized and Corrupted Gadget-Cat The Dark Side of Doraemon Age: Unknown Species: Gadget-Cat Portrayed by: Mona Marshall (US) Status: Alive Media of origin: Doraemon (2005 anime) (Disney XD US dub; 2014-2015) First appearance: 15 December 1969 (actual) All the Way From the Future World (flanderized; 2014) Last appearance: Big G's Big Show Singer or Big G? (flanderized; 2015

#MS-903 "Doraemon", or simply Doraemon (ドラえもん Doraemon), is the titular deuteragonist of the Doraemon franchise. Manufactured in the factory in 22nd century, the robot is sent back in time by his owner Sewashi Nobi to help out Sewashi's miserably unlucky great-great-grandfather, "Nobita Nobi" (a.k.a. "Noby" in the US English dub) in becoming a successful person having a bright future.

In general, he is one of the most beloved anime characters and a cultural icon, especially in both his home country Japan and in Malaysia. When his 2005 reboot show was brought in the United States on Disney XD, unfortunately he was heavily flanderized in that dub.

Why This Version of Him is No Gadget Cat from the Future

NOTE: This page will only be talking about his behavior in the US English dub of the 2005 anime when it was brought on Disney XD as his original Japanese UK English dub and Malay dub counterparts are likable. Some of these characteristics were also carried over from the US English dubs of the Stand By Me: Doraemon film series.

1. To get the elephant out of the room, the US dub severely flanderized him to become almost nothing like his original Japan counterpart unlike all the other foreign language dubs such as the UK English dub or even the Malay dub which are in contrast far more faithful to his original Japan counterpart, as, instead of being friendly and intelligent, he is now a painfully annoying, irritating, obnoxious jerk and a bratty prick who had nearly all of his charm and likability sucked out, and, as a result, had his negative qualities and character flaws cranked and dialed up to eleven.
   • Recasting an iconic friendly Japan character like Doraemon from the Doraemon franchise who previously portrayed protagonist roles as an obnoxious and annoying jerk with little to no good qualities is an awful idea that was bad right from the start, and made some fans of Doraemon angry or upset, and while he does have moments of being nice, it has decreased quite a bit.
2. He is a petty jerk to Nobita/Noby, as he constantly scolds him over the slightest things, and when he isn’t scolding him or being a generally rude person, he can still rather annoying.
3. He is a crybaby at times, though not as much as Nobita/Noby.
4. His US dub voice actor, which is provided by Mona Marshall is extremely annoying, unpleasant and harsh sounding to listen to, with the worst offenders being his crying, screaming, and scolding. It doesn’t help that she also voices another unlikable character with an annoying voice, and overall, Mona Marshall severely wasted her talents on him.
5. The US dub ends with him giving Nobita (or in the US dub Noby) a voice changer pill that changes his voice; while Noby did ask him to change his voice back to normal, he refuses to listen to him and just smirks and laughs semi-sadistically, which kind of shows how selfish he can be at times.
6. He mostly will avoid showing any empathy towards Noby/Nobita and will act insensitive instead.
7. He is very irresponsible for letting Nobi use any of his gadgets for his own needs which at times lead to him getting into trouble. In fact, his irresponsibility of usage of his gadgets also results in trouble for others.
8. He doesn’t really get punished for his actions, which makes him a bit of a Karma Houdini.
9. He still acts like this in the US English dubs of the CGI-animated movies Stand by Me Doraemon and its sequel Stand by Me Doraemon 2.

Redeeming Qualities

1. He still has his moments of being a nice person and having his original personality. And was far better in the other dubs of the show, as well as his original Japan counterpart.
2. His design remains unchanged and is still good.
3. Despite his irresponsibility, him scolding at Noby could be justified since he often uses his gadgets for his own selfish needs and for his own amusement.
4. Some of his actions (only some mind you) remain the same due to it being a dub.
5. Although the execution was pretty bad, the concept of bringing a character who barely had any recognition in the US whatsoever is a very clever idea; despite him being flanderized, he didn't lower down the show too badly, and the US dub is still amusing to watch.

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