Plot

Name

The name "Doraemon" can be translated roughly to "stray". Unusually, the name "Doraemon" (ドラえもん^?) is written in a mixture of two Japanese scripts: Katakana (ドラ) and Hiragana (えもん). "Dora" is from "dora neko" (brazen or stray cat, どら猫), and is a corruption of nora (stray). "Emon" 衛門、右衛門 is a component of male given names, such as Goemon, though no longer as popular as in the past. "Dora" is not from dora 銅鑼 meaning gong, but due to the homophony, the series puns on this, with Doraemon loving

The first appearance of Doraemon, who came via the time machine.

Doraemon is sent back in time by a young boy named Sewashi Nobi to improve the circumstances of his great grandfather, Nobita so that his descendants may enjoy a better future. In the original time-line, Nobita experienced nothing but misery and misfortune manifested in the form of poor marks and grades, physical disasters, and bullying throughout his life. This culminates in the burning down of a future business he set up which leaves his family line beset with financial problems. In order to alter history and better the Nobi family's fortunes, Sewashi sent him a anthropomorphic robot cat called Doraemon.
Doraemon has a pocket from which he produces many gadgets, medicines, and tools from the future. The pocket is called yōjigen-pocket (lit. fourth-dimensional pocket). Some of the gadgets (dōgu) are based on real Japanese household devices with fanciful twists, but most are completely science fiction (although some may be based on folklore or religious stories). Thousands of dōgu have been featured in Doraemon. The number of dōgu has been approximated at 4,500. It is this constant variety which makes Doraemon popular even among adult readers/viewers. In the series, the availability of dōgu depends sometimes on the money Doraemon has available, and he often says some dōgu are expensive in the future. The more famous ones include the "bamboo-copter" (very similar to the ones that appears on the older series of Beany and Cecil), a small head accessory that allows flight; the "Anywhere Door", a door that opens up to any place the user wishes; and the "Time Machine". Some of the recurring dōgu appear also in Fujiko F. Fujio's other works such as 21-emon, Kaibutsu-kun, Kiteretsu Daihyakka, Mikio to Mikio or Pāman.
Although he can hear perfectly well, Doraemon has no ears: his robotic ears were eaten by some robotic mice, giving him a series-long phobia of the creatures.
The only main female character is Shizuka Minamoto, who serves as a friendly interest for Nobita. Shizuka is intelligent and is Nobita's good friend. Nobita's main human friends and/or rivals include Takeshi (nicknamed 'Gian', from the English word giant), a consummate bully, and Suneo, a wealthy but cunning and arrogant brat. There are many recurring supporting characters, such as Dekisugi, an over-achieving boy; Nobita's parents; Gian's mother; his school teacher; his descendants from the future; and Doraemon's little sister, Dorami.
The stories are formulaic, usually focused on the everyday struggles of fifth grader Nobita, the protagonist of the story. In a typical chapter, Nobita comes home crying about a problem he faces in school and/or the local neighborhood. After hearing him out, Doraemon often offers helpful advice to his problem(s), but that's never enough for Nobita, who is consistently looking for the "quick, easy" way out (which offers insight to the viewers as to why Nobita's life turned out the way it did). Finally, after Nobita's pleading and/or goading, Doraemon produces a futuristic gadget out of his aforementioned pouch to help Nobita fix his problem, enact revenge, or flaunt to his friends.