Kodansha Comics

Credits

Descriptions by
Henrynguye5 and TheLogoFan2004

Captures by
Henrynguye5, RSX-798, Kyrongenius1 and JackAMLA

Editions by
Henrynguye5

Video captures courtesy of
VHSlover

Background

Kodansha Ltd. is a Japanese publisher based in the Bunkyō ward of Tokyo that was originally founded in 1911 by Seiji Noma as a spin-off of the Dai-Nippon Yūbenkai. In 1931, the company would gain its legal corporate status until 1958 when it rebranded to its current name. In 2001, the company teamed up with Nelvana and EllipsAnime to co-produce a revival of Babar, this also led to Nelvana licensing Medabots in all territories outside of Asia and Italy as well as Cardcaptor Sakura in certain territories such as North America, the UK and Oceania, however Nelvana's rights to these works later expired and were handed back to Kodansha themselves which were later re-licensed to other distributors.

1st Logo (December 12, 1985)

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Visuals: On a black background, there is the text "KODANSHA VIDEO" in Times New Roman as it zooms in and out via a motion blur effect before fading out.

Technique: Digital traditional animation.

Audio: Silent.

Availability: Seen only on Asaki Yumenshi.

2nd Logo (1986-2014?)

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Visuals: On a purple background, there is a peach and black checkerboard floor on the bottom moving upwards to the background. Then is some colorful rays and a golden CGI "K" zooming in and transforming into a stylized monogram with "KV"; which rotates until it stops. At the end, the logo becomes 2D and the text "Kodansha Video" (set in Handel Gothic) in white wipes in. After a few seconds, the logo fades in and the publisher's name in Japanese, "講談社" appears on a black background with the text being in white before fading out.

Variants:

• A still version exists.
• Early releases would have the logo in white fading on a black background, followed by the second part of the standard logo.
• A version with a blue background and white logo exists.
• Another shorter variant also exists, with the words "講談社" only appearing on a black background.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A beeping theme with chimes, and then some beeping notes, ending in a phaser-like sound when the Japanese text appears.

Audio Variants:

• For the short variant, a rising synth tune with a synth flute flourish at the end.
• For the still variant, silent.

Availability: Seen on Media Blasters DVDs of Ah! My Goddess among other Kodansha VHS, VCD, LaserDisc and DVD releases from that period.

3rd Logo (1995-2007)

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Visuals: On a starry space background there is the planet Earth rotating on the bottom left as the letters that form the word "Kodansha" in a rainbow-colored and futuristic-style font fly up from the globe and hover around. The camera then fades into a sky background with a hilly area, with the letters traversing around some tree trunks, houses, the pond, and settling by a tree trunk. The letters then hit the tree trunk, and a bear looks up at the trunk. The letters then bounce all the way to the top of the tree trunk and start to dance. The screen then cuts into the sky with the letters dancing before fading back into the tree trunk. After that, the letters flip in and form the Kodansha wordmark, before jumping to the sky and briefly freezing for a while before the wordmark flips into the Japanese characters "講談社" in yellow.

Variant: A short variant exists where the English wordmark simply jumps up into to the sky and freezes in mid-air, which was only seen on the 2000 incarnation of Babar as well as international prints of Kodansha's shows such as Medabots.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A bouncing synth and campy theme, with cartoonish sound effects.

Audio Variant: For the short version, it is either silent or the ending theme of the show.

Availability: Seen on video releases and television shows from the publisher, such as Japanese Miffy VHS/DVDs as well as the 2000 revival of Babar, the Nelvana dub of Cardcaptor Sakura, retitled Cardcaptors and international prints of Medabots.

4th Logo (2007-2016)

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Visuals: On a table, there is a book that was flipping toward the center. As the book flips, a movie countdown quickly appears which then changes to the Japanese word "講談社" which flickers as the book continues to flip. Then the kanji disappears as the book closes, then it flashes to reveal the gold text via a sparkling effect "KODANSHA" in a Copperplate Gothic-like font.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A dreamy chime theme with film projector sounds, then it ends in a whoosh and a glass shattering sound.

Availability: Seen on Japanese releases of Kodansha material from that period, such as international Blu-ray releases of Card Captor Sakura.

5th Logo (2016-2021)

Visuals: On a white background, there is a red 2D book. Then the book flips in to reveal garden in it, with some leaves, and forming the Kodansha logo (which consists of the "講談社" kanji with the word "KODANSHA" in Times New Roman flying in, first in rainbow and then to black, as the book disappears, while leaves fly away.

Technique: Digital traditional animation by Polygon Pictures.

Audio: A page flipping sound, followed by a piano theme with sounds of children laughing.

Availability: Seen on Kodansha film and video releases from that period such as Interviews with Monster Girls and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

6th Logo (2021-)

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Visuals: On a black background, there are seven white lines moving and crisscrossing about, forming a stylized "K" in a box. The camera pans out, as the word "KODANSHA" writes itself in on the right.

Technique: CGI animation with the branding done by Gretel. A brand study can be found on their website here.

Audio: A synth tune with rhythmic Asian drumbeats, which was done by Antfood. A case study can be found on their Vimeo here.

Availability: Seen on all Kodansha video releases by this period and was also seen on films such as That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: The Movie: Scarlet Bond.