Toei Animation Co., Ltd. (東映アニメーション株式会社) is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It was originally founded on January 23, 1948, as Japan Animated Films by Kenzō Masaoka and Sanae Yamamoto.
The studio is known for producing numerous series, including the Sally the Witch series, the GeGeGe no Kitarō series, Mazinger Z, Galaxy Express 999, the Cutie Honey series, the Dr. Slump series, the Dragon Ball series, the Saint Seiya series, the Sailor Moon series, Slam Dunk, the Digimon series, the One Piece series, Magical Doremi, Toriko, World Trigger and the Pretty Cure series, among others. Aside from animation production, the company handles character licensing and overseas distribution and sales of its titles through its wholly-owned international subsidiaries.
Toei Animation is headquartered in Nakano, Tokyo with its studios in Higashiōizumi, Nerima, Tokyo which also houses the Toei Animation Museum.[3] Toei also has an overseas studio in the Philippines known as Toei Animation Phils.
Pero, the protagonist of the studio's 1969 film adaptation of Puss in Boots, serves as its mascot.
History
Early history
The studio was founded by animators Kenzō Masaoka and Sanae Yamamoto in 1948 as Japan Animated Films (日本動画映画) often shortened to Nichidō Eiga (日動映画). In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was renamed Toei Animation Co., Ltd. (東映動画株式会社). In 1998, the Japanese name was renamed to match with the English name. It has created a number of TV series and movies and adapted Japanese comics as animated series, many popular worldwide. Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Yasuji Mori, Leiji Matsumoto and Yōichi Kotabe have worked with the company.[5] Toei was a shareholder in the Japanese anime satellite television network Animax with other anime studios and production companies, such as Sunrise, TMS Entertainment and
Subsidiaries
Currently in production
TV animation
NOTE: A few of these productions have no involvement by Toei Animation, but rather Toei Company financing other animation studios instead to produce them.
1960–69
1970–79
1980–89
1990–99
2000–09
2010–19
2020–present
Television films and specials
Theatrical films
Original video animation and original net animation
Video game animation
Video game development
Dubbing
Animated productions by foreign studios dubbed in Japanese by Toei are The Mystery of the Third Planet (1981 Russian film, dubbed in 2008); Les Maîtres du temps (1982 French-Hungarian film, dubbed in 2014), Alice's Birthday (2009 Russian film, dubbed in 2013) and Becca's Bunch (2018 television series, dubbed in 2021 to 2022).
Foreign production history
Toei has been commissioned to provide animation by Japanese and American studios such as Sunbow Entertainment, Marvel Productions, Hanna-Barbera, DIC Entertainment, Rankin/Bass Productions and World Events Productions (DreamWorks Animation). In the 60's, it primarily worked with Rankin/Bass, but beginning in the 80's, it worked with Marvel Productions and its list of clients grew, until the end of the decade. Toei didn't provide much outsourced animation work in the 90's and since the 2000s has only rarely worked with other companies outside Japan.
Controversies
Fair use disputes
Between 2008 and 2018, Toei Animation had copyright claimed TeamFourStar's parody series, DragonBall Z Abridged. TFS stated that the parody series is protected under fair use.[57][58]
On December 7, 2021, Toei Animation copyright claimed over 150 videos by YouTuber Totally Not Mark, real name Mark Fitzpatrick.[59] He uploaded a video addressing the issue, claiming that they were protected under fair use, and that nine of the videos do not include any Toei footage. He also outlined the appeal process on YouTube, and estimated having the videos reinstated could take over 37 years. He then goes on to announce that he would not be supporting new Toei releases until the issue had been resolved, and also called for a boycott on the upcoming Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero film.[60]
See also
- SynergySP, Studio Junio and Hal Film Maker/Yumeta Company, animation studios founded by former Toei animators.
- Topcraft, an animation studio founded by former Toei Animation producer Toru Hara.
- Studio Ghibli, an animation studio founded by former Toei animators Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.
- Mushi Production, an animation studio founded by Osamu Tezuka and former Toei animators.
- Shin-Ei Animation, formally A Production, an animation studio founded by former Toei animator Daikichirō Kusube.
- Yamamura Animation, an animation studio founded by former Toei animator