Most of the traits you get from Nobita at first glance are certainly negative ones. He doesn't like to fight at all, and mostly tries to run away from bullies. He's often late to school, and sleeps in class a lot, so he naturally gets low grades. And his attempts to run away from bullies or get to school on time are hindered by his natural clumsiness and lack of athletic ability.
However, Nobita actually has an adventurous streak, as well as a courage one would not expect of him. When his friends are threatened, he immediately steps up to protect them. Not only that, but he has also been known to stand up to the local bully when the safety of others is at stake, or he is just angry enough. Once he gets into protective mode, his cowardliness seems to disappear almost like magic, and he will act almost fearless in defense of his friends-especially Shizuka, his love interest.
Shizuka can also be a motivator for more mundane things. Plenty of times, he has done ridiculous stuff to impress her, even if his attempts backfire at times. At other times, he can end up promising to do something ridiculous simply due to being unwilling to back down on something simple, or bragging too hard about his own skills. For example, an argument about whether or not there were wolf packs in Japan once ended up with him going up into the mountains to hunt wolves on his own. From this, it can be seen that he does have some pride, and will try to keep any promises he makes, unless doing so would hurt more people. To continue the previous example, upon discovering that the wolves were just trying to keep their family intact, he immediately stopped his attempts.
Nobita is also not as stupid as he looks. While he's definitely lazy, he can actually do quite well on his schoolwork if properly motivated, possibly by one of Doraemon's gadgets. He's also shown an ability to think up clever plans for dealing with various enemies, from alien viruses capable of possessing all sorts of objects to evil demons from alternate dimensions. He does seem to do poorer with regards to book-based knowledge, but pointing out this fact tends to upset him a lot.
All of Nobita's friends are very important to him, whether they are the ones he has grown up with or ones he encounters on his journeys. Despite some friction at times, he still considers Gian and Suneo, the neighborhood bullies, to be his friends, and is usually willing to offer help to them when they ask. In fact, the one he is least likely to offer help to would actually be Dekisugi, his possibly unaware rival for Shizuka's attentions. As for those he befriends on his journeys, he has always promised to remember them, and has considered all of them just as precious, no matter if they are human, robot, or animal, and no matter if he ever sees them again or not.
Nobita's neighborhood in general is very precious to him as well. He has been shown to get upset whenever the wild areas near it are threatened, and has always tried to either drive the encroachers off or preserve what he can. Nobita has a great love for nature in general, and is often seen trying to befriend animals. He is usually successful.
Since Nobita can time travel, he has gotten to see several historic events and people up close and personal. However, this has often resulted in great sorrow for him, since he and his friends are apparently unable to change great events in the past-when they went back in time to the Titanic, it still ended up sinking, even though they defeated the extradimensional monster causing it to sink. However, because of this, he is often motivated by those events-he once met a great Japanese baseball player who would later die in a war bombing attack, and was actually able to win a baseball game thanks to said baseball player's encouragement, and his own determination. Also, it seems that he can change little things, as he was able to resurrect Shizuka's dead dog. Because of this, he hasn't completely despaired on time travel yet, and still hasn't taken the pessimistic view that "some things can't be changed." If he thinks he can help, he will.
REVISED PERSONALITY SECTION
However, Nobita actually has an adventurous streak, as well as a courage one would not expect of him. When his friends are threatened, he immediately steps up to protect them. Not only that, but he has also been known to stand up to the local bully when the safety of others is at stake, or he is just angry enough. Once he gets into protective mode, his cowardliness seems to disappear almost like magic, and he will act almost fearless in defense of his friends-especially Shizuka, his love interest.
Shizuka can also be a motivator for more mundane things. Plenty of times, he has done ridiculous stuff to impress her, even if his attempts backfire at times. At other times, he can end up promising to do something ridiculous simply due to being unwilling to back down on something simple, or bragging too hard about his own skills. For example, an argument about whether or not there were wolf packs in Japan once ended up with him going up into the mountains to hunt wolves on his own. From this, it can be seen that he does have some pride, and will try to keep any promises he makes, unless doing so would hurt more people. To continue the previous example, upon discovering that the wolves were just trying to keep their family intact, he immediately stopped his attempts.
Nobita is also not as stupid as he looks. While he's definitely lazy, he can actually do quite well on his schoolwork if properly motivated, possibly by one of Doraemon's gadgets. He's also shown an ability to think up clever plans for dealing with various enemies, from alien viruses capable of possessing all sorts of objects to evil demons from alternate dimensions. He does seem to do poorer with regards to book-based knowledge, but pointing out this fact tends to upset him a lot.
All of Nobita's friends are very important to him, whether they are the ones he has grown up with or ones he encounters on his journeys. Despite some friction at times, he still considers Gian and Suneo, the neighborhood bullies, to be his friends, and is usually willing to offer help to them when they ask. In fact, the one he is least likely to offer help to would actually be Dekisugi, his possibly unaware rival for Shizuka's attentions. As for those he befriends on his journeys, he has always promised to remember them, and has considered all of them just as precious, no matter if they are human, robot, or animal, and no matter if he ever sees them again or not.
Nobita's neighborhood in general is very precious to him as well. He has been shown to get upset whenever the wild areas near it are threatened, and has always tried to either drive the encroachers off or preserve what he can. Nobita has a great love for nature in general, and is often seen trying to befriend animals. He is usually successful.
Since Nobita can time travel, he has gotten to see several historic events and people up close and personal. However, this has often resulted in great sorrow for him, since he and his friends are apparently unable to change great events in the past-when they went back in time to the Titanic, it still ended up sinking, even though they defeated the extradimensional monster causing it to sink. However, because of this, he is often motivated by those events-he once met a great Japanese baseball player who would later die in a war bombing attack, and was actually able to win a baseball game thanks to said baseball player's encouragement, and his own determination. Also, it seems that he can change little things, as he was able to resurrect Shizuka's dead dog. Because of this, he hasn't completely despaired on time travel yet, and still hasn't taken the pessimistic view that "some things can't be changed." If he thinks he can help, he will.