Doraemon began as a Japanese manga created by Fujiko F. Fujio, first published in 1969, before becoming a long running anime series and film franchise. The character is a robotic cat from the future sent back to help schoolboy Nobita Nobi, using futuristic gadgets pulled from his pocket. The manga and anime spread widely across Asia and later worldwide through television, movies and merchandise. Short clips linked to the character remain popular online because they tap into decades of familiarity and are easy to reuse for nostalgic, family friendly comedy.