Toho Co., Ltd.
From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum
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Descriptions by
Eric S., Logoarto, sega3dmm, Supermarty-o, Stephen C. and Thisisanswer
Captures by
Eric S. , sega3dmm, Stephen C. and Logoarto
Editions by
kidinbed, mr3urious and thestudioghiblifan
Video captures courtesy of
shimomov, Peakpasha, Logo Archive, BreadCrustCouncil, ArhiVid and MarkStarCrashes
Eric S., Logoarto, sega3dmm, Supermarty-o, Stephen C. and Thisisanswer
Captures by
Eric S. , sega3dmm, Stephen C. and Logoarto
Editions by
kidinbed, mr3urious and thestudioghiblifan
Video captures courtesy of
shimomov, Peakpasha, Logo Archive, BreadCrustCouncil, ArhiVid and MarkStarCrashes
Background
Toho Co., Ltd. (東宝株式会社) is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group.
Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer and distributor of many kaiju and tokusatsu films, the Chouseishin tokusatsu superhero television franchise, the films of Akira Kurosawa, and the anime films of Studio Ghibli. Other famous directors, including Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Masaki Kobayashi, and Mikio Naruse, also directed films for Toho. Toho's most famous creation is Godzilla, who features in 29 of the company's films. Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla are described as Toho's Big Five because of the monsters' numerous appearances in all three eras of the franchise, as well as spin-offs.
Toho has also been involved in the production of numerous anime titles. Its subdivisions are Toho-Towa Distribution, Toho Pictures Incorporated, Toho International Company Limited, Toho E. B. Company Limited, and Toho Music Corporation & Toho Costume Company Limited. The company is the largest shareholder (7.96%) of Fuji Media Holdings Inc. Toho is a member of the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (MPPAJ), and is one of Japan's Big Four film studios.
1st Logo (January 27-June 8, 1944)
Visuals: On a sunburst background (which can be barely seen), a large model of the Toho emblem is seen suspended above ground. Below is a rotating model of a musical staff, with the company name inscribed.
Technique: Live action.
Audio: Unknown.
Availability: Seen on films from the period such as Akira Kurosawa's The Most Beautiful.
2nd Logo (August 27, 1944-April 27, 1948)
Visuals: Over a dark textured background is the Toho emblem and company name, both seemingly three-dimensional and sporting a slight shadow.
Technique: A painting filmed by a cameraman.
Audio: A custom fanfare.
Availability: Seen on films from the period such as Akira Kurosawa's One Wonderful Sunday. Also known to plaster older logos.
3rd Logo (1946)
Visuals: There is the Toho emblem between two lit torches. The torches are placed over a platform which has the company name inscribed over it.
Variant: A still version of this exists, with the torches being a painting.
Technique: Live action.
Audio: Unknown.
Availability: Unknown. [Examples?]
4th Logo (1947)
Visuals: On a black background is the Toho emblem. The screen then zooms out from the emblem, revealing the company name below.
Technique: A zoom-out effect.
Audio: Unknown.
Availability: Unknown. [Examples?]
5th Logo (1947-1948)
Visuals: On a black background, the Toho emblem is seen over a small area of glimmering lights. The company name is below.
Technique: Live action.
Audio: Unknown.
Availability: Unknown. [Examples?]
6th Logo (1947-1948)
Visuals: On a black background, the Toho emblem in white is seen, but thinner, with the company name below.
Technique: A painting filmed by a cameraman.
Audio: Unknown.
Availability: Seen on early Shintoho productions, preceding said company's logo.
7th Logo (1948)
Visuals: On a grey background, the Toho emblem is seen in white, with the company name below.
Technique: A painting filmed by a cameraman.
Audio: Unknown.
Availability: Unknown. [Examples?]
8th Logo (1948)
Visuals: On a marble background, the Toho emblem is seen in white. The company name is below.
Technique: A painting filmed by a cameraman.
Audio: Unknown.
Availability: Unknown. [Examples?]
