Doraemon’s physical appearance changed as the manga progressed. At first, he was predominantly kingfish colour, with a red tail, a white stomach, and flesh-coloured hands and feet. He also stooped, and had a body much larger than his head. In later issues, he sported a smaller body, white hands and feet, and a red tail — the appearance most identify him with today. In “The Doraemons” story arc (and the 2112: The Birth of Doraemon short film), it is revealed that Doraemon’s original paint color was yellow. After getting his ears gnawed off by a robot mouse at the 22nd century Nobi’s residence, he slipped into depression on top of a tower, where he erroneously drank a potion labeled “sadness”. As he wept, the yellow color washed off and his voice changed due to the potion. As a result, he developed a morbid fear of mice despite being a robotic cat, and he is now suffering from musophobia.
Doraemon is considered a substandard product because many of his robotic features (i.e. radar whiskers and cat-calling bell) malfunctioned after production due to an accident in the factory while he was being built. Due to this malfunction, Doraemon did not do well at the robot’s school and during the final presentation show, he performed badly and nobody wanted to hire him, until baby Sewashi pushed the button. His parents were a bit reluctant, but since Sewashi liked him, they hired Doraemon, and he took care of him until Sewashi himself sent him to the past to take care of Nobita. Despite this, Doraemon shows a lot of intelligence and common sense. Whenever he hangs out with his friend Mii-Chan (a cute street cat), he calls it ‘important and busy work’ as excuses for not doing work when Nobita or his mother ask him to do something when he will be going out with Mii. As a robot, Doraemon can be shut down if his balloon tail is pulled.
Doraemon’s favourite food is dorayaki (どら焼き) (known as “fudgy pudgy pie” in the English version of the manga, “yummy buns” in the English, and “dora-cakes/bean jam buns” in other versions), a Japanese treat filled with red bean paste. While it might explain the origin of his name, it was revealed in one of the manga chapters that his name originates from the Japanese word nora neko (のら猫) for “stray cat”, and the -emon (衛門) ending which is part of traditional Japanese names, as seen also in, for example, Ishikawa Goemon. Doraemon is also appeared in Perman series as Mitsuo’s friend.[7][8][9]