The Scariest Episode in Dora History!? "Shadow Cutting" / A Slightly Horror-Filled Story ①

My elementary school-aged son borrowed a book called "Seven Mysteries Restaurant" from the school library. Thinking the title sounded familiar, I looked it up and found it was a horror anthology series for children that is very popular, called “Ghost Restaurant” series.

It is a long-selling series that spans 50 volumes and has even been adapted into movies and anime, but since it wasn't released when I was a child, I was completely unaware of it.

I borrowed it and read it right away, and found it contained both classic ghost stories from all over the world and original scary tales, which I was able to read through smoothly and enjoyably. It is deeply moving to realize that these kinds of "slightly scary" stories are popular with children in every era.

While Fujiko F. Fujio's works are mostly gag manga, among them he also drew slightly scary stories that make you laugh while also giving you a sudden chill. It is said that Fujiko-sensei often listened to rakugo ghost stories on the radio, so perhaps he had a fondness for that kind of short-form horror.

Of course, among his SF short stories, there are some that are genuinely scary, and others that start with a horror tone but end with a gag.

This time, I would like to collect these “slightly horror” stories and enjoy the diverse variations of fear depicted by Fujiko-sensei.

As the first installment, we will look at the most horror-filled episode from the early days of Doraemon. I will try to carefully capture the horror direction of each scene as much as possible.

The season is midsummer. Dad calls out to Nobita, who is wilting from the heat, from the garden. He tells him to help with weeding the garden. Nobita is fed up with the heat and replies, "I'll do it when it gets cooler."

When Dad asks, "When will it get cooler?", Nobita comes out with a famous line.

The point of Dad's question was "at what time" it would get cooler, but since Nobita answered in terms of months, Dad naturally gets angry.

Nobita retorts, "If I go outside on a day like this, I'll get heatstroke." He then escalates it, saying, "Doesn't Dad love his child? I knew it, I'm not your real child," and continues to grumble while lounging in his room.

He continues to lounge in his room while grumbling.

Rather than seriously doubting his parent-child relationship, it's just a light remark, but in “The Day I Was Born”, published a year after this work, he was crying, somewhat seriously, that "I'm not your real child."

Seeing Nobita like that, Doraemon says, "Good grief, should I take that out?" and pulls a pair of scissors from his pocket. He doesn't say what he will do with these scissors, but says, "Only for 30 minutes, though."

Doraemon takes Nobita out to the garden and makes him stand in a sunny spot. Due to the midsummer sun, a sharp, dark shadow stretches out from Nobita. Doraemon uses the scissors he is holding to snip the shadow away.

Nobita's severed shadow rises up and begins to move as if it has a mind of its own. Doraemon's scissors were, quite literally, a tool to create a shadow double of Nobita.

Incidentally, the official name of these scissors is unknown. While the title of this work, "Shadow Cutting", might seem like the name of the tool, it is actually named after the act of hunting Nobita's shadow later on.

As an aside, Takao Saito has a ninja series called "Kagegari" (Shadow Hunters), and it is expected that the title of this work is based on that.

Nobita's shadow seems to obey any command; when ordered to weed the garden within 30 minutes, it diligently starts the work and finishes it in about 10 minutes. Despite being Nobita's shadow, it seems to possess both initiative and obedience.

Doraemon emphasizes the 30-minute limit again. He says that if it isn't reattached with glue after 30 minutes, something terrible will happen. This "glue" also has no name, but it seems the scissors for cutting the shadow and the glue for reattaching it are a set.

Now, Nobita takes this time limit lightly. After the weeding, he treats the shadow like a convenient servant, making it fetch cola and fan him with a paper fan.

The way Nobita treats his shadow at this moment foreshadows what will happen to him later, serving as a subtle setup for horror.

When the phone rings, he has the shadow answer it, but since it is a shadow, it cannot speak. Nobita hurriedly takes over, and it turns out to be a friend calling to say, "Return the book I've lent you for a long time." Nobita says he will have it delivered immediately and sends the shadow on an errand with the book.

The phone scene here emphasizes that the shadow is silent, which sets up the mechanism to surprise the reader (and Nobita) when the shadow suddenly starts speaking later.

Nobita has sent the shadow away. Looking at the clock, he sees that 30 minutes are almost up. Nobita is relaxed, thinking, "Isn't five or ten minutes fine?" but then Doraemon arrives, shocked, saying, "You sent it on an errand!? What have you done!!"

As the shadow still hasn't returned, Doraemon begins to break into a cold sweat, saying, "It might be too late." And then, he reveals a shocking fact.

Doraemon, why didn't you tell me such an important thing sooner!

A shadow cut out with scissors begins to develop a "will" over time and transforms from a shadow into the real thing. And, terrifyingly, the person who was real ends up swapping places and becoming the shadow.

By this point, most of the foreshadowing for the horror has been laid out, and the real story begins here. Along with the resolution of the foreshadowing, horror scenes will follow one after another.

"We have to reattach it while we still can," Doraemon and Nobita say as they rush out of the house. However, Nobita's shadow hides by the house's entrance, waiting for the two to leave before slipping inside.

