JOCX-DTV (Fuji TV)

Background

JOCX-DTV, branded as Fuji TV (フジテレビ, Fuji Terebi) and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the Fuji Television Network, Inc., it is the flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System. It is also known for its long-time slogan, "If it's not fun, it's not TV!". It was founded on November 18, 1948, but didn't go on-air until March 1, 1959.

1st ID (March 1, 1959-September 22, 1969) (Startup and Closedown)

Visuals: The screen fades in to Mount Fuji being covered by a set of clouds. The clouds would move away from the screen as we see the mountain more clearly. Then, the channel name フジテレビ (Fuji Television in English) appears on the center of the screen. After that, the mountain is sending out signals (similar to the 2nd RKO Radio Pictures logo) with channel name zooming to the bottom of the screen. After the final signal, a numeral "8" comes out of the mountain, and text reading "チャンネル 8 (Channel 8 in English)" appears below the "8". The logo stands still for a few seconds the text and the "8" closing out. All that is left is just Mount Fuji as seen on a sky background with a few clouds behind the mountain. After seeing the clear view one more time, the logo fades out.

Technique: Traditional cel animation, with Mount Fuji represented as a live-action photo.

Audio: A happy sounding majestic fanfare.

Availability: It is only seen when the channel signs on and off. Japanese kinescopes are the only way to find this logo. This logo retired when the channel transitioned to full-color broadcasting, which resulted in the next logo below.

2nd ID (September 23, 1969-March 31, 1976) (Startup and Closedown)

Visuals:

Startup: On a pink background, there is the Fuji mountain from the previous logo, but darkened, with a few clouds behind it. A sun can be be seen rising on the mountain, which makes it brighter. The sequence then fades into a model of the Fuji Television headquarters from the time (located in Kawadacho, Shinjuku). The mountain fades out after. The sun continues to rise. When it stops, the eight from the previous logo pops out of the headquarters and zooms to the viewer. As the bottom of the eight goes through the screen, the name of the channel appears at the bottom and turns from the top.
Closedown: The model of the headquarters from the time appears, this time over a black background. The camera rotates around the model and it zooms out. It is revealed that it was zooming out from planet Earth. The eight from the previous logo pops out of planet Earth. When the bottom of the eight goes through the screen, there is the moon's surface, the channel's name appears just like in the opening version.

Technique: Both the startup and closedown used live-action footage of models with some cel animation. The closedown also used camera-controlled animation. This was produced by Tsuburaya Productions.

Audio: Unknown

Availability: Like the last logo, it is only used when the channel signs on and off. The closing variant also appeared in a montage that played when Fuji TV was moving from Kawadacho to Odaiba in 1997.

3rd ID (April 1, 1976-March 31, 1978) (Startup and Closedown)

Visuals:

Startup: The sequence starts out in complete darkness. Dark purple hues then begin to appear in the background, and the silhouette of Mount Fuji becomes discernible in the foreground. As dawn progresses, the purple sky begins to become pinker in tone. Soon, the first rays of the sun begin to glow behind the mountain. When the sun itself makes its appearance, its bright light engulfs much of the screen and causes rotating lens flares to appear in front of the mountain. The sun slowly rises out of view, brightening the sky and lighting up Mount Fuji. The screen cuts to a wider shot of the mountain, which has clouds floating by behind it. The "8" and the channel name fade in front of the footage.
Closedown: Unknown

Technique: Live-action with a printed image superimposed.

Audio: Both variants use ominous pieces of synth music, they sound different depending on variant. They are excerpts from Isao Tomita's "Reverie".

Availability: The opening variant appeared when Fuji TV was moving from its old headquarters in Kawadacho to the current one in Odaiba in March 1997.

4th ID (April 1, 1978-March 1, 1984) (Startup and Closedown)

The closedown ID.

Visuals:

Startup (used until 1981): On a background with the sun rising and Mount Fuji, the text "愛のメッセージ" ("Love Message") appear at the bottom of the screen. The lyrics then appear on the screen two lines at once. Meanwhile, there is a video of children running across a meadow. At the end the "8 フジテレビ" ("8 Fuji Television") logo rise of the bottom of Mount Fuji.
Closedown: There is images from monuments installed at the Hakone Open-Air Museum at night. The Japanese text "愛のメッセージ" ("Love Message") appears over the glass monument, and the Japanese text "彫刻の森美術館" ("Hakone Open-Air Museum") appears over the image of a monument. In the end, the numeral 8 and the Japanese text of the three previous logos zooms into the screen over the image of another glass monument

Variant: The opening plays the short version of the song. To hear the longer version see here.

Technique: Live-action footage combined with Scanimate.

Audio: The station's song "Love Message". For the closing variant, its just the instrumental of the song.

Availability: A snippet of the instrumental version of "Love Message" can be heard when Fuji TV was moving from its old headquarters in Kawadacho to the current one in Odaiba in March 1997.

The startup is considered by the Japanese TV ID community to be one of the most elusive IDs, with not even a screenshot of it available online. There is a chance that it was preserved on Japanese home recordings, however.

5th ID (April 1979-March 31, 1986) (Startup and Closedown)

Visuals: Unknown

Variant: A shorter version exists where it cuts to the final part of the logo, but there is a difference, a rainbow trail comes out of the text, the trail zooms in until the eight appears. The trail fades out as eight shines.

Technique: A combination of motion-controlled, scanimate and traditional cel animation from Tatsunoko Production.

Audio: Unknown

Availability: The longer version is only seen when the channel signs on and off. Meanwhile, the shorter version is used as a station ID.

Legacy: A favorite to those that grew up with the channel in that era.

6th ID (April 1-August 19, 1986) (Startup and Closedown)

Note: A better quality version of the ident can be found on this link: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Zx411J7Lm/?spm_id_from=333.788.recommend_more_video.11 (the video starts at 0:36 mark)

Unknown.

7th ID (August 30, 1986-October 2001) (Startup and Closedown)

Note: In this video, the Startup and Closedown idents are located respectively at marks 0:40 and 2:13.

Visuals: TBA.

Technique: CGI by Fuji TV title designer Zeno Kaneda at IMAGICA.

Audio: TBA. Composed by Takanori Arisawa.

8th ID (October 2001-) (Startup and Closedown)

Visuals: Unknown

Variants:

A short version exists, only used for sign-offs.
When the logo was introduced for digital broadcastings in 2003, the logo was zoomed to fit the widescreen format and the text "JOCX-DTV" replaces "JOCX-TV" (although this was used for analog broadcastings until 2011). Also, some scenes were cut off, reducing the animation's length to 60 seconds.

Technique: A combination of CGI and live-action by ITP Communications in Osaka.

Audio: Unknown