Nobita's 3 Great Talents are Amazing! Gun Edition / Doraemon Analysis 6

"Gun King Contest"
"Shogaku Rokunensei" January 1976 Issue / Fujiko F. Fujio Complete Works Vol. 3

It is a well-known fact that although Nobita is hopeless at everything, he has a few special talents, all of which are at a world-class level. Nobita's merits are(1) Guns (2) Cat's Cradle (3) Napping.

First, regarding (2) Cat's Cradle and (3) Napping, these are talents that appear in various episodes, but stories that focus on them include"Cat's Cradle World" (1977) and "Napping Genius Nobita" (1982). Both of these are stories about a "What-If World" created by the"What-If Box" where cat's cradle and napping are the most important competitions (?) in the world."What-If World"

In this what-if world, Nobita becomes the cat's cradle champion and the napping champion. In other words, he possesses world-class ability in cat's cradle and napping. While it is unclear what use these talents have, being world-class is amazing.

By the way, the "What-If Box" is a representative secret gadget in Doraemon that allows one to actually experience a thought experiment world of "What if the world were...?". As a writer, it is a very challenging secret gadget that tests the author's imagination. Sensei F seemed to like this gadget, and since its first appearance in the January 1976 issue of "Shogaku Yonnensei," he has repeatedly featured it with various themes.

Beyond the cat's cradle and napping worlds, he has frequently used it whenever he was stuck for ideas, such as in "A World Without Money," "A World Without Sound," "A World Without Mirrors," and "A World Where Nobita Transfers Schools."

And the culmination of the "What-If Box" is likely the feature-length film"Nobita's Great Adventure into the Underworld". It is a masterpiece in F-sensei's history that combined the grand idea of "a world where magic, not science, has developed" into a great spectacle with an exciting and thrilling development. I would like to analyze this work again with full effort.

Next, regarding the talent of (1) Guns.

Perhaps the most brilliant of Nobita's talents is his gun technique. Nobita, who is usually laid-back, somehow displays insight and reflexes as if he were a different person when holding a gun, instantly turning into a first-class gunman who never misses his target.

A representative work using this gun technique is"Gunfighter Nobita" (1980). It is a story where Nobita, who heads to the world of the Wild West in a time machine, is left behind and ends up fighting villains in a Western town.

I watched this story on TV when I was a child. At the time, it was a 10-minute broadcast every day, but this work was broadcast over two days as a two-part story, and I remember being so excited across the dates. Although Doraemon (Dorami)'s secret gadgets eventually appear, the setting where he basically has to face difficulties with Nobita's own raw ability made my blood boil and my heart race.

F-sensei must have liked this story too. In the second feature-length Doraemon film, "Nobita's Spaceblazer", which began serialization a few months after he wrote this, he had Nobita hold a gun again and wrote a space version of a Western. This work was the first feature-length story written with the intention of becoming a movie from the start, and it is an ambitious masterpiece that mixes the world of Westerns, which F-sensei loved since he was a child, with the world of space sci-fi. I would like to conduct a full-effort analysis of this work in another episode as well.

Now, the setting that he is good at guns was first properly depicted in the work I am taking up this time,"Gun King Contest". This work does not go to the Wild West or space as mentioned before, but is a dream-filled story where friends compete for the title of Gun King in their usual town. In the work, when starting the contest, he has Gian speak for the children's feelings by saying, "I love games like this. It's been my dream since kindergarten."

Now, I would like to look at this hidden (?) masterpiece from the beginning.

Gian, Suneo, and another boy are playing gun games in the usual vacant lot. The three of them are holding model guns: a Luger Automatic 1908, a Walther PPK, and a Buntline Special, respectively, and they are drawn with a precision that demonstrates F-sensei's hobby. In particular, the Buntline that Gian has is also introduced as the famous gun used by Wyatt Earp. F-sensei was also a gun enthusiast.

Nobita is mocked for not having a model gun and goes home, but as soon as he returns, he searches the closet for a toy gun that shoots corks. Then, he stands several pencils on his desk and points the gun at them, knocking them down one after another. One hundred shots, one hundred hits. This is the scene where Nobita's talent is first revealed.

Seeing that, Doraemon shows admiration as if mocking him, saying, "Everyone has some merit, don't they?" Nobita, feeling annoyed, replies, "If I had been born in the American West about 100 years earlier, I think I would have left my name in history as a gunman." There is no doubt that this one line led to the idea for "Gunfighter Nobita."

To fulfill Nobita's wish, Doraemon takes out a secret gadget called the "Air Pistol." It is a device where you drip liquid on your fingertip and say "Bang," and a lump of air shoots out to knock the opponent unconscious.

Nobita heads back to the vacant lot and calls out to Gian and the others who were continuing their gun game. He suggests that everyone have a gun contest. The rules are to load this air pistol into all 10 fingers, everyone scatters into town, they duel when they meet, and if you get shot, you lose. And the one who remains until the end becomes the Gun King.

Thinking it looked interesting, a crowd gathered and the contest began. This is where Nobita's gunman technique really shines. First, he lets the boy he meets shoot first after saying, "Go ahead," and then takes him down with a single, effortless shot.

Seeing this, Suneo and another boy try to take Nobita down together, creeping up on him from behind. Suddenly, Gunman Nobita's insight sharpens. Spotting the two in the rearview mirror of a parked car, he turns around instantly and takes them both down with two shots. This scene is just incredibly cool.

He then provokes three people who were having a shootout in the vacant lot and wipes them all out with three shots. Finally, only Gian remains. He re-checks his remaining ammo and calculates that he should have three shots left.

Gian watches Nobita from behind a bush. Gian whistles to sic three stray dogs on Nobita, but Nobita, caught off guard, ends up using his remaining three shots to take down the dogs.

"Heh heh heh," Gian appears before Nobita just like a villain from a Western. Since Gian had been hiding from the start, he still has all ten of his shots left, unlike Nobita who just ran out.

"Where do you want me to aim? Your head? Your chest?" His lines are just like a villain's, too. Nobita is slowly being cornered. However, Gunman Nobita is quick-witted. He grabs the arm of the boy he took down earlier, fires the remaining bullet, and defeats Gian.

This entire gunman showdown is truly Nobita's moment to shine. It might just be the coolest Nobita has ever been since the series began. I highly recommend reading this hidden masterpiece to fully enjoy it.

Bonus:Nobita was pleased to be re-evaluated by everyone, but when he got home, he pointed his finger at his mom and said, "I worked so hard and I'm starving. Bang Is dinner ready yet?"... Actually, he had one shot left in his air pistol, and his mom gets shot and faints. The story ends with Nobita unable to count, saying, "Did I get the number of bullets wrong? One shot there, two shots there..."