Kodansha Comics

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 them 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 expire and were handed back to Kodansha themselves whoch were later re-licensed to other distributors.

1st Logo (December 12, 1985)

Visuals: On a black background 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?)

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 publishing house's name in Japanese, appears on a black background.

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.
On other releases, the Japanese word "講談社" appears in the black background.

Technique: CGI.

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

Audio Variants:

For the still variant, none.
For the short variant, A rising synth tune with a synth flute flourish at the end.

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

3rd Logo (1995-2007)

Visuals: Over a space background is the planet Earth rotating on the bottom left. The rainbow colored letters of "Kodansha" (in the same font as before) fly up from the globe and play along. The screen then zooms inside and see a sky background with a hilly area, with the letters around some tree trunks, houses, going to the pond, and settling by a tree trunk. The letters hit the tree trunk, and a bear looks up. The letters bounce all the way to the top of the tree trunk and begin dancing. The screen cuts to the sky with the letters, and then return to the tree trunk shot. The letters flip in and form the finished product, before it jumps into the sky and flips into the Japanese characters "講談社" in yellow.

Variant: A short version exists where it just shows the logo jumping to the sky and freezing in mid-air. The Japanese characters are cut out.

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 end 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 was also seen on international prints of Medabots.

4th Logo (2007-2016)

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-)

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: Computer animation. Branding done by Gretel. A brand study can be found on their website here.

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

Availability: Current. 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.