Uncle and His Elephant

Plot

Nobita's uncle Nobirou visits the family and recounts a childhood memory of his favorite zoo elephant named Trunk. During the war, he had to evacuate Tokyo and left Trunk behind; after the war, he learned the elephant had been killed. Angered, Nobita and Doraemon travel back in time to save Trunk. In the wartime zoo, they find a keeper about to feed Trunk poisonous potatoes, which the elephant recognizes and refuses.

The keeper explains it is a government order to prevent animals from escaping after bombings. The keeper reports to the zoo director, who is being lectured by a Japanese military officer. Nobita suggests sending Trunk to India, but the officer refuses, saying it is impossible during wartime. Nobita and Doraemon argue that the war is almost over and Japan will lose, prompting the officer to accuse them of being enemy spies and order their arrest.

An air raid occurs, Trunk escapes from a damaged cage, and the officer orders the zoo sealed and Trunk killed once found. Doraemon uses the Small light to shrink Trunk and places it inside a rocket mailbox, sending it to the jungles of India. Back in the present, the uncle continues his story, saying he got lost in the Indian jungle for days and was saved by Trunk. Nobita's father and uncle think it must be a dream, but Nobita and Doraemon know Trunk is alive in India.

In the 1980 version, Trunk is shown bonding with a female elephant and having two babies. In the 2007 version, the uncle is changed to an old man met at the zoo. In the 2017 version, the uncle is named Nobishirou and is a wildlife photographer; Trunk saves the military officer trapped under debris during an air raid, moving the officer to allow Doraemon to send Trunk away.

Historical background

Before the war, Ueno Zoo housed three elephants: two females named Tonky and Wanri, and a male named John. Within a month, 27 individuals from 14 species were poisoned, starved, or directly killed.

Only Wanri survived temporarily because she could recognize poisonous food and was secretly fed by zookeepers, but she was killed on September 23 under Ōdachi's orders. Statistics show that all Japanese zoos killed about 300 animals between 1944 and 1945, with similar events in Japanese-controlled Northeast China and Taiwan. The official explanation was to prevent animals from escaping during air raids, but scholar Ian Jared Miller argues the government used the cruelty to brainwash people into sacrificing for the empire.

Impact

The 2017 version was the first episode of Power Up Doraemon, directed by Shinnosuke Yakuwa and supervised by Yoshihiro Ōsugi, featuring improved animation quality and a new title sequence. Yakuwa stated he had long been interested in animals killed during wars, and the team researched the emotions and history related to the story. Ōsugi noted that creating war-related content required determination and courage, as the story could easily become a simple heart-warming tale, but they believed it was distinct because Doraemon and Nobita, as time travelers with modern thoughts, could express opinions to people of that era and bring change.

An article in the People's Daily proposed that the 2017 version conveys a thematic message closer to the manga, with the scene of Trunk saving the officer showing war's impact on human nature and questioning Japan's involvement in the war. In this episode, Doraemon and Nobita cheerfully mention Japan lost the war, which Chinese netizens saw as a just perspective on the Second Sino-Japanese War, while Japanese right-wing forces labeled it anti-Japan.