If you were to talk to Western anime fans about some of the most important anime studios of all time, I’d expect many of them to bring up names such as Studio Ghibli, Sunrise, Toei Animation, perhaps even Mushi Production but I wouldn’t expect anyone to bring up Tatsunoko Production despite their massive contribution to the medium of anime. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at Tatsunoko Production, an anime studio that I feel is all too often overlooked.
The company was established in 1962 by the mangaka trio of Tatsuo, Kenji and Toyoharu Yoshida and released its first product in 1965, a TV anime called Space Ace. However, it was their next series that cemented their place within anime history as one of the most important anime studios. In 1967, their second TV anime, which was in colour unlike the black and white Space Ace, began airing on TV. Its original Japanese name was Mach GoGoGo and it was picked up for broadcast in the US within months where it was localised as Speed Racer.
Speed Racer ended up becoming a big hit in America and its early success saw Tatsunoko Production expand which, interestingly, also included hiring a young Yoshitaka Amano. This allowed them to produce even more TV series at a time, sometimes even working on four at once! Alongside an interesting Pinocchio adaptation, a particularly notable series they produced was Science Ninja Team Gatchaman which was not only such a success in Japan that it spawned a franchise with numerous entries but was also localised as the popular Battle of the Planets! I also think that it’s worth mentioning Casshan, Time Bokan and Yatterman as other important series from this time period.
By far and away their most interesting series in the 80s was a show called Super Dimension Fortress Macross, the first entry in the now legendary Macross franchise as well as being the first part of the Super Dimension trilogy. When later released in America in 1985, the result was Robotech, a show that combined footage from three different Tatsunoko Production series, those being Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA. The success of Robotech led to numerous legal battles between companies and prevented many of the Macross series from being released internationally until it was settled recently.
The 90s saw Tatsunoko Production release new versions of many of their classic series such as Tekkaman Blade, Casshan: Robot Hunter and New Mach GoGoGo but they also had a hand in one of the most important anime series of that decade, Neon Genesis Evangelion, working alongside Gainax as one of the two anime production companies. Since the 2000s, we’ve seen Tatsunoko Production continue to produce many series based on their IP but also other shows such as Sket Dance, Ping Pong The Animation, Psycho-Pass 2 and the recent The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War.
The impact of Tatsunoko Production on anime fandom both in Japan and internationally is immense so it’s a shame that this anime studio is all too often overlooked. Let me know your thoughts on Tatsunoko Production, what some of your favourite series have been from them, what you think about their rich history and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk and amazon.com for all of your needs!