One of the oldest anime franchises, Doraemon has become a childhood staple in its home country of Japan and has even found an affectionate following overseas. Ever since the first volume of the manga was published in 1969, there have been over 45 volumes comprised of 1,345 chapters between 1970-1996. These were followed up with a sequel series running from 2005 to as recent as 2014.
Doraemon received its first anime adaptation in 1973, followed by two more running between 1979-2005 and 2005-present respectively. There have been numerous films and spinoffs as well. Here's what the beloved classic series is all about and where interested parties can find it.
The Plot of Doraemon
The classic story follows the titular Doraemon, a robotic cat sent into the past by the grandson of Nobita Nobi to prevent a life of poverty and failure that affects not only Nobita, but his entire family. As a ten-year-old, Nobita refuses to take responsibility for his poor grades and failures, so Doraemon tries to help him learn the error of his ways and grow into a respectable adult -- though not without shenanigans along the way.
Doraemon will usually have some sort of futuristic tech that can help Nobita with whatever issue he has, but using said tech ends up exacerbating the problem rather than fixing it. The series is popular among children and has been referenced in numerous other popular anime franchises because of how well-known it has become over the decades.
Where to Read the Doraemon Manga
Possibly the cheapest option to read the Doraemon manga is to buy the Kindle editions from Amazon. Each volume is around $1.99 in English, while physical copies run about $17.99 or more per volume. These editions are bilingual, having both Japanese and English text while being listed as Japanese editions. Most of them are secondhand, but there is also a listing for an imported box set available for $162 for ten volumes plus $42 in shipping and import fees.
Kindle Unlimited users can get the volumes for free through that service, but printed versions of the English manga are hard to come by otherwise. It doesn't appear that any of the manga apps have Doraemon available for digital reading currently, so hopefully this will change sooner than later.
Where to Watch the Doraemon Anime
Unfortunately, as of the time of writing, there isn't a way to watch all the episodes of Doraemon legally in the West. Netflix Japan has Stand By Me Doraemon and Stand By Me Doraemon 2, but doesn't appear to have any of the episodes from the 2005 adaptation.
Netflix's South Korean server, however, has Season 14 which is made up of 25 episodes. For fans who can speak Japanese, Amazon Japan has several of the Doraemon movies available for streaming, but not the entire series. It shows that there are episodes available for streaming, but sadly they're not available in Japan, South Korea or North America at this time.