Sebagai cerita berseri, sebenarnya tidak pernah ada perkembangan waktu dalam cerita Doraemon. Walau kadang digambarkan terjadinya perubahan musim atau bahkan perubahan tahun (Doraemon pertama kali dikisahkan muncul pada tahun 1969, tapi di salah satu cerita di buku ke 25, jelas-jelas dikatakan saat itu adalah tahun 1982), Nobita dan teman-temannya tidak pernah beranjak dari kelas 4 SD.
Hanya ada 3 versi resmi tentang “tamatnya” Doraemon, masing-masing diterbitkan di majalah Shogaku 4-nensei (kelas 4 SD) pada tahun 1971, 1972 dan 1973. Walau begitu, Doraemon selalu dikisahkan kembali. Tidak pernah ada versi resmi di mana Doraemon benar-benar pergi sampai selama-lamanya. Dengan begitu, cerita tentang tamatnya Doraemon adalah buatan para fans sendiri.
Dari berbagai macam versi, mungkin versi dibawah ini yang paling mengharukan dan paling populer (walau ternyata versi terjemahan di bawah ini sudah disingkat dari versi Jepangnya yang lebih mendetail).
Daku sendiri kadang hampir nangis walau sudah baca berulang-ulang.
Catatan: Cerita sengaja tidak diterjemahkan. Untuk keterangan lebih lanjut mengenai berbagai macam ending Doraemon, lihat wikipedia.
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One day, a very normal day, Nobita came back from school and went upstairs of his house. Doraemon was there sleeping, just like the other normal day.
“Hey, Doraemon, please wake up, lets play! “, but Doraemon does not wake up.
Nobita thought that Doraemon is tired, so he went out to play with Shizuka-chan and other folks. After few hours, he returned to his home, but Doraemon was still sleeping. Nobita felt something strange, and tried to wake him up. But there was no reply. He became to feel afraid, and tried to wake him up. But whatever he does, Doraemon did not wake up. Nobita exactly knew that something was different.
This never happened before. He began crying, but though he screamed or cried, the famous fat-cat-robot did not make a single move at all. He came up to one idea, and jumped into his desk-the time machine-and went to the future to meet Dorami-chan, Doraemon’s sister. He begged her for help, and forced her to go with him back to 1998.
After a short trip again back to 1998 by the time machine, Dorami-chan looked all over his brother Doraemon to see what was wrong with him. After few minutes, she said “the battery is out”
Nobita was relieved, and said, “Battery? So he is not broken right? Please replace or recharge his battery, and put him back like before.”
But Dorami-chan shook her head and said,”Nobita-san, should I really do that?”
Nobita said, “What? What do you mean?”
Dorami-chan replied, “His main battery is here, close to his pocket. And it ran out. But originally, he had a back-up battery in his ears, but as you know, his ears were eaten by a rat very many years ago, so he does not have a back-up battery now.”
“So what do you mean?”
“I mean, if I replace his battery, every memory of you will be eternally lost from his brain program.”
“WHAT?????”
“Shall I do that?”
Nobita closed his eyes. He cried, but after few minutes, he stopped crying,and quietly told Dorami-chan, “Dorami-chan, thanks for coming here. I will take care of the rest. You have to go back to your future time now.”
Dorami-chan could not decide what to do, but anyway she hugged Nobita quietly, and she went back home. After he went back, Nobita carried Doraemon and placed him into the shelf.
TIME FLIES……….
Year 2010, Nobita grew up. Since that day, he changed. He studied hard, did not cry anymore, and he lived without Doraemon. He told Shizuka and other folks that Doraemon had to go back to his future, and could not meet him anymore.
Shizuka was impressed to Nobita’s mysterious appearance which became completely different from 10 years ago. They fell in love, and married. Nobita became a scientist. He made a laboratory in his room, and was studying hard with his job all day. He told Shizuka not to come into the room, as it is very dangerous inside.
But one day, he called Shizuka and told her to come in to his room. It was the first time for her to enter his husband’s room. The moment she went in, she lost her words… There was her friend, Doraemon, who she used to play in her childhood days. Doraemon was not moving. It seemed as he was sleeping.
“Look, Shizuka, I will plug in from now.” Nobita turned on the main switch on Doraemon. Doraemon quietly, very quietly, started to open his eyes.
It was the moment the inventor of Doraemon became clear. It was Nobita. He studied hard and hard just to meet and talk with his old friend again. Going back and forth of time, Nobita was the one who made Doraemon. He discovered all the programs and architecture of Doraemon-type-robot.
Nobita and Shizuka was crying gently.
Doraemon opened his eyes. He looked around, and finally said, “Nobita-kun, did you finish your homework?”
There was the same white clouds in the sky like the times they used to spend together…
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