JOAX-TV (Nippon Television)

(1953-2001, July 24, 2011)
Nicknames: "Hato no kyūjitsu" ("Doves Day Off"), "Japanese Birdcage", "Japanese LED Letters Logo"

Logo:
 * 1953-1972: On a black background, we see a transparent-looking N, with the letters T and V spaced out in the sides of the letter. The words "JOAX-TV" are seen on the bottom of the logo. After a few seconds, we fade in to three doves. The doves begin to fly off one by one, with one dove remaining. The dove flaps its wings and zooms in. This fades into a black "NTV" wordmark zooming in over a white background. The background becomes black, and "NTV" becomes white. "日本テレビ放送" scrolls to the left. We see channel info on a sign made up of arrows. Finally, we cut to a screen with "JOAX-TV" and the NTV logo.
 * 1972-2001: Same as before, but it is now colorized. The N is blue, the birdhouse is yellowish, and the doves are blue. After the doves, glittering sparkles form a wreath of confettiover a black background, and "NTV", in white, shines and zooms in, without its color switching this time. The background becomes a very dark blue color. "日本テレビ" scrolls left, in orange color. We cut to a new channel info screen. There is a tile-like animation done three times revealing different text. Afterwards, a still screen appears.

Trivia: The doves represent the three television networks in Japan at the time (NHK, TBS, and NTV), and eventually, only one dove remains: the one representing Nippon Television.

Variants:
 * The logo originally aired in black and white.
 * Just before midnight on July 24 2011, the date when Japanese analog television switched off in most regions, the original (color) version of the logo was broadcast on NTV's analog signal in Tokyo, with the addition of "58年間ありがとうございました" (Thank you for 58 years) somewhere on the NTV logo screen.

FX/SFX: Very nicely executed 2D animation in here! The quality of the animation would hold up until the end of the 90s, when most of the recent Japanese animation was starting to become computerized. The 1972 version makes the ident even more impressive with the added animation to go alongside the cel animation of the doves.

Music/Sounds: A custom-made orchestra piece (composed by Shirō Fukai), that had been slightly reorchestrated over the years. During the part with the network information, an announcer can be heard, which varies due to the logo's usage.

Availability: Extinct. This was only seen on sign-offs and sign-ons on JOAX-TV.

Editor's Note: This logo was a trademark of 60s Japanese television, given its professional animation.

(2001-unknown)
TBD!