TMS Entertainment

, formerly known as the , also known as or , is a Japanese animation studio established on October 22, 1946.

TMS is one of the oldest and most famous anime studios in Japan, best known for numerous anime franchises such as ''Lupin the Third'', ''Lilpri'', ''The Gutsy Frog'', ''The Rose of Versailles'', ''Anpanman'', ''Detective Conan'', ''Monster Rancher'', ''Magic Knight Rayearth'', ''Hamtaro'', ''Sonic X'', ''D.Gray-man'', '' Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple'', ''Fruits Basket'' (since 2019), ''Obake no Q-Taro'' (until 1972), ''Bakugan Battle Brawlers'' and feature-length films '' Golgo 13: The Professional'', '' Akira'' and '' Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland'', alongside animation works for Western animation such as ''Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog'', ''Inspector Gadget'', ''The Real Ghostbusters'', ''Rainbow Brite'', ''DuckTales'', ''The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'', ''Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers'', ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', '' Batman: The Animated Series'', ''Animaniacs'', and '' Spider-Man: The Animated Series''.

In 2010, TMS Entertainment became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings.

History

The company was originally established on October 22, 1946 by Yutaka Fujioka. As Asahi Gloves Manufacturing Co., Ltd., it was originally a textile manufacturer. Later, the company name was changed to Asahi Ichi Henori Co., Ltd., Asahiichi Co., Ltd., Asahiichi Shine Industry Co., Ltd., and Kyokuichi Co., Ltd. In 2003, the company completely withdrew from the textile business.

Foray into animation

The company started operations in 1964 when it ventured into the animation industry as after the failure of Fujioka's previous studio, . The studio's first production was an animated adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's ''Big X''.

Hayao Miyazaki was associated with Tokyo Movie before founding Studio Ghibli. His most notable work at TMS was his role as the director of ''The Castle of Cagliostro'', which is notable for being his first feature-length debut.

In 1972, Madhouse was established with funding from Fujioka, and co-produced its earliest series with Tokyo Movie. In 1977, Fujioka reformatted Tokyo Movie into Tokyo Movie Shinsha. Its first production was ''Lupin the Third Part II'', which aired from 1977 to 1980. The film adaptation, ''The Mystery of Mamo,'' was the studio's first feature-length movie in history. A subsidiary, Telecom Animation Film, was founded in 1975, but didn't start production until after Tokyo Movie was restructured.

In 1980, TMS established a partnership with the French (later American) company DiC, as one of its overseas animation subcontractors, where the former would help animate many of the latter's programs, starting with the pilot of ''Ulysses 31.'' The two would also produce the 1982 unaired pilot '' Lupin VIII''. This partnership would last until 1996, when DiC opened its own Japan-based animation facility known as K.K. DIC Asia (later Creativity & Development Asia) in 1983, for animation production on its shows in order to bypass overseas animation subcontractors.

In 1989, TMS released '' Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland'' in Japan, followed by a United States in 1992. The movie was infamous for being in development hell with figures such as George Lucas, Chuck Jones, Hayao Miyazaki, and Gary Kurtz being involved with the movie before dropping out. The film receiving mixed to positive reviews from publications including ''The Washington Post'', ''Variety'', the ''New York Post'', the ''Boston Globe'', and ''The New York Times'', and became a box-office bomb. In response to this, founder Fujioka decided to retire from the animation business. TMS, having to recoup ''Little Nemo''s losses by increased production on locally based anime programs including ''Anpanman'' and the yearly ''Lupin III'' television specials which the specials ran non-stop until 2013 (with additional special produced in 2016, 2018 and 2019) while Telecom became highly involved in animation for Western-based productions due to the Japanese bubble economy busting making it difficult to find local work, including ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', ''Animaniacs'', and '' Batman: The Animated Series'' in order to fund for its next project ''Farewell to Nostradamus''.

Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, TMS and its subsidiaries, Telecom Animation Film and South Korea-based Seoul Movie, animated for various companies, including DiC, Walt Disney Television Animation, Warner Bros. Animation, Marvel Films Animation, Studio Ghibli, Madhouse, Production I.G, Sunrise, Bones, Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment, and outsourced to smaller studios such as Telecom (its own division), Ajia-do, Magic Bus, Gonzo, Studio Jungle Gym, Nakamura Production, Tokyo Kids, DR Movie, and Orange. Since the early 2000s, TMS itself has no longer supplied animation services to western studios due to increasingly demanding costs. While it still produces feature films, these films are primarily spinoffs from existing anime properties, which include the likes of ''Anpanman'' and ''Detective Conan''.

Aside from Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, animators would leave TMS to form their own studios. One of these studios was Brain's Base. Similarly, animators at its subsidiary, Telecom Animation Film, would leave to form Ufotable in 2000, which they would be later known for works like ''Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba'', ''Tales of Symphonia'', ''The Garden of Sinners'', '' Fate/Zero'', and '' Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works''.

Partnership with Sega

On July 1, 1991, Tokyo Movie Shinsha's holding company changed their name to Tokyo Movie Kyokuichi. In 1995, Tokyo Movie Kyokuichi merged with Tokyo Movie Shinsha. In 1996, the Los Angeles studio division was established for overseas TMS animation and in 2000, the company was re-branded as TMS Entertainment Co., Ltd.

In 2001, the Paris studio division was established. In 2003, American brokerage group Merrill Lynch became the second-largest shareholder in TMS Entertainment after acquiring a 7.54 percent stake in the studio. Merrill Lynch purchased the stake purely for investment purposes and had no intention of acquiring control of the firm's management.

On October 17, 2005, Sega Sammy Holdings announced that they had acquired a 50.2% majority stake in TMS and subsidized the studio under it.

In 2012, the head office was relocated to Nakano, Tokyo

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