After decades of watching Doraemon and his close friend groups adventure to all sorts of strange lands from the deepest trenches on Earth to fantastical planets, fans of the beloved cat robot in Vietnam will finally see our country in the cartoon series.
Japanese television station TV Asahi announced earlier this month that a special episode of the long-enduring children’s series Doraemon will take place in Vietnam, the third foreign location the characters have traveled to after Thailand and Spain.
The premise of the Vietnam episode, titled ‘The Gift Is a Trip to Vietnam,’ revolves around Shizuka’s birthday celebration in May. After she expresses interest in visiting Vietnam, Nobita, as usual, asks for Doraemon’s help to make the trip happen as a birthday gift to her. The plan is derailed once they discover that their go-to instant travel gadget, Anywhere Door, is broken.
The Vietnam adventure will take place anyway, if the episode trailer is any indication, as many iconic destinations and landmarks in Vietnam are shown: the Saigon Post Office, Hội An Ancient Town, the Dragon Bridge in Đà Nẵng, Hạ Long Bay, and more. Dressed in áo dài and wearing nón lá, the characters will need to enlist the help of Translation Konjac, which comes in the form of Translation Bánh Mì, to communicate in the Vietnamese languages with locals.
The episode is scheduled to be broadcast on TV Asahi on Saturday, May 23 in Japanese. According to Tuổi Trẻ, it will be available for watchers in Vietnam via the PopKids YouTube page, but an official premiere has not been announced at the time of writing.
Have a look at some screenshots from the trailer below:
Images of the trailer via Facebook page Mon Fansub.
