Tatsunoko Production

Background

Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio and rights company founded in October 1962 by manga author and animator Tatsuo Yoshida alongside his brothers Kenji Yoshida and Ippei Kuri. Following his death in 1977, Kenji took over the studio and later in 1987 by Kuri. In 2005, toy company Takara purchased a 88% stake in Tatsunoko, making the studio a subsidiary of Takara until it merged with Tomy a year later. In 2013, Horipro purchased 13.5% of the company's shares and renamed its Japanese name to TatsunokoPro (タツノコプロ). The following year, Nippon Television purchased 54.3% of Tatsunoko's shares from Tomy, making the studio a subsidiary of NTV. In 2019, Tatsunoko introduced the Bakken Record label meant for several productions.

The studio is best known for a number of works including Speed Racer, The Adventures of Hutch the Honeybee/Honeybee Hutch, Time Bokan, The Littl' Bits, Pinocchio: The Series, The Genie Family/Bob in a Bottle, Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Samurai Pizza Cats among many others.

"Tatsunoko" has a double meaning in Japanese: "Tatsu no ko" ("Child of Tatsu", Tatsu being the nickname for founder Tatsuo Yoshida) and "Tatsuno" ("seahorse"), the seahorse that became its logo.

Animated Logos

Contents

1st Logo (1990-1996)	2nd Logo (1996-2006)	3rd Logo (2006-2017)	4th Logo (May 31-October 19, 2012

In-Credit Logos

Contents

1st Logo (October 2, 1968-September 25, 1973)	2nd Logo (January 2, 1973-)

Animated Logos

1st Logo (1990-1996)

Visuals: Against a circle hole, there is a blue background with a seahorse hopping to the left. The hole slides on the right to reveal a line of seahorses doing the same action, while the circle moves gradually on the left. The first animal turns left and changes its color to white before the eye in the Tatsunoko symbol forms looking at the left and right before zooming out, revealing the symbol itself as it places itself on the right before fading to black.

Technique: Traditional cel animation.

Audio: Some hopping sounds, cartoon-like ding sounds and a warp-like note.

Availability: Seen on Japanese video releases of Tatsunoko's works during the early 1990s, such as Tekkaman: The Space Knight.

2nd Logo (1996-2006)

Visuals: On an underwater beach background, there is the Tatsunoko symbol in golden as it floats down. The seahorse later shines and swims while later dropping into the sand surface as it bounces. After that, the seahorse disappears before bubbles appear from the bottom of the screen and the 1973 Tatsunoko logo appears as it dashes from the right. The background then changes into black as the logo remains in its sea background before fading to black.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A light electronic-synth theme with shining sounds for the seahorse and a six-note light ding jingle.

Availability: Seen on Japanese video releases of Tasunoko's works from that time such as Shin Hurricane Polymar and Generator Gawl.

3rd Logo (2006-2017)

Visuals: On a starry sky, the camera zooms out to reveal the moon. The planet brights and reveals the seahorse symbol as it dances and skates around a lagoon with stars and light streaks before disappearing. After that, the sparks form the Tatsunoko Production logo before the background fades to navy blue.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A gentle electronic jingle with some xylophones notes.

Availability: Seen on newer Japanese video releases of Tatsunoko's works, such as Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Speed Racer, Time Bokan among others.

4th Logo (May 31-October 19, 2012)

Visuals: On a black background there is the eye from the seahorse symbol as it rotates to the left. The symbol later zooms out as it later spits to reveal a "5" while the seahorse's body is stored on its back. After that the Tatsunoko "50th" symbols moves to the left like an engine, while the "5" projects images from many of the studio's works. The projector later zooms to reveal the rest of the mosaic before the symbol zooms out on a white background. The seahorse head later shoots confetti before turning gold, thus forming the symbol with the 1972 Tatsunoko wordmark being placed on the bottom left.

Technique: Digital traditional animation.

Audio: A bombastic note with motor sounds and xylophone tunes, ending with a big-bang like sound with confetti sounds.

Availability: First seen on a trailer for Devander and eventually appeared on the short itself

In-Credit Logos

1st Logo (October 2, 1968-September 25, 1973)

File:Tatsunoko Pro - Fuji TV (1969 - Judo Boy, Closing).jpg

Visuals: There is the text "タツノコプロ" (with the first word, "タツノコ" being larger and the last one being smaller) in a cubic and italics font with the seahorse on the left and Tatsuo Yoshida's name (吉田竜夫) above the wordmark on a superimposed white text.

Variant: On The Adventures of Hutch the Honeybee/Honeybee Hutch and the opening theme to Mokku of the Oak Tree/Pinocchio: The Series, the wordmark and the symbol are colored.

Technique: Superimposed animation. Cel animation during its earliest appearances.

Audio: The opening or closing theme of the show.

Availability: Can be seen on Tatsunoko's works from that period, such as Judo Boy, The Adventures of Hutch the Honeybee among others. This was last seen on Dementan Croaker, The Boy Frog, despite the opening theme song using the second logo.

2nd Logo (January 2, 1973-)

Visuals: There is the 1973 Tatsunoko Production symbol, which consists of the word "タツノコプロ" in a cubic font with rounded edges on the outside of the letters and the seahorse symbol on the left on a superimposed white text.

Variants:

From 1973 to mid-1974, the transitional variant was used: the words "タツノコ" are bigger while Tatsuo Yoshida's name (吉田竜夫) appears at the top. This was seen in Dementan Croaker, The Boy Frog and early episodes of Neo-Human Casshern.
On the American adaptation of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman titled Battle of the Planets, it features the English translation of the company above, with the symbol below.
- On some episodes, the symbol is shown only, aligned to the middle and adjusted slightly big.
On most shows, such as Superbook and Legend of Heavenly Sphere Shurato, the seahorse is removed.
On the closing of Ougon Senshi Gold Lightan, the font is different and the seahorse is removed.
In 2012, the studio celebrated its 50th anniversary with a commemorative logo, which consisted of the number 50 in gold, with the "0" being shaped in the seahorse's head and the wordmark located on the bottom. This was seen on 2012 episodes of Sket Dance, Gatchaman Crowds, and Gatchaman Crowds: Embrace.
Beginning in 2015, the seahorse and wordmark were modernized. This was first seen in Gatchaman Crowds Insight.
In 2023, the studio commemorated its 60th anniversary with a commemorative logo, which featured the seahorse, with a red number 60 in the middle. This was only seen on The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel - Northern War and on To Every You I've Loved Before respectively, with the latter having the logo without the wordmark and with the studio's English name being placed at the bottom.

Technique: Superimposed animation. Cel animation in the some of the shows.

Audio: The opening or closing theme of the show.

Availability: Can be seen on Tatsunoko's works beginning with Dementan Croaker, The Boy Frog despite said show using the previous logo on the closing credits. The North American DVD release of Samurai Pizza Cats has this cut in the intro and ending, but is intact in the original Japanese prints as well as bonus content on the North American DVD release.