Stand by Me Doraemon 2

Stand by Me Doraemon 2 (STAND BY ME ドラえもん 2) is a 2020 Japanese animated science fiction comedy film based on the Doraemon manga series and a sequel to the previous movie, the 2014 film Stand by Me Doraemon. Directed by Ryūichi Yagi and Takashi Yamazaki, it is primarily inspired by Doraemon's 2000 short film Doraemon: A Grandmother's Recollections and Doraemon's 2002 short film The Day When I Was Born.

Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film outside Asia (despite it streaming in Asian Netflix as a non-Netflix Original) and was released on December 24, 2021, on the streaming platform.

Plot
The film opens during the events of the previous movie when Nobita is in the day before his wedding with Shizuka, however his future self is seemingly distraught.

After a scolding from his mother, present Nobita grows discouraged and questions his true identity. While searching for a place to hide his exam results, he finds an old teddy bear given by his late grandmother, triggering memories of her. Nobita insists on seeing her, and Doraemon reluctantly agrees.

In the past, they encounter younger versions of Nobita, his friends, and family. By chance, Nobita reunites tearfully with his grandmother, fulfilling her wish to see him during his primary school days. However, she also wishes to see his future bride. They panic when discovering that the future Nobita has apparently run away from the wedding. In the future, present Nobita fills in for his future self during the wedding but leaves midway due to speech anxiety. Desperate to find the future Nobita, they discover that the time machine has vanished. Doraemon uses the "Soul Time Machine" to transport Nobita's soul to the past, enabling them to retrieve the time machine and the "Path-Finding Stick". By using the stick, they manage to find the future Nobita who is hiding in the present era. He explains why and how he got to this era and laments that he could have been a better person and that he would be happier if Shizuka forgot he existed entirely. To help him overcome his resentment, Doraemon uses the "Switching Rope", a trial gadget sent to him earlier, to swap the bodies of the two Nobita's. However, a salesperson from the future then arrives telling them that if they are not switched back within one hour, their memories would be erased permanently.

In a panic, the present Nobita (in future Nobita's body) and Doraemon search for future Nobita (in present Nobita's body). Future Nobita in the meantime, encounters Shizuka but gets into a fight with older bullies. While attempting to evade them, he consistently fades in and out of consciousness, but his friends join in and eventually win scaring the bullies off. Both Nobita's then go unconscious, worrying both his friends and Doraemon. Doraemon then uses the "Anywhere Door" to go to present Nobita's body and manages to switch both of their souls, preventing their memories from being erased. Future Nobita then finally realizes the reason why Shizuka truly likes him and decides it is time to return home but not before going to the day of his birth, where they learn about the meaning of their name.

They all return to the wedding venue, where present Nobita and Doraemon bid farewell to future Nobita. Future Nobita delivers a heartfelt speech referencing his recent experiences and notices his past self with his crying grandmother observing the wedding. He then confesses to a confused Shizuka that Doraemon has saved him for one final time.

Back during the time his grandmother is alive, she points out the strengths Nobita has and Nobita bursts into tears listening. They part ways and return to the time machine. In a pretend fight, Nobita is accidentally hit with the "Forgetting Stick," causing him to forget most of the day's events. Doraemon decides it is better to keep it that way and assures Nobita that his grandmother's wish will be fulfilled.

During the end credits, many points of Nobita's past and future life and the events on the current day it takes place in are seen with the final one showing a frame of him with his grandmother and him with Shizuka.

Release
It was originally scheduled to release in theaters on 7 August 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was temporarily removed from the release schedule, and was replaced by Doraemon: Nobita's New Dinosaur (which had been postponed from a previous March release). The film was then postponed to 20 November 2020 when it was given a theatrical release in Japan. The film was released in Indonesia on 19 February 2021, and in Malaysia on 5 March 2021 Netflix released an English dub in Japan on 6 November 2021 featuring role reprisals of the cast of Bang Zoom! Entertainment's English dub of the 2005 anime. Netflix also released both the English and Japanese dub (with subtitles for each) worldwide on December 24, 2021.

Soundtrack
The theme song is Niji (Rainbow) by Masaki Suda.

Box office
Debuting on 416 screens with limitations on seating capacity due to COVID-19 pandemic, Stand by Me Doraemon 2 earned $3.7million on 305,000 admissions in its first weekend and ranked number-two on Japanese box office.

Here is a table which shows the box office of this movie of all the weekends in Japan: