Voice actors: Kōsei Tomita (From episode 1 to episode 26), Masako Nozawa (From episode 27 to episode 52) (1973), Nobuyo Ōyama (1979~March 2005), Wasabi Mizuta (April 2005~)
Voice actors (Golden): Chisa Yokoyama
Doraemon, the titular character, is the main protagonist of the series. He is a cat-like robot created by the Matsushiba robot company, and is sent back in time by Sewashi to aid Nobita. He possesses a fourth-dimensional pocket from which he can acquire various kinds of futuristic tools, gadgets, and playthings from a future department store. He also has the tendency to panic during emergencies, characterized by him frantically trying to pull out a very much-needed tool from his pocket, only to produce a huge assortment of unrelated household items. Still, Doraemon is very friendly and intelligent, not to mention long-suffering because of Nobita's antics.
Doraemon's physical appearance changed as the manga progressed. At first, he was predominantly blue, with a blue tail, a white stomach, and flesh-coloured hands and feet. He also stooped, and had a body much larger than his head. In later issues, he sported a smaller body, white hands and feet, and a red tail--the appearance most identify him with today.
In "The Doraemons" story arc (and the 2112: The Birth of Doraemon short film), it is revealed that Doraemon's original paint color was yellow. After getting his ears gnawed off by a robot mouse, he slipped into depression on top of a tower, where he drank a potion labeled "sadness". As he wept, the yellow color washed off and his voice changed due to the potion. As a result, he developed a morbid fear of mice despite being a robotic cat, because he was suffering musophobia.
Doraemon weighs 129.3 kg (285 lb) and measures at 129.3 cm (4 ft 3 in) tall. He is able to run at 129.3 km/h (80.3 mph) when scared and jump 129.3 cm (4.242 ft) when threatened. His maximum power is 96.4 kW (129.3 bhp). His waist, head, and chest circumference are all 129.3 cm. His feet is 129.3 mm in diameter. He was manufactured on 3 September 2112 at the Matsushiba Robot Factory (マツシバロボット工場?). Doraemon is considered a substandard product because many of his robotic features (ie. radar whiskers and cat-calling bell) malfunctioned after production. One can turn Doraemon off by pulling his balloon tail.
Due to this malfunction, Doraemon did poorly at the robot's school and during the final presentation show, he performed badly and nobody wanted to hire him, until baby Sewaishi pushed the button. His parents were a bit reluctant, but since Sewashi liked him, they hired Doraemon, and he took care of him until Sewaishi himself send him to the past to take care of Nobita. Despite this, Doraemon shows lot of intelligence and common sense.
Doraemon's favourite food is dorayaki (どら焼き?), a Japanese treat filled with red bean paste. Speculations led to dorayaki being the origin of his name. However, it was revealed in one of the manga chapters that his name originates from the Japanese word nora neko (のら猫?) for "stray cat", and the -emon (衛門?) ending which is part of traditional Japanese names, as seen also in, for example, Ishikawa Goemon.[1][2][3] In the 2007 birthday episode, 'MS-903' is called Doraemon by the factory owner where Doraemon is produced.
Doraemon usually uses the phrase "nanoda".
Nobita Nobi (野比 のび太 Nobi Nobita?)
Voice actors: Yoshiko Ōta (1973), Noriko Ohara (1979~March 2005), Hiroko Maruyama (Stand-in for Ohara), Megumi Ōhara (April 2005~)
Voice actors (Teenage): Makiko Ōmoto (2000), Mai Kadowaki (2005)
Voice actors (Adult): Kōzō Shioya (1984), Shingo Hiromori (1987~1990), Noriko Ohara (2000~2004), Tōru Ōkawa (2005), Hideyuki Hori (2006)
Nobita (born on 7 August), is the main characters of most stories. He is a fourth grader (fifth grader in anime version) and is 10 years old[4] in Tokyo's Nerima Ward and an only child. He wears glasses, a red or yellow polo shirt with a white collar, and blue shorts. Nobita's character flaws are endless: he is lazy, uncoordinated, dim-witted, frail, plain-looking, unlucky, and bad at sports. Nobita's typical day consists of arriving late on classes, scoring zeros in his tests, getting lectured by his teacher, being bullied by his classmates Gian and Suneo, falling into curbside rain gutters, being chased by dogs, and getting grounded by his mom for his sloth and poor academic results.
