Doraemon (1979 TV series)

Doraemon (ドラえもん, Doraemon) is a Japanese anime television series based on Fujiko F. Fujio's manga of the same name and is the successor of the 1973 anime. Produced by Shin-Ei Animation, Asatsu-DK and TV Asahi, Doraemon premiered in Japan on April 2, 1979, and has been dubbed for broadcast in 60 countries worldwide. The series lasted 26 years and had over 1787 episodes and 30 specials, making it the longest of the three animated shows created to date. This Doraemon anime series is sometimes referred to in Asia as the Ōyama Edition (大山版), after Nobuyo Ōyama, the voice actress who voices Doraemon in this series.
Two official English dubs of this anime series have been released, the first of which was called The Adventures of Albert and Sidney, which was produced in Canada by CINAR and aired exclusively in Barbados on CBC TV 8 during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the United States, the series was planned to air on Superstation WTBS, now known as TBS, but would never premiere for unknown reasons. The second dub was made in Singapore and aired on Channel i & Kids Central from 2002 to 2003 in Singapore. Additionally, an unofficial bootleg English dub by Speedy Video was produced and released exclusively in Malaysia on various VCDs.
The series follows the title character, a cat-like robot from the 22nd century that goes to the present day to deal with an uneducated, naïve, and clumsy 10-year-old elementary school boy named Nobita Nobi and guide him in the proper direction for his future. Nobita's friends include Shizuka Minamoto, his love interest and closest best friend, as well as Takeshi Goda and Suneo Honekawa, who, while sometimes kind, frequently abuse and bully him. A typical episode involves Nobita asking Doraemon for a gadget (usually to help him with a task or get back at Gian and Suneo). Normally, these gadgets end up causing chaos for Nobita and those around him.
Following the finale of the 1973 anime, the rights to the Doraemon manga were lost as Nippon TeleMovie Productions, who produced the 1973 anime, shut down on the same day as the show's series finale. However, Daikichirō Kusube gained the author's trust and secured the rights to Tokyo Movie, a production firm where he was in charge of sales at the time. Later on, in late 1976, the rights were transferred to Shin-Ei Animation as Tokyo Movie parted ways with Kusube which led to the latter becoming Tokyo Movie Shinsha. In late 1977, Kusube requested one out of two of the creators of Doraemon, Hiroshi Fujimoto, for permission to produce another anime based on the manga.
Isao Takahata, whom Kusube had asked to do, prepared a proposal and subsequently submitted it to Fujimoto, who agreed with the plan. Shin-Ei Animation originally began selling the rights to Yomiuri Television, where Juichi Sano produced a full-scale proposal, but the idea failed due to a lack of understanding among the station's upper management. Doraemon first began airing in Japan on TV Asahi on April 2, 1979.
The opening theme used for the weekly Doraemon series airing between 1979 and 2005 was Doraemon no Uta (ドラえもんのうた), which was performed by five different performers over the course of its years:
Two songs were used for a separate weekday Doraemon series which is a part of Fujiko Fujio Theater (藤子不二雄劇場, Fujiko Fujio Gekijoo), the first song being the same as the first song of the weekly series.
The ending themes used for the weekly Doraemon series airing between 1979 and 2005 were:
Three songs were used for the separate weekday Doraemon series. The start and end dates are not listed here, nor are the episodes they ran for.