TMS Entertainment

TMS Entertainment Co., Ltd.
株式会社トムス・エンタテインメント
Kabushiki kaisha
Industry Animation studio
Founded 1964 (1964)[1]
Founder Yutaka Fujioka
Headquarters Nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo
Key people
 Hideki Okamura
(Chairman)
Parent Sega Holdings Co., Ltd
Subsidiaries Telecom Animation Film
TMS Photo
TMS Music
TOCSIS
Website www.tms-e.co.jp
TMS logo circa 1987

TMS Entertainment Co., Ltd. (株式会社トムス・エンタテインメント Kabushiki-gaisha Tomusu Entateinmento), formerly known as Tokyo Movie Shinsha (東京ムービー新社 Tōkyō Mūbī Shinsha) also known as Tokyo Movie or TMS-Kyokuchi, is a Japanese animation studio, founded in 1964. TMS is one of the oldest and most prominent anime studios in Japan; it has produced numerous animated series airing in France, the United States, Italy and elsewhere. The company currently uses "TMS Entertainment, Ltd." as its corporate name. The company also has a fully owned subsidiary, Telecom Animation Film (TAF), which often co-animates shows with TMS.

History

The company was founded as Tokyo Movie (東京ムービー Tōkyō Mūbī) in 1964 by Yutaka Fujioka after his previous studio, Tokyo Ningyo Cinema failed.[1] The first production of the studio was an animated adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's Big X. A year later, Daikichirō Kusube, Osamu Kobayashi and Tsutomu Shibayama formed a unit called A Production, where most of Tokyo Movie's animation productions would be made, as TM itself had little animators. Among the animators that were employed at A Production were Yasuo Otsuka, Osamu Dezaki, and Studio Ghibli co-founders Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki.

In 1972, Madhouse was established using the finances of Fujioka, and co-produced its earliest series with Tokyo Movie. In 1976, due to a decrease in animated TV series, Tokyo Movie was shut down, and A Production was spun off into Shin-Ei Animation (shin meaning new in Japanese). In 1977, Fujioka reformatted Tokyo Movie into Tokyo Movie Shinsha (literally New Tokyo Movie Company). Its first production was Lupin the Third Part II, which debuted with mass popularity. The movie adaptation The Mystery of Mamo was the first feature-length movie produced in the studio's 13-year history. Another TMS subsidiary, Telecom Animation Film was founded in 1975, but didn't start production after Tokyo Movie was restructured. The real potential for Telecom wasn't realized until the studio produced The Castle of Cagliostro, which was Hayao Miyazaki's feature-length debut. Miyazaki remained employed at Telecom until he left to direct his second feature film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

In 1980, TMS began their collaboration with Diffusion Information Communication, co-producing Ulysses 31. Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s and up to 2000, TMS animated for various animation companies, including DiC, Walt Disney Television Animation, Warner Bros. Animation, Marvel Films Animation, Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment among others and outsourcing to smaller studios such as the aforementioned Telecom Animation Film, Ajia-do, Magic Bus, Studio Jungle Gym, Nakamura Production, Tokyo Kids, DR Movie, Orange among others. The studio has been credited as a key factor for the "American animation renaissance".

TMS struggled at the beginning of the 1990s, due to competition from Toei's Dragon Ball Z and Slam Dunk, as well as being too reliant on foreign co-productions and the financial failure that was Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland. Sega-Kyokuichi purchased TMS in 1992 after Fujioka retired. During this period, productions by TMS was credited as TMS-Kyokuichi. Since 2000, TMS has focused on its own productions, rather than outsourcing animation for other studios, however they still do outsourcing for studios like Sunrise, Studio Ghibli and Bones to this very day.

Productions

TV series

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Theatrical films

× - Pilot film to a later television series / ×× - Film that tied-in to original TV series

Television movies and specials

OVA

Foreign projects

TMS has also contributed animation for various non-Japanese studios.

Additional work

In addition to the above, TMS Entertainment has also worked on the following as an additional subcontactor.

References

  1. 1 2 "思い出のキャラ図鑑". Ningyonoie.com. Retrieved 2015-12-04.

External links

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