Doraemon Movie 02: Nobita no Uchuu Kaitakushi

My overall take: An unusual Doraemon film in terms of character dynamics and focus. Not quite my cup of tea. In this movie, Nobita and Doraemon meet the pioneering settlers of a distant planet and protect them from an evil corporation that wants to mine the planet's resources. This is an unusual Doraemon movie in a number of ways, probably due to it being such an early film installment in the franchise. Something that is well known to Doraemon fans is that the main characters tend to come across as better friends in the movies than in the regular manga chapters or anime episodes. (For example, in typical Doraemon stories, Gian and Suneo are much more likely to bully Nobita than to show concern for him.) In this film, however, the character interactions feel more similar to those in the mainline series. There is also the fact that Shizuka, Gian, and Suneo aren't involved with most of the adventure in this story. Doraemon and Nobita are the only mainline protagonists present for most of the film, and much more emphasis is placed establishing their friendship with new, movie-exclusive characters. I can see how that could make for a compelling narrative to some viewers, but being generally more invested in the relationships among the series regulars, it didn't do too much for me.

Doraemon: The Records of Nobita, Spaceblazer is nothing special, but is overall adequate enough as a fun family movie that I cannot give it any less than a 5. All of the usual gang is back again this time with the introduction of new space companions Roppuru and Chammy. These characters are fine enough on their own, though their obvious inherent similarity to Nobita and Doraemon leaves less of a lasting impression in the long run and leaves little room to distinguish them during the film. The villains too are entirely one-note, as you would largely expect from this type of film. The animation and music were standard for Doraemon, with the usual opening and ending sequences recurring as always. I did also wonder throughout the movie why Doraemon had no way of giving the gang a baseball field to play on when it really does not feel like that outlandish of a task for him, although that is more of a general critique or issue of the franchise given Doraemon's permanent role as a deus ex machina. In all, while this may not have lived up to the standard set by the first film it was still a perfectly fine sequel that serves its duty of giving some light family entertainment.