Stand by Me Doraemon

Stand by Me Doraemon (STAND BY ME ドラえもん) is a 2014 Japanese 3D computer-animated science fiction comedy-drama film based on the Doraemon manga series and directed by Ryūichi Yagi and Takashi Yamazaki. It was released on 8 August 2014. It is the highest-grossing film of the Doraemon franchise. Bang Zoom! Entertainment premiered an English-dubbed version of the film at the Tokyo International Film Festival on 24 October 2014.

The plot combines with the short stories "All the Way From the Country of the Future", "Imprinting Egg", "Goodbye, Shizuka-chan", "Romance in Snowy Mountain", "Nobita's the night Before a Wedding", and "Goodbye, Doraemon..." into a new complete story – from the first time Doraemon came to Nobita's house to Doraemon bidding farewell to Nobita.

Stand by Me Doraemon was a commercially successful film in Japan. It ranked number-one on the box office charts for five consecutive weeks and was the second highest-grossing Japanese film for 2014 in Japan, with a box office total of 8.38 billion Yen, behind Disney's Frozen. In February 2015, it won the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year at the 38th Japan Academy Prize.

Plot
Nobita Nobi is a fourth grader who constantly gets failing grades in his subjects due to his laziness and is always bullied by his classmates Suneo Honekawa and Takeshi "Gian" Goda. His great-great grandson from the 22nd century, Sewashi, who watches him every day, travels to Nobita's timeline while bringing along his robotic cat Doraemon. Sewashi reveals that if Nobita keeps up his act, he will have a disastrous future: he will marry Gian's sister Jaiko, have his private company burned down, and will be left with a great debt. To circumvent this, he orders Doraemon to help Nobita, modifying Doraemon's nose to prevent him from returning to the future unless Nobita gains a better future.

Being reluctant until the threat, Doraemon introduces his gadgets to help Nobita which helps him immensely. Though Doraemon warns Nobita not to be too dependent on his gadgets, Nobita asks Doraemon to help him woo his crush Shizuka "Sue" Minamoto whom Doraemon reveals is the one Nobita will marry if his future is corrected. However, all his efforts end up making Shizuka become closer to ace student, Hidetoshi Dekisugi. Nobita's attempt to be equal with Dekisugi by studying harder is futile, and he decides to let go of Shizuka to make her happier. He does this by flipping Shizuka's skirt to reveal her underwear (but not looking at it), resulting in Shizuka slapping him and running away in tears. After a while, Shizuka starts worrying about Nobita. She overhears Gian and Suneo's conversation about Nobita's self-esteem getting crushed by Sensei for recently failing another test, causing her to believe he is planning to commit suicide, Shizuka arrives at the Nobi residence and resists Nobita's people-repelling potion to help him, which Doraemon reveals is the first step in Nobita and Shizuka's growing relationship to eventually becoming a couple.

After seeing his older self rejecting Shizuka's invitation to a mountain climbing, Nobita disguises himself as his older self to help Shizuka, who becomes separated from her group during a heavy blizzard. His efforts to help Shizuka do more harm to himself, but this makes Shizuka feel that she has to accompany Nobita, saying "Yes" before collapsing from cold she contracted from her earlier conversation with Nobita. Forcing himself to remember the moment, the two are rescued by Nobita's older self, who recalled the memory. Nobita learns from his older self that Shizuka was answering to latter's proposition to marry her. It means that Shizuka will indeed marry Nobita. After hearing that Shizuka's father has also accepted Nobita as his daughter's spouse, Nobita and Doraemon return to the present timeline. Nobita visits Shizuka declaring that he will make her happy whatever it takes.

As Nobita's future has been changed for the better, Doraemon's programming commands him to return to the future in 48 hours. Noticing that Doraemon has a hard time leaving due to his worry for Nobita, Nobita confronts and has a brutal fight with Gian to prove that he is able to defend himself without Doraemon. Seeing that Nobita refuses to give up, Gian forfeits as Doraemon tearfully takes Nobita home before leaving in peace the next day. During April Fools, Nobita is tricked by Gian into believing that Doraemon has returned. In anger, he drinks a solution Doraemon gave to him which the opposite of everything the consumer says comes true. Finishing his retribution against Suneo (who was chased by a dog trying to bite him) and Gian (who was being dragged away by his mother who was preparing to punish him), Nobita goes back home while lamenting that Doraemon will never return. To his surprise, Doraemon suddenly returns and tells Nobita that he has gotten permission to stay with him because Nobita said that Doraemon would never return, still with the effects of the potion, and it became a truth. They both hug and cry in happiness.

Production
In 2011, the producers said that, "Different from the other Doraemon films, this will be a special film". The production team spent 18 months on the character design and CGI animation began after the film recorded the voice of characters (Puresuko).

Staff list

 * Original – Fujiko F. Fujio
 * Screenplay – Takashi Yamazaki
 * Director – Ryuichi Yagi, Takashi Yamazaki
 * Music – Naoki Sato
 * Production – Shirogumi, Robot Communications, Shin-Ei Animation
 * Co-Production – Fujiko Productions, Office Abe Shuji
 * Presented by – 2014 Stand By Me Doraemon Film Partners (Fujiko Productions, Shin-Ei Animation, Shogakukan, Asatsu-DK, TV Asahi, ShoPro, Toho, Dentsu, Shirogumi, Robot Communications, Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, Nagoya Broadcasting Network, Office Abe Shuji, Kyushu Asahi Broadcasting, Hokkaido Television Broadcasting, Hiroshima Home Television)
 * Distributor – Toho

Soundtrack
Original Japanese In the movie, most of the soundtrack was composed by Naoki Sato composer (except the ending theme)

All music is composed by Naoki Sato. Ending theme: Himawari no Yakusoku (ひまわりの約束, lit. "Promise from Sunflower") by Motohiro Hata

In Spain (English)


 * Stand by Me by Fiver

In Hong Kong (Cantonese)


 * Contribution (奉獻, Fung Hin) by Mag Lam, Lil' Ashes, Phil Lam and Hubert Wu (appeared on TV as a tribute to the late voice actor of Doraemon)

In Mainland China (Mandarin)


 * The appointment of sunflower (向日葵的约定) by Joshua Jin

Release
Stand by Me Doraemon was released in 60 countries worldwide.

