What Is Doraemon? The Gadget-Filled Franchise Behind Japan's Highest-Grossing Film Series, Explained by Marine

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Since 1969, Doraemon has grown from a manga about a robot cat and his futuristic gadgets into one of the biggest box-office franchises in Japanese film history.

A Robot Cat and His Gadgets

Fujiko F. Fujio began serializing Doraemon in 1969. The story follows Doraemon, a robotic cat sent from the future to help young Nobita Nobi navigate everyday struggles using an ever-expanding array of futuristic "secret gadgets" pulled from his four-dimensional pocket. The TV anime began airing in 1979 and now broadcasts in over 50 countries.

A Box-Office Powerhouse

Doraemon has released an annual theatrical film nearly every spring for decades, and the franchise's combined box office is reported to be the highest of any anime franchise and among the highest of any Japanese film franchise overall, domestically surpassing even Godzilla. The 45th film, "Doraemon: New Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil," a remake of a 1983 entry, released on February 27, 2026, and grossed $25.5 million.

What To Know

Doraemon's "secret gadget of the week" structure, paired with genuinely warm stories about friendship and growing up, has made it one of the very few anime franchises that functions simultaneously as comfort-watch children's entertainment and a genuine cultural institution spanning multiple generations of the same families in Japan.

Doraemon is frequently used in Japan as an unofficial cultural ambassador, the character has been featured in tourism campaigns, and the franchise's combined domestic box office surpassing even Godzilla underscores just how central Doraemon is to mainstream (not just fan-community) Japanese pop culture.

What Fans Are Saying

• "Doraemon quietly being bigger box office than Godzilla in Japan is wild."
• "The gadget-of-the-week format still works decades later."
• "Nice that they're revisiting a classic 1983 story with the new film."

Original Japanese

• 「ゴジラより興行収入が高いというのは、静かにすごいことですよね」
• 「ひみつ道具のフォーマットは、何十年経っても魅力的です」
• 「1983年の名作をリメイクしたのは良い選択だと思います」

Easy Japanese

「ドラえもん」は、藤子・F・不二雄さんが生んだマンガ・アニメです。1969年に始まり、日本で一番興行収入の高いアニメシリーズになりました。