Doraemon (1979 TV series)

The series follows the titular character, a cat-like robot from the 22nd century who travels to the present day to help an uneducated, naïve, and clumsy 10-year-old elementary school boy named Nobita Nobi to guide him in the proper direction for his future. Nobita's friends include Shizuka Minamoto, his closest friend and love interest, as well as Takeshi "Gian" Gōda and Suneo Honekawa, who, while sometimes kind, frequently abuse and bully him. A typical episode of the series involves Nobita asking Doraemon for a gadget (usually to help him with a personal task or to get back at Gian and Suneo). Normally, these gadgets end up causing chaos for Nobita and those around him.

Following the finale of the 1973 series, the rights to the Doraemon manga were lost, as Nippon TeleMovie Productions, the production studio of the 1973 series, shut down the same day on the broadcast of the show's final episode. However, Daikichirō Kusube gained the author's trust and secured the rights to Tokyo Movie, a production firm where he was in charge of sales at the time.

In late 1976, the rights were transferred to Shin-Ei Animation as Tokyo Movie parted ways with Kusube which led to the latter becoming Tokyo Movie Shinsha. In late 1977, Kusube requested one out of two of the creators of Doraemon, Hiroshi Fujimoto, for permission to produce another anime series based on the manga.

Isao Takahata, whom Kusube had asked to do, prepared a proposal and submitted it to Fujimoto, who agreed with the plan. Shin-Ei Animation originally began selling the rights to Yomiuri TV, where Juichi Sano produced a full-scale proposal, but the idea failed due to a lack of understanding among the station's upper management and were later transferred to advertising agency Asatsu. Doraemon first began airing in Japan on TV Asahi on April 2, 1979.^[14]