Ryo Hirohashi will voice the submersible Buggy and Shoya Chiba will voice the soldier El in “Doraemon the Movie: New Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil.” The film will open on February 27, 2026.
Shoya Chiba as El, a soldier of the undersea nation Mu, and Ryo Hirohashi as the submersible Buggy in “Doraemon the Movie: New Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil” [Enlarge]
Buggy, played by Hirohashi, is one of Doraemon’s Secret Gadgets: an amphibious buggy-car that serves as the gang’s ride. It has an onboard computer and can talk. Hirohashi commented, “Being able to set off on a new adventure as Buggy-chan in this slightly mysterious world feels like far too generous a gift. Thank you so much. Buggy will guide you into the world beneath the sea—hang on tight and don’t get thrown off!”
Chiba’s character El is a soldier of the undersea nation known as the Mu Federation, who keeps watch on Doraemon and the others when they arrive under the sea. “In the original ‘Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil,’ Buggy’s relationship left a deep impression on me, and the climax stayed with me,” Chiba said. “In this new film, El’s shifting feelings after meeting Nobita and his friends are depicted with care—please keep an eye on that!”
“Doraemon the Movie: New Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil” is the 45th feature in the series, a rebirth of the 1983 film “Doraemon: Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil” more than 40 years later. Tetsuo Yajima—who has worked on the TV series as well as films including “Doraemon: Nobita’s New Great Adventure into the Underworld — The Seven Magic Users,” “Doraemon: Nobita and the New Steel Troops — Winged Angels,” and “Doraemon: Nobita’s Earth Symphony”—directs. The screenplay is by Isao Murayama, a longtime writer on the TV series.
Ryo Hirohashi (Buggy) comment
As a child I borrowed the anime comic of “Nobita’s Little Star Wars” from my cousin and read it over and over. I don’t remember if I ever actually saw the movie at that age, but in my head the voices of Doraemon and the others floated up from the pages and the images played. I longed for things like the dollhouse and the milk bath, and I turned the pages in a daze, thrilled to see the usual gang in slightly different guises. “Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil” is a story I’m encountering for the first time with this project. Being able to set off on a new adventure as Buggy-chan in this slightly mysterious world feels like far too generous a gift. Thank you so much. Buggy will guide you into the world beneath the sea—hang on tight and don’t get thrown off!
Shoya Chiba (El) comment
I’ve watched Doraemon all my life—New Year’s Eve meant Doraemon for me. It’s a work that naturally shaped my values. In recent years I’ve also gone to see the films in theaters, so I approached this role imagining that scale and everyone’s warm performances, determined to give it my all with no regrets. I’m genuinely delighted to have been cast as El, and that feeling only grows. As an undersea dweller, he’s someone who combines a strong sense of justice with cool-headedness, and he has complicated feelings toward the people on land. In the original “Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil,” his connection to Buggy is striking and the climax stayed with me, but in this new film El’s inner life after meeting Nobita and the others is portrayed with real care—please watch for that! There are many new lines that make the lines from the original shine even brighter; they really moved me. Reading the script opened the world up even further. A deep-sea adventure experienced on the big screen is going to be exhilarating. I hope you’re looking forward to it!
Source: Comic Natalie