Tokyo Movie Shinsha

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum

Tokyo Movie Shinsha Co., Ltd. was founded in 1964 by Yutaka Fujioka as Tokyo Movie after his previous studio was shuttered. In 1976, the original company spun-off its sale department and Tokyo Movie Shinsha was formed, becoming its sales arm while Tokyo Movie continued to focus on animation and production. Tokyo Movie would continue to operate until 1993, when it was folded into TMS. The company was very prominent in the 1980's and the 1990's, becoming one of the largest animation studios in Japan and South Korea either by producing their own productions or working on some Western animated shows being made by Disney Television Animation, DiC, Warner Bros. Animation, etc. In 1991, Fujioka stepped down from the studio after he acknowledged the failure of Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, which led to Sega buying the studio a year later. In 1995, the company merged with Sega affiliate Kyokuichi (now known as TMS Entertainment) absorbing TMS in the process and rebranding the division to TMS-Kyokuichi (or Kyokuichi Tokyo Movie in Japan). TMS-K would use the Tokyo Movie name to represent the company's legacy inside of Japan until 2011.

1st Logo (December 16, 1978-1984)


Visuals: A small TV tube is centered on a blue background. It contains the letters TMS, which are stylized in an abstract cursive font. "TOKYO MOVIE SHINSHA CO., LTD." is seen below, in white.

Variant:

  • An in-credit variant exists on Lupin the 3rd: Part 3
  • On international prints of Georgie/Lady Georgie, the logo is on a black background.

Technique: Superimposed animation.

Audio: None.

Availability: This was seen on older prints of the Toho/Frontier dub of Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo and the pitch reel of The Mighty Orbots originally being called as Broots. Updated prints of that film deleted this logo. Also appears on international prints of Georgie/Lady Georgie, in the 1982 pilot of Space Adventure Cobra, and in the TV series Lupin III: Part 3 among many others. The last two have the logo on their Blu-Ray.

2nd Logo (1983-1995)


Visuals: On a black background, there is a stylized "TMS" in blue and red, with "TOKYO MOVIE SHINSHA CO., LTD." below in white. After a few seconds, the words sparkle out, and the stylized "TMS" turns into trails, moving toward the viewer while leaving residue behind, with the residue following shortly afterwards (likely it's going backwards).

Variants:

  • On some films, like The Castle of Cagliostro, the logo is still.
  • Earlier on, the logo plays in reverse and the text appears with a wiping line.
  • A shorter version also exists, when it begins after the wordmark disappears.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: Usually silent, but some films, like Lupin III: The Fuma Conspiracy, use a 4-note synth tune that repeats throughout the logo, with chimes for the sparkles and loud whooshes for the movement of "TMS". This is actually a library track called "Music, Billboard #2" from Sound Ideas Series 1000 sound library; it was also used in the Charter Entertainment and Hanna-Barbera Poland logos, and can also be heard in the video game Worms Armageddon as a victory fanfare.

Availability: Seen on international prints of TMS movies and shows. This is subject to plastering by the TMS-Kyokuichi or TMS Entertainment logos on current prints, but is preserved on current prints of Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (which use the original uncut version rather than the 1992 Hemdale cut).

3rd Logo (April 13, 1984)


Visuals: On a black background, two blue trails of the TMS logo (which is the same as the next logo, but the "T" and "S" aren't linked) zoom out to the center of the screen. When their both ends cross together, the trails merge into a single one and it continues zooming out. Then, it flashes, turning the TMS logo plain white.

Technique: Backlit cel animation.

Audio: The ending theme of the short.

Availability: Seen at the end of the second pilot film for the then-developing movie Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (at that time provisionally titled Nemo), directed by Kondo Yoshifumi and Andy Gaskill in 1984. It appears at the end of the uncut version as well.

Tokyo Movie Shinsha
TMS Entertainment
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