9th Logo (July 19, 1949-May 14, 1950)
Visuals: There is a model of a town. The Toho emblem and company name, both three-dimensional, are seen suspended over it.
Variant: There is an animated version where the logo begins with the Toho emblem and name darkened, then being lit up.
Technique: A painting filmed by a cameraman. The variant is live action.
Audio: Unknown.
Availability: Unknown. [Examples?]
10th Logo (September 27-November 8, 1949, 1953)
Visuals: Over a flower field, the Toho emblem zooms in. The arched company name enters from the right of the screen to below the emblem.
Technique: Cel animation.
Audio: A custom fanfare.
Availability: Seen on early Shintoho productions, preceding said company's logo. Such productions include Ohara Shôsuke-san.
11th Logo (1950)
Visuals: On a cloud background, the Toho emblem in black is seen, with a banner displaying the company name below. Animated sun rays are seen behind the logo.
Technique: Live action.
Audio: Unknown.
Availability: Unknown. [Examples?]
12th Logo (January 22, 1950-1952)
Visuals: The Toho emblem and company name is seen inside a frame.
Technique: Unknown.
Audio: Unknown.
Availability: Unknown. [Examples?]
13th Logo (October 9, 1952-1955)
Visuals: On a black background with spinning lines and a shining center (like a sunburst), there is a large Toho emblem. The company name then wipes in below the emblem.
Variants: In 1952, the company celebrated its 20th anniversary (from its beginnings as the Tokyo-Takarazuka Theater Company, founded in 1932). In this variant, after the logo animates, it fades into a textured background with an ornate frame and with the text "東宝創立20周年記念映画" ("Toho's 20th anniversary film").
Technique: Two glass layers were used: one showing the logo, and the other showing the lights (which were rotated).
Audio: None or the opening theme of the movie.
Availability: Seen on some films from the time, most notably Godzilla and Seven Samurai.
Legacy: The spinning lights are notable for being used for the first time here, and for the rest of the logos below.
14th Logo (September 15, 1953)
Visuals: Similar to before, except the lines are aquamarine and shown over a sky background with some clouds below. The emblem and the company name (which are already there) is in orange.
Trivia: This was the first appearance of the spinning lines in color, and the first color logo from the company.
Technique: Two glass layers were used: one showing the logo, and the other showing the lights (which were rotated).
Audio: The opening theme.
Availability: Seen on Hana no naka no musumetachi.
15th Logo (1954-1965)
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Behind-the-scenes photograph of the distribution variant
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Visuals: Similar to before, but the emblem is smaller and is shown on a dark blue space background with two versions, one with golden stripes with the various colors of the rainbow spectrum, and clear, light blue stripes with the colors of the rainbow spectrum more apparent.
Variants:
- On films in TohoScope, "TOHO" and "SCOPE" are on the left and right sides of the circle in a huge font.
- The distribution variant reads "TOHO COMPANY LTD. DISTRIBUTION" in Japanese. The rotating stripes are much slower and slightly blurry in this variant.
Technique: Two glass layers were used: one showing the logo, and the other showing the lights (which were rotated).
Audio: None or the opening theme.
Availability: Seen on releases from this period, such as Rodan, The Hidden Fortress, and The Mysterians. The distribution variant is much more common and is known to plaster older logos on many films, such as Stray Dog (1949) and Sugata Sanshiro (1943). The 1950s "TohoScope" color version makes a surprise appearance on the 2016 movie Shin Godzilla, after the 1993 version.
16th Logo (October 14, 1958)
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Visuals: On a grey marble background, there is a Toho emblem with film projector lines connected into emblem, then there is "TOHO PAN SCOPE" in a Gothic font with "PAN" in the center of emblem, and the Kanji in white is seen below.
Technique: A painting filmed by a cameraman.
Audio: The opening theme.
Availability: Seen only on Varan the Unbelievable (1958), a Toho film which was shot in Toho Pan Scope 2:1 format, similar to Univisium.
17th Logo (March 20, 1965-1997)
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Visuals: Again, similar to before, but the logo is shown on a blue space background with mostly clear stripes that correspond to the various colors of light seen in the center of the logo. Small sparks of light are seen emitted from the center.
