Which is the best Doraemon movie? An in-depth look at the 50th anniversary!

The most common measure of a film’s popularity is its box office receipts.
However, when a film series lasts 40 years, it is not easy to compare past films with recent ones.
As mentioned above, box office revenue comparisons do not provide an accurate measure of popularity because viewing prices are different between the early days and the present.

So, we’ll look at the movie’s attendance rankings as one indication of which movie dramas are popular.

Doraemon the Movie: Top 10 Most Viewed

No. 1 4.7 million people Nobita’s Treasure Island (2018)
No. 2 4.4 million people Nobita’s Lunar Exploration (2019)
No. 3, 4.2 million people, The Birth of Nobita’s Japan (1989)
No. 4 4Million People Nobita’s Great Adventure in the South Sea (1998)
No. 5 3,950,000 people Nobita’s Space Odyssey (1999)
No. 6 3.9 million people Nobita’s Adventures in the City of Screwball (1997)
No. 7 3.9 million people Nobita’s Antarctic Adventure (2017)
No. 8 3.8 million people Nobita and the Animal Planet (1990)
No. 9 3.65 million people, Nobita’s Secret Tool Museum (2013)
No. 10 3.63 million people Birth of a New Nobita Japan (2016)

※『STAND BY ME ドラえもん』などシリーズ作以外の映画は除外

The number one film in terms of attendance is Nobita’s Treasure Island, which was released in 2018.
It broke the long-unbreakable record of “Nobita’s Birth of Japan” for the first time in 29 years, and also broke the 5 billion yen mark at the box office for the first time.
This is an original film based on the oceanic adventure novel “Treasure Island”, with the theme song by Gen Hoshino and the screenplay by Genki Kawamura, producer of “Kiminoha”. The theme song was written by Genko Hoshino and the screenplay was written by Genki Kawamura, producer of “Kimina-wa-wa”, and it was an ambitious work that succeeded in creating an unprecedented wind of excitement.

Second place went to “A Record of Moon Exploration” released the following year.
Birth of Japan”, which had been the highest grossing movie drama for 29 years, came in third place.

There were 5 doras in the first season before the voice actor change, and 5 doras in the second season after the change, so it’s a 50/50 split.
There has been a lot of talk about the change in voice actors, but looking at the results, I get the impression that the generational change was successful and gained an even wider fan base.

The one with the highest fan rating is “Iron Man Soldiers

出典 : Amazon.co.jp

Based on the results of multiple sites that provide popularity polls and reviews of movie dramas, we have created our own ranking of the top 10 most popular movie dramas.

Doraemon the Movie: Top 10 Popularity Ranking

No. 1: 64 pts. Nobita and the Iron Legion
No. 2: 52pt Birth of Nobita’s Japan
No. 3: 42pt Nobita and the Cloud Kingdom
No. 4: 35 pts. Nobita’s Undersea Demonstone Castle
No. 5: 32pt Nobita and the Steel Troops
No. 6: 28 pts. Nobita’s Dinosaur
No. 7: 22pt Nobita’s Lunar Exploration
No. 8: 20pt Nobita’s Grimoire Adventure
No. 8: 20pt Nobita’s Little War in Space
No. 8: 20pt Nobita and the Galaxy Express
No. 8: 20pt Nobita’s Wannabe Story

This ranking is based on the results of the following ballots and questionnaires, with 1st place = 10 points and 2nd place = 9 points … and 10th place = 1 point.

Reference materials
The top 10 reviewers’ scores for “Yahoo!
Top 10 Movie Review Scores on Movies.com
Top 10 review scores for “Filmarks
Animate Times, “Everyone’s Choice: Top 10 “Doraemon” Movie Ranking”.
goo ranking “The most impressive Doraemon movie ranking”.
Bookstore Staff’s Choice “Large-scale Doraemon” Ranking
Uniten, “Doraemon the Movie,” Popular Movie Ranking
Gadget Communications’ “Favorite Major Doraemon Feature Film,

The number one overall winner was the seventh film, Iron Man Soldiers.
It has received high ratings on all review sites, and quite a few people have recommended it as a masterpiece.
The remake of “New Nobita and the Steel Troops” also came in at No. 5, and is popular with people of all ages, making it a dandy.

The second place goes to the 10th film, “The Birth of Japan”.
The film has been ranked No. 1 for a long time, and it has been highly rated and is one of the most popular movies of Dora the movie.

The 3rd place goes to the 13th film, “Kingdom of the Clouds”.
In fact, at the time the original manga was serialized, the last two installments were not published in Corocoro due to Mr. F’s health problems, and instead an illustration story was published by the Fujiko Productions staff.
For this reason, the fans who read the original manga were able to watch the last part of the movie with a fresh feeling because of the film adaptation.

The fourth-ranked film, Undersea Demonstone Castle, as mentioned above, is the lowest-attended film in the history of movie dramas, but as you can see, the ratings are quite high, proving that attendance and box office receipts don’t always equate to actual popularity.

One thing that the top rated films have in common is that the stories are inspiring.
I get the impression that the more dramatic stories are more popular.
This is one of the major strengths of Dora the movie.

However, although “A Record of Exploration to the Moon” is the only one of the recent films that ranked on the list, it is not the best selling point of Doraemon.
Doraemon’s big appeal is that it stirs up imagination and excitement, as represented by its secret tools.
It seems that the most popular works are those that make you wonder what’s in store for you in the future.

Summary

It’s surprising that “Treasure Island”, which set a record for attendance, doesn’t have such a high rating.
On the contrary, while “The Iron Man Soldiers” has overwhelming support, it didn’t have that many moviegoers when it was released.
Perhaps the beautiful and sad ending, in which the guest heroine Riluru disappears, was too painful for the kids at the time.

Overall, I’d say Birth of Japan is the closest thing to a masterpiece, as it was both accomplished and popular, and the remake mobilized well.
However, this is only an objective assessment.
The real masterpiece must be in the minds of each of us.