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Pro Soccer Player Takefusa Kubo Guest Stars in Doraemon Anime's New Year Special 2024

TV Asahi revealed on Saturday that professional soccer player Takefusa Kubo will appear in this year's New Year's Eve 1-Hour Special for the Doreamon anime on December 31. Kubo plays for Spain's Real Sociedad soccer team.

The New Year's Eve special will feature four stories "Toshikoshi wa Spain de" (New Year's Eve in Spain), "Kani Tabetai" (I Want to Eat Crab!), "Hikkoshi Chizu de O-hikkoshi" (Move with the Moving Map), and "Okane Nante Daikirai!" (I Hate Money!). "Toshikoshi wa Spain de" takes place in Spain, and it marks the 30th anniversary of the anime's broadcast in the country. In the story, Nobita accdientally falls asleep and misses New Year's Eve. Doraemon informs him that the new year has not yet started in Spain, so they go to its capital Madrid. Real-life soccer player Kubo appears in Madrid and shows off his soccer skills. An additional segment will air in Spanish to introduce words and phrases in the language.

Eiga Doraemon: Nobita no Esekai Monogatari (The Tale of Nobita's Picture World), the 44th film in the Doraemon franchise, is slated to open in Japan on March 7, 2025. The film commemorates the 45th anniversary of Doraemon movies.

The 2024 Doraemon film Eiga Doraemon: Nobita no Chikyū Symphony (Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's Earth Symphony) opened at #1 in Japan last March. The film sold 538,000 tickets for 655,555,580 yen (about US$4.37 million) in its first weekend.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web