Get ready for a major wave of nostalgia, as timeless anime (and most likely a part of almost everyone’s childhood) Doraemon will be celebrating its 40th anniversary this year! As part of the franchise’s celebration for this huge milestone, TV Asahi has announced Doraemon’s first-ever TV episode will have a remake. The pilot episode, entitled Yume no Machi, Nobita Land (Dream Town, Nobita Land) first aired on April 2, 1979, with the remake airing on April 5.
The first episode will center on Nobita making his own “Nobita Land”. Having no place to play in with his friends, Doraemon lends Nobita his “Instant Miniature-Making Camera”, which can produce miniature models from photos taken by the camera. Using this futuristic gadget, Nobita then proceeds to create his own dream world, a place where he can do anything he wants without being scolded by his mother and where he can always play with his friends.
Doraemon started out as a manga in 1969, created by mangaka duo Fujiko Fujio (pen name of Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko). It was first adapted into a short-lived TV anime series in 1973 by the now-defunct studio Nippon TV Doga. In 1979, Shin-Ei Animation picked up Doraemon for a TV anime adaptation, and the rest is history: this second adaptation proved to be incredibly popular, airing a total of 1,787 episodes before it ended on March 25, 2005. That same year, TV Asahi aired a new Doraemon series featuring new voice actors and staff, and has been running in the network ever since.
The story of the robotic cat Doraemon, who came from the 21st century to help out weakling boy Nobita Nobi, has since become a highly lucrative media franchise and is seen as one of the most popular and enduring fictional characters to ever come out of Japan. Doraemon has since received numerous accolades from both local and international entities, such as being named as one of 22 Asian Heroes by Time Magazine in 2002.
Source: Anime News Network