The film was released in Japan on 8 August 2014, in Italy on 6 November 2014 (known as Doraemon – Il film), in Indonesia and Singapore on 1 December 2014, in Spain and Taiwan on 19 December 2014, in Thailand on 31 December 2014, in Malaysia on 29 January 2015 (limited release for both Japanese version and Malay version), and in Hong Kong on 5 February 2015 (known as Doraemon 3D: Stand by Me).

A web survey was published giving a closer look at the attendees. The audience consisted of 20.4% were children, 21.5% were in their 20s, 20.4% were in their 30s, 20.4% were in their 40s. 47% were male while 53% were female. 88.4% of the audience cried while watching the film.

The film was released on Blu-ray, in a deluxe and normal edition, and DVD by Pony Canyon on 18 February 2015.

The DVDs and Blu-rays released in Hong Kong feature English subtitles. The iTunes release in Singapore also includes English subtitles.

The film was released in China on Thursday, 28 May 2015 becoming the first Japanese film in three years to be released in China since Ultraman in July 2012.

The film was released in Vietnam on 12 December 2014 in the cinemas with many voice cast and broadcast in 1 June 2015 by K+ NS titled Doraemon: Đôi bạn thân. From 12 to 19 December 2014 the film ranked 2nd in the cinemas, and from 20 to 27 December the film was ranked 4th in Top 5 films have the biggest gross.

The film was released in the Philippines on 17 June 2015, announced by SM Cinema on Facebook. The movie is distributed by VIVA International pictures & Multivision Pictures Entertainment.

This film was released in Turkey on 11 September 2015. This film was released in UAE on 17 December 2015.

It premiered in India with the title Doraemon The Movie Stand by Me in Hindi on 19 June 2016 on Hungama TV and 6 July 2016 on Disney Channel India and in English on Netflix.

Box office
The film earned a total of US$86 million internationally by 7 January 2015, and was also the third highest earning film in Japan in 2014 with ¥8.38 billion, behind Frozen and The Eternal Zero. Outside Japan, the highest revenue came from China ($86.92 million), Hong Kong ($5.1 million), South Korea ($3.3 million), Italy ($3.2 million), Indonesia ($3 million) and Thailand ($1.2 million).

In Japan, the film earned ¥767 million in the first 2 days and ¥988 million after 3 days. After 40 days the film earned ¥7 billion and ¥8 billion after 76 days. The film – after the release day – was ranked 1st in cinemas Japan for 5 weeks continuous. As of December 2014, the film earned ¥8.38 billion ($70 million) in Japan.

The film performed well in Hong Kong, which was partly boosted by the sudden death of the long-time voice actor of Doraemon, Lam Pou-chuen, a month before the movie's local release. It became the all-time highest-grossing Japanese film in Hong Kong (breaking Ring 's record), the highest-grossing film of the Chinese New Year period in Hong Kong (from 18 to 21 February) and the all-time fourth highest-grossing animated film in Hong Kong, behind Pixar's Toy Story 3, Monster's University and Inside Out. It also broke the opening day record (previously held by Ponyo on a Cliff). In China, the film scored a single-day record of US$14.2 million (breaking Kung Fu Panda 2 's record) and a four-day opening record of US$38.5 million (breaking How to Train Your Dragon 2 's record). In just five days it earned $53 million to become the highest grossing non-Hollywood animated film in China (breaking Boonie Bears: Mystical Winter 's record). It is currently the third highest-grossing animated film in China ($86.9 million), behind Kung Fu Panda 2 ($92.2 million) and Big Hero 6 ($86.7 million). It ended its run in China with CN¥530,06 million ($86.9 million).

Related products

 * New translation "Doraemon"


 * Fujiko · F · Fujio (writer), Hiroshi Sasaki (editor), Fujiko Pro (monitoring) ISBN 978-4-09-388384-9
 * A book containing 7 short stories, with commentary by Hiroshi Sasaki.


 * Stand by Me Doraemon Animation Visual StoryStand by Me Doraemon


 * Fujiko F. Fujio (Writer) ISBN 978-4-09-388381-8
 * Adapted from the film


 * BD / DVD


 * Released 18 February 2015 with PCXE-50408 (BD special version), PCXE-50409 (BD Normal version), PCBE-54251 (DVD Limit Version)

Influence
On the Japanese talk show Room of Tetsuko, Doraemon in 3D image was invited to interview and was broadcast on television on 8 August 2014.

The film helped ease diplomatic tensions between China and Japan. Nagoya University professor Kawamura Noriyuki said that the film was able to help the Chinese people have a better look at the Japanese people.

Sequel
On 12 December 2019, the sequel, Stand By Me Doraemon 2, was announced. Ryūichi Yagi and Takashi Yamazaki will return as directors, with Yamazaki once again penning the script. Largely based on Doraemon's 2000 short film Doraemon: A Grandmother's Recollections, it was originally slated to be released on 7 August 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic the release has been postponed. Toho will distribute the film in Japan.