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 (東京ムービー Tōkyō Mūbī) or TMS-Kyokuchi, is a Japanese animation studio founded in 1964.
TMS is one of the oldest anime studios in Japan; best known for produced numerous anime franchises such as Lupin the 3rd, Detective Conan, Bakugan, D.Gray-man, and Sonic X and feature-length films Akira and Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, alongside animation works for western animation such as Animaniacs, Batman: The Animated Series, Ducktales, Spider-Man: The Animated Series and Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears.
In 2010, TMS Entertainment became a wholly owned subsidiary for Sega Sammy Holdings in the entertainment and contents business.
History[]
Foray into animation[]
The company was originally established in 1946, however, the company started its venture into the animation industry under the name Tokyo Movie (東京ムービー Tōkyō Mūbī) in 1964 by Yutaka Fujioka after his previous studio, Tokyo Ningyo Cinema failed. The first production of the studio was an animated adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's Big X. Tokyo Movie collaborated with a company called A production. Notable figures in A production include Daikichirō Kusube, Osamu Kobayashi and Tsutomu Shibayama, most of Tokyo Movie's animation productions would be made with A production.
Hayao Miyazaki was also associated with Tokyo Movie before founding Studio Ghibli. He co-directed Lupin III with Isao Takahata, provided the screenplay and key animation for Panda! Go Panda!, provided key animation for the first episode of Tokyo Giants, provided the original concept for Jungle Kurobe, provided the director role for Lupin III: Tales of the Wolf, provided key animation for the Ulysses 31 pilot in conjunction with Diffusion Information Communication, provided the director role for The New Adventures of Zorro, provided key animation for the Inspector Gadget pilot, and provided the chief director role for season 1 of Sherlock Hound.[original research?] However, this most notable work is his role as the director of The Castle of Cagliostro, which is notable for being Hayao Miyazaki's first feature-length debut. Miyazaki eventually left to form Studio Ghibli.
In 1972, Madhouse was established with funding from Fujioka, and co-produced its earliest series with Tokyo Movie.[citation needed] In 1977, Fujioka reformatted Tokyo Movie into Tokyo Movie Shinsha. Its first production was Lupin the Third Part II, which aired in 1977–1980. The movie adaptation, The Mystery of Mamo, was the first feature-length movie produced in the studio's history. Another TMS subsidiary, Telecom Animation Film, was founded in 1975, but didn't start production until after Tokyo Movie was restructured.
In 1989, TMS released Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland in Japan and the United States. The movie was infamous for being in development hell with figures such as George Lucas, Chuck Jones, Hayao Miyazaki, and Gary Kurtz being involved with the movie before dropping out. The movie was released as a commercial failure, and in response to this, Fujioka decided to retire from the animation business. TMS, having to recoup Little Nemo's losses, increased production on locally based anime programs and became highly involved in animation for Western-based productions, including Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, and Batman: The Animated Series.
Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, TMS animated for various companies, including DiC, Walt Disney Television Animation, Warner Bros. Animation, Marvel Films Animation, Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment, and outsourced to smaller studios such as Telecom Animation Film, Ajia-do, Magic Bus, Studio Jungle Gym, Nakamura Production, Tokyo Kids, DR Movie, and Orange.
Animators at TMS would leave to form other studios, like many artists had done at other studios over the years in Japan. One of those studios that they left to form was Spectrum Animation, who helped produce various episodes of Batman: The Animated Series.