This blue cat looks a hell of a lot similar to Garfield too.

Weird. I could've sworn that it was on really early in the morning when I was a kid in the US. I went to Japan as an exchange student when I was 13 so I got used to seeing him everywhere, but when I got back I thought I remembered him at around 5AM.

Wikipedia says that "due to unknown circumstances leading to the series to not air on the network as planned, the license was eventually dropped." I wonder what those circumstances were. Garfield's increasing popularity maybe?

I've got what I consider a pretty legit DVD box set of Doraemon's early cartoons. I got it off a site that also did Studio Ghibli/Evangelion etc.. I know that nudity's different for childrens' shows (Nobi's nude at various times) but there's also a lot of "shits" and "fucks" in the subtitles. Judging by their other DVDs and my basic knowledge of Japanese, I don't think the swearing's some kind of joke like the GI Joe PSAs. Was the kids' show really meant to be so vulgar?

I've seen it in a lot of kid's shows where the subtitles dirty it up a lot more than it was originally. For example, I've noticed that they often translate "mukatsuku" to "fuck," but it is more like "jerk."

Doraemon is a really good kids show. It's a lot less psychologically damaging than Anpanman, too.

Yeah. You can't eat Doraemon's head.. well I guess you could, but you wouldn't WANT to eat Doraemon's head, and if you tried, Doraemon wouldn't LET you eat a part of his head. :(

I figured it was something lost in translation, like how "Army of Darkness" became "Mr Supermarket." When I was in Japan I saw a KFC and it actually said "King Fuck Chicken" on the marquee. I didn't watch much TV when I was there but if I did, it'd be things like Doraemon which I couldn't find in the states. I wonder if shows like Sesame Street had words that would be equally vulgar when translated for Japanese audiences.

If you waited until Doraemon was asleep, you could probably get away with eating any part of his head you wanted.

It's worked in the past.