Doraemon film takes Nobita to Victorian London in March 2027

The next Doraemon film has a date and a destination. Eiga Doraemon: Nobita no Joki Jikansha — Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's Steam Time Locomotive — opens in Japan on Friday 5 March 2027, the 46th entry in a cinema series that has been running since 1980.

A steam train to the 19th century

The film's official site sets the scene in 19th-century London. Nobita and Doraemon leave the Japan of the 21st century aboard a time machine built as a steam locomotive — the 蒸気時間車, or Steam Time Locomotive — and the story is described as a wholly original adventure rather than an adaptation of an existing manga chapter. The teaser visual leans hard into the idea, dressing the cast in period clothing and setting them against a brass-and-soot locomotive with Big Ben behind it.

The tonal pitch is nostalgic rather than technological. The teaser arrives with what the production calls a nostalgic view of the film's world, and the director's own comment frames the project as an adventure picture about a time journey full of dreams and romance that is also, in the film's own phrase, a little strange.

New faces in the director's chair

Both of the film's leads are new to the Doraemon movie series. Rushio Moriyama directs, having worked on the Doraemon television anime since 2020 across a long run of episodes. The screenplay comes from Makoto Ueda, head of the Kyoto theatre troupe Europe Kikaku and a writer long associated with stories about time and science fiction, including the stage play behind Summer Time Machine Blues. Ueda wrote the 2024 Doraemon television birthday special, so this is a step up rather than a debut.

Fujiko F. Fujio's original work remains the foundation, with Toho distributing. The film was first announced for spring 2027 in July, and the 5 March date, the teaser video and the teaser visual were all confirmed together in September.

Our opinion

There is a version of the Doraemon movie franchise that plays it safe every March, and then there is the version that puts a time-travelling steam locomotive in Victorian London and hands the script to the man behind Summer Time Machine Blues. The second one is far more interesting. Ueda's whole career is built on the comedy of people who have misunderstood how time works, which is precisely the register Doraemon films live in when they are at their best, and Moriyama's years on the television series mean the production should understand how these characters actually behave rather than how they look on a poster. The risk is that the franchise's original-story entries occasionally mistake atmosphere for plot, and a sepia Victorian setting is an easy place to hide a thin second act. But a series that has reached its 46th film earned the right to take a swing, and this is the most distinctive swing it has taken in years.