Blue is Hope: Doraemon

I was high school when anime regained another craze in Philippine television. Almost all television stations have their own anime programming schedules that is targeting the younger audience and the young at heart. Most of these cartoon series are re-runs that were aired way-back in the 80's which also culminated an important era of our Philippine History.There were commentaries by journalists that the popular Voltes V was banned for quite sometime in the Martial Law era due to its plot that could somehow influence the people to fight against the dictator government at that time. Ironically, history run its course; the Philippines had a refresh of its own version of Democracy and the world witnessed a Bloodless Revolution that has become a living inspiration of many other countries to date.However, the outcome spurted a wide debate of whether the Filipinos then really made a good decision. It has varying points of views. The reality? The country is still in bondage and the people are struggling to make ends meet. To survive as a nation is an ongoing battle, like most anime plots that this generation is watching, it is somehow in my opinion, a reflection of certain truths to our own alienation and undirected future.

I find anime plots fascinating because of some elements that are futuristic and yet, the human value is still somehow in tact in so many levels. One of these examples is Doraemon, a derivative from Doraneko which means stray cat that has made its way back in time from the 22nd century (created in September 3, 2112) with a mission to save Nobita. This cat-type robot caught my attention as I was studying because each episodes brought out a great deal of relationship to my experiences with friends. When one is a teenager, the peer pressure is strong and it is inevitable to escape a lot of situations when you are confronted with it. The surrounding characters in Doraemon series are like the people around school, home and the community. Each of these characters could be anyone: you, your friends, enemies, foe. In addition, Doraemon is a character that symbolizes a friend who is there to act as a hero and a dangerous enemy. He travels back in time with Nobita's great-great grandchild, Sewashi to fulfill that mission and as the process went on, he acted as protector, a best friend. Each of us has a best friend like Doreimon or we ourselves are him in fragments.

Alvin Toffler has many theories about the future on his book, Future Shock and certainly, some of the outskirts of the plot in Doraemon series are related to it. It transcends beyond human focal points and it involves technology. Doraemon introduced us to technology from the future through his 4D (Fourth Dimensional Pocket") or yojigen pocket on his tummy. The situation suggests that each gadget from that pocket could resolve even the simplest problems of a 4th grader in the person of Nobita. Yet, the episodes always emphasizes that technology itself has its own limitations and such limitations could be destructive to the one using it or may post danger to others. Doraemon however, is not always pictured as the technology introducer, he possesses the gadgets but he always have stern warning against its improper usage. However, Doraemon, despite his shrewdness, could also be outwitted due to his over-protectiveness in certain situations. He is also vulnerable to man's controlling nature because human desire itself is indestructible especially when it is focused and greatly motivated to certain degrees of achievement, even how simple the goal is... could mean disregarding other people's welfare, and even human relations such as friendship. We could see a lot of examples through other characters in the series like Gian (also called Damulag in Philippine TV) and Suneo. Yet, what most viewers don't usually realize is Nobita's "zero" attitude which is so interesting. Nobita, the missing link of Doraemon's journey into the past is the key character of the hero's existence and purpose... Whether Nobita shall change his ways, could greatly affect Sewashi's future.Doraemon is my favorite super hero because he is not the typically example of human-like figures with super powers. He is a robot with AI in it programmed to do tasks that results to an entertaining and worth-analyzing cartoon series. No wonder he is TIME Asia's Cuddliest Hero and one of 22 Asian Heroes in 2002. Yet for me, he is the all-time cuddliest anime friend who stirs tons of dorayaki, tools of imagination and a funny yet BLUE truth mirror about human choices.