For many readers, Nobita, the main character in the famous Doraemon manga, is remembered as clumsy, awkward, and poor at school. Because of this, Nobita’s descendants sent the robot cat Doraemon back in time to help Nobita change his fate and save his family from poverty.
But was Nobita really that incapable? In fact, in the manga, Nobita in the future once started his own company and worked hard to run it for many years.
In the original Japanese manga, right in the first volume, when Doraemon shows Nobita a “future album,” there are three photos:
– One from 1988, showing Nobita opening a company after graduation because he couldn’t find a job,
– One from 1993, showing the company destroyed by a fire,
– And one from 1995, showing the company bankrupt and creditors coming to collect debts at Nobita’s home.
It’s important to know that Nobita’s father is just an ordinary office worker, and his mother is a housewife. Their savings would not have been enough for Nobita to start a company. Nobita’s family was not wealthy.
Therefore, it’s almost certain that Nobita managed to gather the capital to start his business on his own. The last photo, showing creditors demanding money, confirms this. The company operated for five years before the fire, then survived another three years before closing. This shows Nobita’s management skills were quite solid.
Moreover, Doraemon once said he was sent to change Nobita’s tragic fate. This means that when Nobita started his company (as shown in the photos), he had not yet received any help from Doraemon.
Starting and running a company for years, then going bankrupt due to bad luck with a fire, proves Nobita was actually more capable than many of his peers!
What do you think about this childhood memory of Nobita?