This is an excellent scene that reveals the shadow has already gained wisdom and become clever.

Incidentally, in the first half of the story, Nobita is unusually wearing a tank top to show he is hot, but when he leaves the house, he is wearing his usual clothes.

The shadow of Nobita that was cut off should have been wearing a tank top, but from then on, it is depicted wearing Nobita's clothes. It seems the shadow's appearance reflects the person's current appearance in real-time.

When they head to the house of Katakura-kun, where they sent him to return a book, they are told the shadow already left. Doraemon predicts that it is hiding somewhere, waiting for time to pass. It turns out that the shadow and the real person will swap places in just two hours.

It stops listening after 30 minutes, and completely swaps with the shadow in two hours... The scissors used to cut off the shadow seem to be a terrifying secret tool that comes with the danger of constant accidents.

Note that the name Katakura refers to Mr. Yoji Katakura, who served as an assistant since the serialization of "Doraemon," and his name is often used in other works as well.

The shadow that invaded the Nobi house eats the entire watermelon that Nobita and the others were supposed to eat and then leaves. Mom and Dad witness this. When the real Nobita returns, Mom starts nagging him, saying, "The shadow from earlier was definitely your..."

Through this line from Mom, Nobita and the others learn that the shadow has returned to the house. They brush off Mom, who is trying to continue her nagging, by saying "I'll explain later," and begin searching for the shadow. It is a casual scene, but the fact that Mom is angry at Nobita will connect to the ending.

Doraemon looks at Nobita and lets out a small scream, "Eek!" He says that Nobita's body is turning dark and that "you've already started to become a shadow." Nobita shudders in fear as he looks at his blackened hands and feet.

It doesn't turn into a shadow all at once, but rather gradually approaches becoming a shadow in this way, a technique used to draw out the reader's suspense and sense of horror.

When they go upstairs to the second floor wondering "where did it go?", the shadow isn't even hiding; it is just lying in Nobita's room reading manga. It is darker than Nobita, but not as pitch-black as before, and it is a body that one can tell is Nobita at a glance.

This strangely calm demeanor and the cunning expression as it smirks clearly convey that the shadow is a formidable opponent.

When Doraemon raises his voice, saying, "Attach yourself back to Nobita-kun!", the shadow starts to speak, saying "No way." Nobita shudders, saying, "Wow, it can talk."

This is a terrifying scene that suggests the shadow is rapidly gaining wisdom and will soon truly swap places with Nobita.

From here on, a direct confrontation between Shadow Nobita versus Nobita and Doraemon unfolds with bold action.

When the two of them jump at the shadow together, it still retains its unique shadow properties, slipping away by thinning its body and escaping through the gap in the door into the hallway. Nobita and the others chase after it desperately, but they collide head-on with the door.

Carrying the 'Shadow Catcher' that can capture shadows, the two split up to search for it. The shadow, having become quite cunning, prepares a bucket of pitch-black muddy water from out of nowhere and splashes it all over the real Nobita.

Seeing Nobita covered in black, Doraemon mistakes him for the shadow and captures him with the Shadow Catcher. Just then, the shadow appears in front of them, and Nobita, still stuck to the catcher, swings it around, smashing the sliding door to pieces.

This series of slapstick action is a favorite scene of mine that I laugh at no matter how many times I read it.

Mom is furious about the broken sliding door. Here too, Nobita runs away, saying, 'I'll get scolded slowly later.' This is the second time he has made Mom angry, but this is also an important sequence that leads to the finale.

When they wash off the muddy water in the bath, he looks much closer to the shadow than before. Shadow Nobita appears and calls out nastily, 'I'll take your place soon.' The darkness of the shadow's color looks almost the same as the real Nobita.

The clever shadow disappears into the pitch-black space above the ceiling. Once the shadow enters a dark place, it's game over. It's almost impossible to find it. And the time limit is fast approaching.

In this desperate situation, Mom storms in, saying, 'I won't let you get away this time.' Doraemon seems to have a flash of inspiration. Instead of letting Nobita escape, he hands him over to Mom.

With that, they go out into the sunny garden, and Mom begins to lecture Nobita. 'I'll hold a grudge for this,' says Nobita. Doraemon, looking pleased with himself, takes out a pair of scissors and starts snipping away at something.

When he calls out, 'Please,' Mom's shadow rises up. What Doraemon thought of was a strategy to use Mom's shadow to capture Nobita's shadow, by using Mom's shadow to capture it.

And this idea works perfectly, and Nobita's shadow is easily caught by Mom's shadow's 'Shadow Catcher'.

There was also a story about switching places with Nobita in a mirror, but switching places with one's own shadow is also a horror episode that leaves quite an impact. Once you become a shadow, your will to think is taken away, and you are used as the main body pleases.

The more you think about it, the scarier it is.

However, while it is scary, the middle part is quite funny, and the way the ending is resolved is, above all, brilliant. If you look closely, there are layers of foreshadowing, making it a work like a short drama that boasts a high degree of perfection.