Tatsunoko Production

Tatsunoko Production

Type	Kabushiki gaisha
Industry	Animation studio, planning and production
Founded	October 19, 1962 (1962-10-19)[1]
Founder	Tatsuo Yoshida Kenji Yoshida Ippei Kuri
Headquarters	Musashino, Tokyo, Japan
Products	Anime
Owner	Nippon Television (54.3%) Takara Tomy (20.0%) Horipro (13.5%) Production I.G (11.2%)
Number of employees	59 (April 1, 2015)
Divisions	I.G Tatsunoko 1987–1993
Website	tatsunoko.co.jp

Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd. (株式会社タツノコプロ, Kabushiki gaisha Tatsunoko Puro), previously known as Kabushiki gaisha Tatsunoko Purodakushon (株式会社竜の子プロダクション), often shortened to Tatsunoko Pro (竜の子プロ or タツノコプロ, Tatsunoko Puro), is a Japanese animation company. It was founded in October 1962 by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida along with his brothers Kenji and Toyoharu (or by the pen name "Ippei Kuri").^[2] The studio's name has a double meaning in Japanese of "Tatsu's child" (Tatsu being a nickname for Tatsuo) and "sea dragon", which was the inspiration for its seahorse corporate logo.^[2][3]

History

Since the studio's inception, Tatsunoko has specialized in television production; by contrast, rival studio Toei Animation focused chiefly on feature films and was just beginning to move into TV production when Tatsunoko was formed. The studio debuted in 1965 with the TV series Space Ace. Since then, many legendary figures in the anime industry have worked with Tatsunoko, including Mizuho Nishikubo, Hiroshi Sasagawa, Koichi Mashimo, Katsuhisa Yamada, Hideaki Anno (Tatsunoko provided animation work on the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series), and Kazuo Yamazaki. Sasagawa is notable for bringing his fondness for comedy animation to the forefront in Tatsunoko series such as the Time Bokan (1975) franchise.^[4]

The translated and edited versions of the studio's more successful animated series, such as Hiroshi Sasagawa's Speed Racer (1967), Gatchaman (1972), and Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) are credited with bringing international attention to Japanese animation. Although it carries a strong roster of action and science fiction anime titles, Tatsunoko became known for several widely acclaimed fairy tale and fantasy-based series for younger children such as Minashigo Hutch (1970), The Adventures of Pinocchio (1972), Temple the Balloonist (1977), The Littl' Bits (1980), and the Bible-based Superbook (1981).

The company provided some financial assistance on the Macross TV show (1982, adapted as part of 1985's Robotech) some time during its run, in exchange for various rights. They later licensed Macross to Harmony Gold, who then produced Robotech.

In October 2000, Tatsunoko, Electronics Application (Eleca) and Japanese toy company Takara Co., Ltd. produced and released a Japan-only PlayStation exclusive fighting game Tatsunoko Fight, featuring characters from four established Tatsunoko franchises, as well an original series created exclusively for the game, Denkou Senka Volter (電光石火ヴォルター, lit. "Lightning Warrior Volter").

Takara acquired Tatsunoko on June 3 2005 after purchasing a 88% stake and made the company a subsidiary.^[5]

Several Japanese animation studios have their roots in Tatsunoko. Studio Pierrot was founded in 1979 by former Tatsunoko employees. J.C.Staff was founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko. Production I.G was established in 1987 as I.G. Tatsunoko, which was a branch for the production of Zillion led by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa.^[6][7][8] Studio XEBEC also traces its history to Tatsunoko, as it is an offshoot of Production I.G. Koichi Mashimo, who previously worked at Tatsunoko, founded Bee Train, which existed as a subsidiary of Production I.G until 2006. Radix was founded in December 1995 by former Tastunoko staff. TNK was founded in 1999 by Teru Kato, who previously worked at Tatsunoko.

Tatsunoko's developed the Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars fighting game in collaboration with video game company Capcom which features characters from both companies. Tatsunoko announced in 2009 that it wuold collaborate with Marvel Comics on a joint television project and other ventures.^[9]

IG Port announced on June 2, 2010 that its subsidiary, Production I.G, had purchased a 11.2% stake in Tatsunoko studio. Production I.G President Mitsuhisa Ishikawa joined on as a part-time director for the studio.^[10]

Tatsunoko's headquarters are in Kokubunji, Tokyo.^[1]

Talent agency Horipro announced on February 23, 2013 that it had acquired a 13.5% stake in Tatsunoko.^[11]

At Anime Expo 2013, the North American licensor Sentai Filmworks had announced that they signed a deal with Tatsunoko to license and release some of Tatsunoko's titles, including Gatchaman and Casshan.^[12]

Nippon Television announced on January 29, 2014, that it had purchased a 54.3% stake in Tatsunoko and formally adopted the company as its subsidiary.^[13][14][15]

Works

Saban's Adventures of Pinocchio (1972)

The Flying House (1982)

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Anime studios made by former animators

• Ashi Productions/Production Reed (Since 1975)
• Pierrot (Since 1979)
• J.C. Staff (Since 1986)
• Production IG (Since 1987)
• Xebec (Since 1995)
• Radix (1995-2006) (Defunct)
• Bee Train (Since 1997)
• TNK (Since 1999)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tatsunoko Production.

• Tatsunoko Production (Japanese)
• Tatsunoko Production (English)
• Tatsunoko Production at Anime News Network's encyclopedia