Despite his flaws, Nobita possesses some unique talents such as his unrivaled marksmanship and ability to weave intricate string figures. Although Nobita is usually portrayed as being cowardly, he has often risked his life to help save others or even entire civilizations in full-length stories. Nobita is lazy and unmotivated, but he can be very serious and responsible at times. Nobita also has a talent for finding unusual applications for Doraemon's gadgets, and to abuse them, which usually gets him into trouble.
In the original history which Doraemon doesn't interfere, Nobita would marry Jaiko (as long as he only wants to marry Shizuka), never find a good job and eventually go bankrupt. Despite everything, Doraemon succeeds on his mission, as seen in several episodes in which they travel to the future, Nobita eventually marries Shizuka and becomes an officer of Ministry of the Environment.
Shizuka Minamoto (源 静香 Minamoto Shizuka?)
Voice actors: Masako Ebisu (1973), Michiko Nomura (1979~March 2005), Yumi Kakazu (2005~)
Voice actor: Rei Sakuma (2000)
Shizuka (born on 8 May), usually called Shizu-chan (静ちゃん?) or Shizuka-chan (静香ちゃん?), is the smart, kind and pretty neighborhood girl and Nobita's best friend. She takes baths several times a day. Nobita often disrupts her in the bath due to some misuse of Doraemon's gadgets, and Shizuka usually shouts out "Go away, pervert!" to Nobita. Her true passions are sweet potatoes, which she'd rather keep to herself out of the knowledge of others, and the violin, in which her playing is as atrocious as Gian's singing. She is also known for taking piano lessons unwillingly (as she loves violin more), which is sometimes used as an excuse for declining to hang out with Nobita. Due to Doraemon's intervention, Shizuka will marry Nobita. At present, she doesn't have any true crush on male friends (both Nobita and Dekisugi), but she fancies lots of handsome idols.
Takeshi Goda (剛田 武 Gōda Takeshi?)
Voice actors: Kaneta Kimotsuki (1973), Kazuya Tatekabe (1979~March 2005), Subaru Kimura (April 2005~)
Voice actor: Kujira (2000)
Takeshi (born on 15 June), usually known by the nickname "Gian" (ジャイアン Jaian?) from English word "Giant", is the big, strong, and quick-tempered local bully. He also frequently steals other children's toys and books under the pretext of "borrowing" them, unless the toy is damaged. This is how most fans considered Gian to be the antagonist of this show. However, he does not hesitate to help Nobita and his friends when they are in real trouble, which often occurs in full-length stories.
He is known for his confidence in his terrible singing voice, though he considers himself a great singer. But in some episodes when his voice is recorded and he hears it, denies it being his voice and threatens to beat up the person who sung his songs in a bad way. Several of the stories revolve around Nobita and his friends' efforts to avoid Gian's concerts. Gian is also confident in cooking, but just like his singing, his foods can "beat up" people very easily.
Although he bullies the other children (mostly Nobita), he is terrified of his mother, a fact Nobita and Doraemon sometimes use in their favor. He founded his own baseball team named after himself. Although Nobita is often blamed for the losses against the baseball team's rival, the "Tyranos", Gian still forces Nobita to play because they do not have enough players.
Suneo Honekawa (骨川 スネ夫 Honekawa Suneo?)
Voice actors: Shun Yashiro (1973), Kaneta Kimotsuki (1979~March 2005), Naoki Tatsuta (Stand-in for Kimotsuki), Tomokazu Seki (April 2005~)
Voice actor (Teenage): Tomokazu Seki (2000)
Suneo (born on 29 February), is the fox-faced (inherited from his mother) rich kid who loves to flaunt his material wealth before everyone. He is often seen with Gian, being forced to bully Nobita with him, though deep down he fears and despises him as much as everyone else and sometimes actually feels sorry for Nobita. He often make fun of Nobita, tricking him into doing certain favours, most often resulted in Nobita getting in trouble and almost always make Doraemon running to the rescue. Some of the stories start with Suneo showing off some new video game or toy which evokes Nobita's envy. He has an extensive knowledge of science, and is a talented artist and designer. He has the habit to invite Gian and Shizuka to something or someplace, but always leave Nobita out with one excuse or another.
In some scenes, Suneo is seen as a narcissist who loves to stare at himself in the mirror while telling himself that he is the most handsome guy in the world. He is still a bed-wetter and needs to wear diapers when he sleeps, despite being in the fourth grade. He considers this humiliating habit his secret weakness. Suneo is also very self-conscious about his height, being the shortest kid in his class.
His character somewhat resembles that of Reggie Mantle in the Archie comics universe.
