Explaining Doraemon’s perduring popularity: Structural analysis, specious technology and mother’s indulgent affection

Structural analysis of the Japanese anime Doraemon reveals the source of the unimaginable popularity of this children’s cartoon in the paradigmatic structure ‘Doraemon’s gadgets : Nobita’s problems :: Doraemon : Nobita.’ The paradigmatic structure’s minor contradiction shows us that neither Nobita’s childish childhood problems nor the hyper-technology of the future Doraemon pulls from its pouch, as funny as they can be made to seem, matter in this world; but the major contradiction, that the practices of affectionate indulgence of Japanese mothering both do and do not build children’s characters to succeed in the outside world, presents a relationship that Japanese children and their parents can never rehearse enough. In this long-running myth, the role of Mother is played by Doraemon.