Pony Canyon

Logo descriptions by DreamMechanic and kidinbed.r Editions by Liwakip, LogosForTheWin, HiddenResearcher, EnormousRat, loveslogos, thehugetvfan, videomaster13, wackystimpy2233, and DaBigLogoCollector Videos courtesy of EnormousRat, AdjustTracking, italonuts, CoolCamGaming 88,chazmanization and サイナイ EN

Background

This is a division of Fujisankei Communications that primarily focuses on music and anime releases. Until 1989, after Pony Records merged with Canyon to form Pony Canyon, the video release division was named Pony Video.

Pony Video

1st Logo (1983-1987)

Nicknames: "PC", "The Light Show", "Where's the Pony?" "Logo Within A Logo"

Logo: On a blue gradient background, a white spotlight zooms from the bottom towards the horizon and flashes before vanishing. Two yellow shapes zoom from the horizon as the camera angle changes slightly, they are two gold circles. The circle on the left has a rectangular edge on the lower-left corner, and the circle on the right has a line from the middle of the circle to the right side. A thin yellow flash of light appears below the shapes and reveals "PONY VIDEO" in red, which is briefly seen before it fades out. The shapes flip over and turn into two identical circles, which flash and merge together to form one circle. The circle flips up and we zoom into it to reveal a black background where a series of glowing lines, stars and circles move around, like a light show. After that, the Pony Video "shapes", now red and the text, also red, zoom out from the top and bottom respectively before meeting in the center of the screen. The background then turns white.

FX/SFX: The movement of the shapes, the flashes, the light show, the print logo zooming out and the background changing. Not bad CGI for its time, but the flash of the spotlight looks merely like it's being stretched outward before vanishing.

Music/Sounds: A calm, dreamy synth tune with synthesized percussion during the light show and a shine sound effect when the print logo zooms out and a looped synth whistling sound effect when the background turns white. Electronic beeps are heard at the beginning when the spotlight moves.

Availability: Rare. It can be found on early releases from the company. Because Fuji TV did not have the "eye" until 1986/1987, a VHS cover without the Fuji TV eye may be a good clue that it has this. This logo was probably spotted on a Japanese VHS tape release of the movie Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. It might appear on the original Japanese VHS/Beta of Project A-ko, but we're not sure.

Editor's Note: It might scare anyone sensitive to objects moving towards them, but it's still a good logo.

2nd Logo (1987-1989)

Nicknames: "The Fuji Eye", "Look! I'm Drawing an Eye!", "Where's the Pony? II"

Logo: On an indigo/white gradient background, a gold blob moves from the right side of the screen and stops in the center where it draws out the Fuji TV "Eye" logo (without the red dot). The words "PONY VIDEO"in gold but in a different font than in the previous logo, sweep from the left of the screen and move through the eye. As they leave the eye, the red dot fades in, forming the Fuji TV logo. "PONY VIDEO" then zooms out from the screen, with a 3D-trail that shrinks as it settles below the eye.

FX/SFX: The blob moving and drawing the logo, the text sweeping in, the red dot fading in and the words zooming out. Passable CGI for 1986, but it's not much of an improvement over the previous logo.

Music/Sounds: An odd dreamy synth ditty that that starts off with what sounds like a tune on cowbells, a strange reverberating series of click sounds that changes pitch after one set and the same tune from before with bongos added.

Availability: Rare due to short lifespan. Must be found on the original VHS release of The Adventures of Milo and Otis (in Japan known as Koneko Monogatari).

Editor's Note: Low. The music might not sit well with some people, but it's nothing compared to the next logo.

Pony Canyon

1st Logo (1988-1996)

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Nicknames: "Psychedelic Pony Canyon", "Trippy Pony Canyon", "Fuji Acid Trip", "Rapidly Flashing Weird CGI Shapes and CGI Faces", "Where's the Pony and Canyon?", "SuperVideo's Japanese Cousin", "Acid Trip Canyon", "I'm on Shrooms!"

Logo: On a sky blue/white gradient with a gray ground background, a living eyeball with an eyebrow zooms up from the bottom of the screen and pauses in mid-air and blinks twice. Then it zooms into the screen so the sclera (white part of the eye) takes up the entire screen which cuts to a scene on a mostly gray background with a "sun"-like light shining in the upper-left corner of the screen and some multicolor changing on the other side, where a CGI-generated face, just an eyes, mouth and eyebrows face, is laughing. Then, as a field of somewhat odd shapes goes through the screen behind the face, the mouth and eyes suddenly change shape as it appears to be crying and then it moves up the screen as the background becomes completely psychedelic. Then a slew of somewhat odd living shapes appear from various parts of the screen, including an odd looking triangular creature with what looks like a plant or green hair on top with a buck tooth that jumps from the left, then appears to be gasping in shock as another shape from the right of the screen passes through the right and the buck-toothed-shape turns around to look at it. Then it cuts to a scene where a rod with eyes on two more rods with two triangles on top and bottom zooms out and flies to the left as two chess piece-like shapes come from both sides of the screen and the one on the left bobs up and down, seemingly tapping on something, as a CGI mask (looks like Andross from the Star Fox series) comes from the left and zooms far out as it goes to the right of the screen, then a triangle with two eyes comes out from behind the chess shapes and goes into the screen very fast just as it cuts to a gray background where all the other shapes (except the eye), including the crying face, buck-toothed triangle and a couple others which zoom out revealing itself to be inside a transparent circle with white confetti floating down inside it which zooms into the center and fades out as the Fuji TV eye fades in with "PONY CANYON" underneath. Then another odd-looking creature, basically a long line with three eyes and one pink shoe, jumps from the left towards the right.