Dorami (ドラミ?)
Voice actors: Keiko Yokozawa (1979~March 2005), Chiaki (tarento) (September 2006~)
Dorami (born on 2 December 2114), also known as Dorami-chan, is the sister of Doraemon. She is yellow and has ears that resemble a large red bow. She happens to be about 2 years younger than he is. Strangely enough, they are siblings due to the fact that they shared half of the oil from a can. She lives in the 22nd-century Tokyo with Sewashi. She sometimes visits Nobita with a time machine when Doraemon is "off-duty" or to help Doraemon with something. She likes melonpan and is afraid of cockroaches. She is also shown to be a more advanced robot than Doraemon (Dorami is able to produce 10,000 horse power, in comparison to Doraemon's 129.3). Different from her malfunctioned brother, she's the smartest student during her school time, and has better skills in using gadgets. She also has her own spin-off manga. Her boyfriend is Dora-the-Kid of The Doraemons.
Jaiko (ジャイ子?)
Voice actors: Yoshiko Ōta (1979), Kazuyo Aoki (1980~March 2005), Vanilla Yamazaki (April 2005~)
Jaiko is Gian's younger sister, and also the only child Gian treats well in the whole story. In the early story of Fujiko, she shows to have bad tempers, but lately she's getting kinder. According to Doraemon's Future Album, she would had been Nobita's wife in the future if Doraemon doesn't intervened, which is why her first appearance is earlier than Suneo and Gian. However, in the late Doraemon series it's Dekisugi more often referred to be the factor of the future though no evidence shows Dekisugi could marry Shizuka. Her name Jaiko is usually considered a nickname same as her brother, but Fujiko never gave her a real name.
As an aspiring manga artist, Jaiko goes by her pen name Christine Goda (クリスチーネ 剛田 Kurisuchīne Gōda?), and sometimes submits her manga to publishing companies for prizes. She usually fails because her storytelling is still rough, although she has received much attention from editors. Sometimes when she almost decides to give up writing comic books, Gian's friends are asked/forced to cheer her up.
Hidetoshi Dekisugi (出木杉 英才 Dekisugi Hidetoshi?)
Voice actors: Sumiko Shirakawa (1980~March 2005), Shihoko Hagino (TV Asahi Announcer, May 2005~)
Voice actor (Adult): Shinya Ōtaki
Dekisugi is Nobita's classmate and friendly rival for Shizuka's affections. He always gets perfect scores on his tests, but never shows off his abilities. His name literally means "brilliant over-achiever", and his last name is a pun on dekisugiru, which means "over achieving".
Owing to that Shizuka tends to prefer the company of Dekisugi, who is more of her intellectual equal, Nobita often feels jealous and concocts bizarre schemes (helped by Doraemon's gadgets) to keep them apart. However, Dekisugi never shows bad tempers to Nobita and even willingly helps Nobita whenever he has philosophical or scientific questions.
Mini-Doras (ミニドラ[たち]?)
Voice actors: Chie Kitagawa (1990), Rei Sakuma (1994~March 2005), Tomato Akai (October 2005~)
Mini-Doras are actually gadgets of Doraemon. They are mini versions of Doraemon, each with a different color. They can think and feel for themselves, and communicate with Doraemon through the "Mini-Dora" language. They act as helpers for all sorts of tasks, such as repairing the internal mechanism of Doraemon.
Mini-Doras looks like identical Doraemon because it color is red and very little robots. He disturbs Nobita to aid his body.
Teacher (先生 Sensei?)
Voice actors: Osamu Katō→Masashi Amenomori (1973), Ritsuo Sawa (1979), Osamu Katō→Unknown→Kazuhiko Inoue (~September 1981), Ryōichi Tanaka (October 1981~March 2005), Wataru Takagi (April 2005~)
Nobita's homeroom teacher. He is a strict taskmaster who often punishes Nobita for failing to do his homework, but always get fooled by Suneo's convincing acts of lying. The punishments range from standing in the hallway to sweeping the classroom after-school. He often pays unexpected visits to the Nobi’s in order to inform Mrs. Tamako about Nobita’s recent zeroes on exams. He also usually sees Nobita in streets and often scold him to study hard and for getting low scores during exams.
His real name is unknown and he is only referred to as "Sensei". In the NTV anime his name is given as Ganari (我成?). In the TV Asahi version, he was onced named Eiichiro Senjou (先生 えいいちろう Senjou Eiichiro)
