Tokuma Japan Communications

Background

Tokuma Japan Communications is a Japanese entertainment distributor. The company was one of the largest entertainment publishers until the 1990s. Some of their products included music, computer and game software, movies (including anime), magazines, manga and books. One of their most famous subsidiaries was Studio Ghibli. Because of a problem involving Yasuyoshi Tokuma's death in 2000, the company was discontinued and it ceased operations.

1st Logo (1987?-1998)

Visuals: On a space background, a blue oval slides right with a trail and forms "TOKUMA JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS". The oval is still sliding and turns into a circle with a bunch of blue lines.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: A 2-note synth fanfare with an epic finish, and a drumbeat.

Availability: It can be seen on anime tapes and others. ^[Examples?]

2nd Logo (1998-2000s)

Visuals: On a black background, a slowly spinning filmreel zooms towards the screen, and a light, in a similar shape to the logo from before, emerges from one of the holes and zooms in. Bolts of electricity appear around the same hole of the filmreel. After a while, the scene fades to a shot of the light traveling through a blue beam-like line in a dark environment, as the camera turns around it facing to the front. The light arrives in a train station-style platform where an arched roof can be seen below a night sky, and at the end of the line is the shape of the Tokuma Japan logo. The light then quickly stops and shines at the end of the line, as the logo brightens up and the words "TOKUMA JAPAN" and "COMMUNICATIONS" slide in at the end of the platform in front of the logo. The sky brightens up as the camera slightly rotates in a left-looking perspective.

Technique: CGI by Eijiroh Kanoh.

Audio: Machine sounds, an explosion and the sounds of electricity at the beginning. During the rest of the logo, a rising and then descending THX-like drone starts to play. More whooshes and electricity can be heard during the formation of the logo.

Availability: It was seen on late VHS releases by the company, as well as trailers for said tapes, with one example being The Ninja (a spinoff of the Kinnikuman series).