FX/SFX: Everything in the logo, considering we don't need to describe the stuff all over again! Although the CGI graphics of the time were interesting, the logo resembles something out of a Nintendo 64 video game.

Music/Sounds: To start off with, the music has some of dreamy music ditty, and to end it, the sound effects are the eyeball making a descent noise as it zooms up and pauses, then a whoosh as it zooms in, then some distorted alien-like laughing as the face laughs, then even weirder crying when the face cries, a trumpet note when the buck-toothed triangle gapes, then a sliding-up whistle sound as the triangle-rod-two eyed shape appears and moves up, then a "plinking" noise when the chess-like object tapes, then a sliding-down whistle as the two-eyed triangle appears, then a quick whoosh as it moves into the screen, then a weird fading out noise, probably the face crying, then two chiming ditties as the three-eyed object with a shoe jumps to the right.

Availability: Uncommon, but easy to find in Japan, of course. Since Japan and North America share the same format, please check Amazon.co.jp and eBay for some tapes of anime or other Japanese videos and laserdiscs with this logo or distributed by this company.

Editor's Note: The psychedelic background and all the very odd and bizarre shaped creatures as well as the laughing face may creep out others, but this is one of the weirdest logos ever!

2nd Logo (1993-1995)

Nicknames: "Still Fuji Eye", "Boring Fuji Eye", "Where's the Pony and Canyon? II"

Logo: On a black background, we see the Fuji eye logo with the red dot. Below is the text "PONY CANYON" and "PRESENTS" in a golden gradient.

Later Variant: The Fuji eye logo is in plain 2D, the text is white and reads "PONY CANYON, INC." and the Japanese name is seen below.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extremely rare. The Super Famicom variant was spotted on Jungle Wars 2, while the later variant was spotted on F1GP for the 3DO.

Editor's Note: This is not weird or busy as the previous was.

3rd Logo (1996-2012)

Nicknames: "Silver on Water", "Where's the Pony and Canyon? III"

Logo: On a gray and rippling background, the words "PONY CANYON" zoom by. Then, a beige ring and sphere move. The sphere and the ring go through each other in alternating directions several times. The sphere settles in the ring and the ring rotates a bit. The ring spins, and it grows three protrusions that become the "eyebrows" of the now-finished Fujisankei "eye" logo. "PONY CANYON" suddenly flies beneath the "eye", causing the whole thing to jiggle a bit.

FX/SFX: The words, ring and sphere moving. Nice animation.

Music/Sounds: Assorted metallic sounds and a "cling" when "PONY CANYON" flies beneath the "eye".

Availability: Uncommon. Can easily be found on Japanese prints of anime released by the company, such as the anime adaption of Air. This was used in tandem with the next logo for a few years.

Editor's Note: This logo could startle some people, mainly due to "PONY CANYON" flying in. However, it's tamer than the 1st logo.

4th Logo (2012- )

Nicknames: "The Rings", "Where's the Pony and Canyon? IV", "Nippon Rings", "Where's the Fuji Eye?"

Logo: On a gray/white background, several thin black, grey, and red lines trace all about as 3 thick lines, also in that order, draw in 3 draw in. As they rotate to become flattened, "PONY CANYON" also appears below, flipping out as all the thin lines disappear.

FX/SFX: The words, ring and sphere moving. Nice animation.

Music/Sounds: Simple synth notes, followed by a 3 ringing sounds.

Availability: Common. It can be seen on a lot of releases during the time frame.

Editor's Note: None.

5th Logo (2016- )

Nicknames: "Drips", "Where's the Pony & Canyon? V", "Where's the Fuji Eye? II"

Logo: On a white background, a red drop falls down, turning black while the rest of the background turns red via an iris effect. The drop then shakes to change the background back to white and reveal 2 more drops, the left grey and the right red. The black drop then hops a little bit, and rushes to the grey drop, causing it to roll and reveal "ony" in a black Bauhaus 93-like font. The black drop hops and becomes a "p", forming "pony", the grey drop hops and turns into a red "c", and the black letters "anyo" appear one by one, with the red drop becoming a black "n". All of this forms the word "pony canyon". The wordmark then zooms out and moves down to leave room for larger versions of the "p" and "c" to fade and draw in.

Variant: A short version has a single drop coming in, forming the wordmark as the letters draw in. This version is silent.

FX/SFX: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: A echoing drop sound is first heard, followed by a mellow guitar and chime tune, ending with piano notes mixed in.

Availability: Current. Can be seen on all of Pony Canyon's current releases in Japan.

Editor's Note: None.