History
In March 1954, Tokuma was established as East-West Entertainment Publishing in Shimbashi 3-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo with a capital of 1,000,000 yen. The company took over the publishing rights for Weekly Asahi Performing Arts, a publication which dated back from January 1951. The Osaka branch office opened in the same year. In September 1958, the company's name was changed to Asahi Performing Arts Publishing. In April 1961, Asahi Performing Arts Publishing spun off their book publishing business as Tokuma Shoten. In October 1967, Asahi Performing Arts Publishing and Tokuma Publishing merged and became known as Tokuma Shoten Company. In the same month, the monthly issue of Problem Novel was launched.
In July 1978, the monthly publication Animage was launched, and in October 1980, the Tokuma Bunko brand was launched. In March 1984, the company co-produced with Hakuhodo Inc. on a project commemorating the company's 30th Anniversary. The company also funded films by Studio Ghibli, starting with Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. In February 1988, the company released the anime series Legend of the Galactic Heroes by Yoshiki Tanaka. On April of the same year, My Neighbour Totoro was released, and in September 1988, the monthly publication GoodsPress was launched.
In 1985, Tokuma Shoten began publishing Family Computer Magazine, the first video game magazine dedicated to console games, specifically Nintendo's Family Computer (Famicom) video game console, later released as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the West.[3] It started out as a monthly magazine, with circulation increasing from 180,000 in July to 600,000 in December 1985.[4] In 1986, it became a semi-monthly magazine that sold over 1 million copies per issue.[5] It inspired imitators such as Famicom Tsūshin (Famitsu) in 1986 and Nintendo Power in 1988.[3] In October 1985, Tokuma Shoten published Super Mario Bros: The Complete Strategy Guide, a game strategy guide book for Super Mario Bros.[6] It partly recycled content from Family Computer Magazine, in addition to new content written by Naoto Yamamoto, who received no royalties for his work. The book sold 630,000 copies in 1985, becoming Japan's best-selling book of the year.[7][4] The book went on to sell 860,000 copies by January 1986,[8] and again became Japan's best-selling book of 1986, selling a total of 1.3 million copies. Nintendo of America later translated it into English as How to win at Super Mario Bros. and published it in North America via the Nintendo Fun Club and early issues of Nintendo Power magazine.[7]
On 1989, Tokuma Shoten hired Streamline Pictures to produce the English-language version of the 1986 film Laputa: Castle in the Sky directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and its 1992 English dubbing of The Castle of Cagliostro. In 1988, Streamline also dubbed My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service, both dubbed under the supervision of Gregory Snegoff for Tokuma Shoten, although this collaboration was only used as in-flight films by Japan Airlines who, at the time, licensed them from Tokuma Shoten. The airline showed the movies during their flights between Japan and the United States. In May 1994, the company launched a children's picture and literature book as a 40th anniversary commemoration project.
In August 1996, Disney and Tokuma Shoten formed a partnership in which Buena Vista Pictures would be the sole international distributor for Tokuma Shoten's Studio Ghibli animated films. Since then, all three afore-mentioned films by Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli that were previously dubbed by Streamline have been re-dubbed by Disney.[9] On June 1, 1997, Tokuma Shoten Publishing consolidated its media operations by merging Studio Ghibli, Tokuma Shoten Intermedia software and Tokuma International under one location.[10] In February 1999, the 30th anniversary commemorative prize issue novel, was held at the 19th Japan SF award, with a presentation award ceremony of a short novel labelled as Tokuma literary award. In July 2001, Spirited Away was released. It would go on to break numerous records and became the most successful film during that era in Japanese history, grossing over US$289 million worldwide. In November 2004, Howl's Moving Castle was released. Along with the movie, the original book of the same name was a success. Between 1999 and 2005, Studio Ghibli was a subsidiary brand of Tokuma Shoten, however, that partnership ended in April 2005, when Studio Ghibli was spun off from Tokuma Shoten and was re-established as an independent company with a relocated headquarters.
In September 2006, the monthly publication Comic Ryu was launched. In October 2006, Weekly Asahi Performing Arts celebrated its 50th anniversary. In May 2007, the animated TV series Dennou coli was in production, and in May 2011, Rongu Blessing's Long Blessed Diet (Ryosuke Miki series) produced a cumulative total of 1.16 million views. In January 2012, the monthly publication Volt was launched, and in September 2012, Sweet Girly Artbook Larme launched. In April 2013, the TV drama Tokimeki Deka Tachibana, which was based on Tokuma Comics Sakado by Sadako original, and Torii Tori Drawing was broadcast on TV Tokyo as a series. In June 2013, Tokuma Bunko's drama Traffic by Shibata Yoshiki is broadcast on NHK. In May 2014, the company released the movie ''Wood Job! ~ Original God of Dreams'' nationwide. God's Honorable Emotional Daily by Miura Shin was also released. In July 2015, the Comic Ryo TV animated series Monster Musume no daily life was broadcast.
In January 2017, Tokuma Bunko launched the drama Today is a good day by Maha Harada which was broadcast at WOWOW. In March 2017, Tokuma Shoten became a subsidiary of Culture Convenience Club through an acquisition exchange of shares. In April 2017, Comic Ruy's original TV animated series, Alice and Kura Six by Tetsuya Imai was broadcast. In July 2017, Tokuma Bunko's drama Akira and Akira by Ike Well Jun was broadcast at WOWOW. Comic Ryu’s original TV animated series Centaur’s Trouble by Kei Murayama was broadcast.
