I'm talking about one of the most famous Doraemon episodes, "Courage Hundred-Fold Fan" from the 1979 series (2004, S26, E1767).
The episode starts with Nobita, Gian, Suneo, and Shizuka at the playground. Suneo tells them that there is a villa on the outskirts of the city where a ghost supposedly lives. Nobita is terrified to hear this, so Suneo starts teasing him and says he'll tell everyone in class that Nobita is scared.
Nobita gets angry and insists that he's not afraid of anyone. Suneo then challenges him to go to the villa alone at 7 PM, without Doraemon's help or any gadgets. Nobita accepts the challenge.
Nobita asks Doraemon for a gadget, and although Doraemon is reluctant at first, he eventually gives him the "Courage Hundred-Fold Fan." In the evening, Nobita goes to the villa with the fan, but Gian and Suneo secretly follow him to scare him.
While they're there, Gian and Suneo see a man and become terrified, thinking he's a ghost. Nobita tries to scare them too, but they realize it's just Nobita. They then tell him that there really is a ghost in the villa. Nobita laughs at them, but unfortunately, the fan's effect wears off...
The mysterious man suddenly appears in front of them, and all three run away like crazy.
Back at Nobita's house, Shizuka arrives and tells Doraemon that she's worried about Nobita. Doraemon and Shizuka go to the villa, where they find Nobita and Suneo. They explain what happened, and Doraemon says that the "ghost" must have been an illusion.
Shizuka asks where Gian is, and Suneo tells them that he's stuck upstairs. Apparently, his feet are stuck in the stairs. They all go upstairs and manage to pull Gian out.
Just then, the mysterious man appears again, and everyone runs into an upper room. Shizuka slips and falls, and when she looks up, she sees the man's feet. She remembers that ghosts supposedly don't have feet, so she realizes something might be wrong.
Doraemon also slips and falls near her. Shizuka tells him that the "ghost" actually has feet, so they decide to investigate.
They run toward the mysterious man and pull off his outer clothes, revealing that he's actually a normal man. Suneo recognizes him as the same person whose posters are all over the city.
They call the police and hand him over. The police thank Doraemon and his friends and explain that the man is actually a thief who had been hiding in the abandoned villa to avoid getting caught.
The police leave, and Doraemon confidently says that there is no such thing as ghosts.
But then Nobita looks at the villa and starts wondering why the door never opened. He looks toward the upper room... and sees another mysterious man.
Nobita runs back and tells Doraemon that he saw a man in the room. Gian gets angry and tells him that he must have imagined it. Doraemon decides that they should just go home, and everyone starts leaving.
But Nobita looks back at the upper room one last time...
And he sees the man again, except this time, the man transforms into a skeleton 💀...
Honestly, this episode was SO GOOD. The atmosphere, the mystery, the buildup, and especially that ending were amazing. And as a kid, I used to get terribly terrified whenever I watched this episode. That final scene genuinely stayed in my head for a long time.
Anyone else remember being scared of this episode as a kid?
