The studio was founded in October 1962 by
mangaka and
anime pioneer
Tatsuo Yoshida and his two younger brothers:
Kenji, who managed Tatsuo, and
manga artist Toyoharu, better known by his
pen name "
Ippei Kuri", at Tatsuo's house. It initially began as a production company specializing in manga to manage the copyrights of Tatsuo Yoshida's manga and his assistants. However, at the time, the manga artist community was abuzz following the beginning of the broadcast of
Astro Boy, Japan's first domestically produced anime television series produced by
Osamu Tezuka's
Mushi Production. Tatsuo saw that more people were buying
televisions in the early 1960s and predicted that they would demand higher quality anime program in the future, so decided to provide it to them. It was a good deal for Tatsunoko, which was entrusted with the original story, script, and direction, while Toei worked on the subsequent
inbetweening, finishing,
cinematography, etc. Toei trained animators over a three-month period, with Tatsunoko staff, including Tatsuo and Sasagawa, also able to participate in training. At the time, color TVs were not widely available in Japan and most households watched TV programs in black and white. However, Tatsunoko dared to produce the series in full color, assuming from the start that it would be broadcast in the United States. At the time, Hiroshi Sasagawa, who excelled at comedies, and
Hisayuki Toriumi, who had a hard, serious style, supported Tatsunoko's heyday in the 1970s as the two signatures. Also during this period, Tatsunoko was trying to bring up university-educated directors in-house, following the example of Toei Doga, instead of hiring directors from outside the company. These people were Mizuho Nishikubo,
Kōichi Mashimo, Hidehito Ueda, and
Mamoru Oshii. On September 5, 1977, Tatsuo Yoshida died of
liver cancer. Kenji Yoshida was appointed as the second president and would stay on for the studio's later years. Around the time, Tatsunoko's production site was on the verge of collapse due to busyness and lack of funds, and there was a steady flow of personnel out of the company, particularly members from the pioneering period. Later, however, Bigwest produced a sequel,
Super Dimensional Fortress Macross II: Lovers Again, without Tatsunoko or Studio Nue. In response, Tatsunoko signed a contract with
Harmony Gold USA without the consent of Bigwest and Nue, resulting in a dispute over intellectual property rights. In Japan, Tatsunoko sued Bigwest and Studio Nue over copyright and won, but conversely lost a lawsuit filed by them over character and mecha design. As a result of the trial, it was decided that Tatsunoko Productions would retain ownership of the film of the work, but that the designs would be shared by Bigwest and Studio Nue. Meanwhile, overseas, Harmony Gold USA, which had obtained the license, adapted and broadcast several Tatsunoko works as a single epic
Robotech series depicting different eras and generations in the same world. Bigwest and Harmony Gold had different claims over the rights to the
Macross and
Robotech series for many years, and
Macross was not developed for business worldwide and
Robotech in Japan. However, in 2021, the two companies announced an agreement regarding worldwide rights to the
Macross and
Robotech series from that point forward. This would allow the
Macross series to be developed globally and confirmed that Bigwest did not object to the release of a live-action
Robotech movie in Japan. In 1990, Tatsunoko Anime Technology Research Institute led by Koji Sugii became independent and participated in the establishment of Animation 21. In 1995, Kenji Yoshida returned to Tatsunoko Production and became its first chairman. Since the 1990s, Tatsunoko has brought back former key staff members, including Hiroshi Sasagawa, who had left the company, and has been producing mainly remakes of older works. On June 3, 2005, major toy manufacturer
Takara acquired a 88% stake in the studio from the Yoshida family, making the company a consolidated subsidiary of Takara. Following this, Kenji Yoshida and Ippei Kuri resigned from their posts, and the entire Yoshida family, including executives, left the studio. In the same year, Tatsuo Yoshida was posthumously awarded the Special Achievement Award as one of the 20 People Who Made Japanese Animation at the
Tokyo Anime Award held at the
Tokyo International Anime Fair. In 2010, Production I.G. acquired 11.2% of Tatsunoko's outstanding shares. Additionally, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, president of Production I.G and
IG Port, became non-executive director of Tatsunoko Production. In 2013,
Horipro acquired 13.5% of the shares, making it the second largest shareholder at the time after Takara Tomy. In the same year, the company changed its name from (written in
kanji) to (written in
katakana). At the same time, the head office was relocated from Kokubunji City, Tokyo to
Musashino City, and the dispersed corporate functions were consolidated. At
Anime Expo 2013,
Sentai Filmworks announced a deal to license and release some of Tatsunoko's titles, including the
Gatchaman series and
Casshan in North America. In 2014,
Nippon Television Holdings acquired 54.3% of the outstanding shares held by Takara Tomy and made Tatsunoko Production a subsidiary, structured as a sales swap. Takara Tomy continued to hold a 20% stake in the company and maintained the partnership. In 2019, Tatsunoko founded a new label, Bakken Record. In the same year, four people associated with Tatsunoko received the Achievement Award at the Tokyo Anime Award:
Kunio Okawara, Akiyoshi Sakai,
Hisayuki Toriumi, and Tsuneo Ninomiya. == Representative directors ==