Variants:
- Some movies had an English-translated logo (with "TOHO" written in the circle and/or "TOHO COMPANY, LTD." in English, replacing the kanji). A still shot of this variant can be seen on the trailer for the anime film Metropolis.
- The distribution variant also has "TOHO COMPANY, LTD. DISTRIBUTION" in Japanese, unlike previous logos. There are color and B&W variants and still version which used on trailer of Toho distributed films. It was seen on Toho distributed films like Kuroneko (1968), Under the Flag of Rising Sun (1972), Dodes'ka-den (1970), Tokyo Olympiad (1965) and others.
- The print circle was seen on Godzilla Unleashed for the Nintendo DS, as well as some Classic Media DVD releases of Toho material.
Technique: Two glass layers were used: one showing the logo, and the other showing the lights (which were rotated).
Audio: None or the opening theme of the movie.
Availability:
- It's retained on almost all of Toho's projects made in the era. It can also be seen on several anime productions such as the Doraemon and Crayon Shin-Chan films, Metropolis (2001), and Akira, Macross: Do You Remember Love?, among others.
- It can also be seen on Koneko Monogatari (1986), which was reedited and redubbed outside of Japan as The Adventures of Milo and Otis (a Columbia Pictures release).
- Additionally, it can be found on Japanese prints of Studio Ghibli films starting with Only Yesterday.
- It also plasters the 1952 logo on the 1972 PBS broadcast and 1984 Embassy Home Entertainment release of Seven Samurai.
- It may have also appeared on the earliest Japanese prints of My Neighbor Totoro.
Legacy: One of the most well-known Japanese logos.
18th Logo (March 6, 1993-)
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1993 version
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1993 scope version
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1993 English version
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1993 English scope version
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2009 version
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2009 scope version
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Visuals: An updated version of the last logo. The stripes are colored purple and various light blue colors, but also some green and yellow stripes are thrown in as well.
Variant: Starting with Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva in late 2009, the Japanese characters' font has been changed.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: Usually silent or the opening theme of the film.
Availability:
- Seen on newer releases from the company, such as Ringu, Shin Godzilla (before the 1954 TohoScope logo), the Pokémon films (albiet plastered by the 1998 Miramax Films logo on American prints of Pokémon films from 2001-2004 from Pokémon 4Ever to Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys) and Jujutsu Kaisen 0.
- It also appears on Japanese prints of MonsterVerse and Nintendo films since 2014 that were distributed elsewhere by Warner Bros. Pictures or Universal Pictures.
- Also seen on recent Japanese prints of Studio Ghibli or Mamotu Hosoda-operated Studio Chizu films, sometimes before the Nippon Television Networks logo.
19th Logo (1st North American logo) (December 3, 2020)
Visuals: On a realistic space background, a blue ice comet flies around the bottom of the screen, with the background rotating with it. The scene enters inside the comet, which reveals several blue and purple streaks coming towards the center with a white light in the middle, as the letters of "TOHO" in off-white fly in from the middle of the screen. A large white ring also comes in as well. After they settle, the background fades to a mostly unaltered version of the 1993 logo's background, and the "東宝" kanji fade in.
Technique: CGI.
Audio:
- June-September 2022: During the ice comet flying animation, a quiet whoosh can be heard. There is a calm synth theme during the "TOHO" name flying and the ring flying, as well as over the blue and purple streaks animation. Another calm theme is heard at the end during the logo formation, with the background and kanji letters fading in.
- November 2022-: During the comet sequence, a majestic orchestral fanfare is heard, along with different quiet whooshes and a film projector sound effect. At the end, during the streaks, the company name, and the ring flying animation, a different film projector soundbite is heard, which ends in a "clang" sound effect during the background and kanji letters animation.
- Sometimes (mainly Monster Hunter, this logo's currently lone appearance), it has the opening theme of the movie.
Availability: As of now, it has only appeared on Monster Hunter (2020).
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