Prehistory of TMS Entertainment (Kyokuichi) In 1946, '
was founded in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture and the trade name was soon changed to '. Inspired by the broadcast of the first domestically produced animated TV series
Astro Boy on
Fuji Television the previous year, TBS encouraged Fujioka, who was working at , the film production division of Hitomi-za, which had produced puppet theater programs for the station, to establish a studio. The studio's first production was an animated adaptation of
Osamu Tezuka's Big X. Early directors, such as
Tadao Nagahama and
Masaaki Ōsumi, were all from puppet theater companies with no animation experience, but they produced a series of hits, including
Obake no Q-Tarō,
Star of the Giants, and
Attack No. 1. Thanks to them, Tokyo Movie became independent from Kokusai Hōei in 1971, and Fujioka returned as president. The studio continued to produce a string of hits thereafter, including
Tensai Bakabon,
Lupin the 3rd Part I,
Aim for the Ace!, and
Gamba no Bouken. Feeling the limitations of the Japanese animation business, Fujioka dreamed of expanding to the United States and making full animation films that could compete with
Disney. However, since
limited animation, which had been adopted and developed by Osamu Tezuka, was the mainstream in Japan, he planned to establish a new animation studio that would handle full animation and use it as a base to produce joint Japanese-US animated films. In the U.S., the studio took on subcontracting work for production companies such as
Disney,
Warner Bros., and
Filmation, and became proficient in the art of full animation. In the early 1980s, Tokyo Movie Shinsha (TMS) began working on international co-productions by big-name directors with the goal of expanding overseas. TMS partnered with the French (later American) company
DiC as an overseas subcontractor to produce animation for the company in 1980. Two Japanese-French co-productions,
Ulysses 31 in 1981, directed by Tadao Nagahama, and
Lupin VIII in 1982, directed by
Rintaro, were produced in cooperation with DIC. TMS began production of the Japanese-Italian co-production TV series
Sherlock Hound in 1981 at the request of
RAI, the Italian national public broadcasting company. The series was directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Telecom Animation Film. However, the collaboration was dissolved after six episodes were produced, and the remaining 20 episodes were subsequently financed by Japanese companies. Kyosuke Mikuriya took over as director, and with Telecom leaving to focus on the film
Nemo, TMS outsourced the animation to the fledgling studio
Gallop. Under Fujioka's grand order to produce a world-class animation film, creators from Japan and abroad were assembled. Many prominent figures were involved in the production, including Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Osamu Dezaki, Yasuo Ōtsuka,
Ray Bradbury,
Jean Giraud (Mœbius), and
Chris Columbus. However, the production ran into difficulties due to various crosscurrents between Japan and the U.S. Miyazaki and Takahata, who were originally slated to direct the film, dropped out of the project, and the staff was replaced one by one in the following years. Young American animators who had heard rumors of the
Nemo production also came to Kineto TMS to sell themselves, including John Lasseter and
Brad Bird, who reportedly met Miyazaki there for the first time. Bird brought in his own film and unofficially drew several image boards. Due to conflicts with Kurtz, Miyazaki resigned from Telecom in November 1982, and Takahata in March 1983. On November 1, 1995, Sega absorbed Tokyo Movie Shinsha into Kyokuichi, with Kyokuichi as the surviving company. In 2005,
Sega Sammy Holdings acquired a 50.2% stake in TMS Entertainment, making it a subsidiary. In 2006, the Tokyo branch was reorganized as the Tokyo headquarters and merged with the Head Office in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. The headquarters then moved to
Shinjuku, Tokyo. In 2008, the company withdrew from the amusement arcade business and concentrated its business on animation production. In 2010, TMS Entertainment was delisted and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings through a share exchange. In 2011, the credits for
Detective Conan were changed to TMS Entertainment, and animation production under the Tokyo Movie name ended. In November 2012, TMS relocated its headquarters to Nakano, Tokyo. Marza Animation Planet moved from being part of Sega Holdings to being part of TMS Entertainment in April 2017. TMS Entertainment transferred all of the digital content planning, development, and production business owned by its subsidiary TOCSIS to Marza Animation Planet in April 2019. In July 2021, TMS Entertainment announced the launch of the Unlimited Produce Project. The project is characterized by its focus on collaboration with outside studios to strengthen production operations such as planning, production, business, and promotion of works. The first project is
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, which was distributed worldwide on Netflix from July 8, 2021, and was produced in collaboration with CG studio Quebico. In April 2023, Marza Animation Planet moved from under TMS Entertainment to under its parent company, Sega. In 2024, TMS Entertainment transferred the 3DCG video production business of its subsidiary TMS Jinni's to its subsidiary Toms Photo through a company split. == Subsidiaries and divisions ==