TMS Entertainment

Former Tokyo Movie Shinsha logo.

The company was originally established on October 22, 1946 by Yutaka Fujioka.[2] as Asahi Gloves Manufacturing Co., Ltd., it was originally a textile manufacturer. Later, the company name was changed to Asahi Ichi Henori Co., Ltd., Asahiichi Co., Ltd., and Asahiichi Shine Industry Co., Ltd. However, the company really started operations in 1964, when it ventured into the animation industry as Tokyo Movie (東京ムービー, Tōkyō Mūbī) after the failure of Fujioka's previous studio, Tokyo Ningyo Cinema (東京人形シネマ, Tōkyō Ningyō Shinema).[3][4] The studio's first production was an animated adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's Big X.

Hayao Miyazaki was associated with Tokyo Movie before founding Studio Ghibli.[5] His most notable work at TMS was his role as the director of The Castle of Cagliostro, which is notable for being his first feature-length debut.[6]

In 1972, Madhouse was established with funding from Fujioka, and co-produced its earliest series with Tokyo Movie. In 1977, Fujioka reformatted Tokyo Movie into Tokyo Movie Shinsha. Its first production was Lupin the Third Part II, which aired from 1977 to 1980. The film adaptation, The Mystery of Mamo, was the studio's first feature-length movie in history. A subsidiary, Telecom Animation Film, was founded in 1975, but didn't start production until after Tokyo Movie was restructured.

In 1980, TMS established a partnership with the French (later American) company DiC, as one of its overseas animation subcontractors, where the former would help animate many of the latter's programs, starting with the pilot of Ulysses 31. The two would also produce the 1982 unaired pilot Lupin VIII. This partnership would last until 1996, when DiC opened its own Japan-based animation facility known as K.K. DIC Asia (later Creativity & Development Asia) in 1983, for animation production on its shows in order to bypass overseas animation subcontractors.

In 1989, TMS released Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland in Japan and the United States. The movie was infamous for being in development hell with figures such as George Lucas, Chuck Jones, Hayao Miyazaki, and Gary Kurtz being involved with the movie before dropping out. The film, despite receiving mixed to positive reviews from publications including The Washington Post, Variety, the New York Post, the Boston Globe, and The New York Times, became a box-office bomb. In response to this, founder Fujioka decided to retire from the animation business. TMS, having to recoup Little Nemo's losses, increased production on locally based anime programs and became highly involved in animation for Western-based productions, including Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, and Batman: The Animated Series.[7]

Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, TMS and its subsidiaries, Telecom Animation Film and South Korea-based Seoul Movie, animated for various companies, including DiC, Walt Disney Television Animation, Warner Bros. Animation, Marvel Films Animation, Studio Ghibli, Madhouse, Production I.G, Sunrise, Bones, Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment,[8] and outsourced to smaller studios such as Telecom (its own division), Ajia-do, Magic Bus, Gonzo, Studio Jungle Gym, Nakamura Production, Tokyo Kids, DR Movie, and Orange. Since the early 2000s, TMS itself has no longer supplied animation services to western studios due to increasingly demanding costs.[8][9] While it still produces feature films, these films are primarily spinoffs from existing anime properties, which include the likes of Anpanman and Detective Conan. In 2003, the company completely withdrew from the textile business.

Aside from Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, animators would leave TMS to form their own studios. One of these studios was Brain's Base. Similarly, animators at its subsidiary, Telecom Animation Film, would leave to form Ufotable in 2000, which they would be later known for works like Tales of Symphonia, The Garden of Sinners, Fate/Zero, and Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works.

On July 1, 1991, Tokyo Movie Shinsha's holding company changed their name to Tokyo Movie Kyokuichi.[10] In 1995, Tokyo Movie Kyokuichi merged with Tokyo Movie Shinsha.[10] In 1996, the Los Angeles studio division was established for overseas TMS animation and in 2000, the company was re-branded as TMS Entertainment Co., Ltd.[10]

In 2001, the Paris studio division was established.[2] In 2003, American brokerage group Merrill Lynch became the second-largest shareholder in TMS Entertainment after acquiring a 7.54 percent stake in the studio. Merrill Lynch purchased the stake purely for investment purposes and had no intention of acquiring control of the firm's management.[11]

On October 17, 2005, Sega Sammy Holdings announced that they had acquired a 50.2% majority stake in TMS and subsidized the studio under it.[12]

In 2012, the head office was relocated to Nakano, Tokyo.[2] In 2015, Sega Sammy placed TMS as a subsidiary of Sega Holdings.[13] In April 2017, Sega's CG production division, Marza Animation Planet, became a subsidiary of TMS.[14]

The company has numerous animation subsidiaries collaborating in conjunction with the company. Those include:

• Telecom Animation Film Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 株式会社テレコム・アニメーションフィルム, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Terekomu Animēshon Firumu), a studio established on May 19, 1975. It first started as a subcontracting company for its parent, but has since become the leading animation studio behind the more recent Lupin the Third titles.[15][16] The studio has also produced series like Chain Chronicle: The Light of Haecceitas,[17] Orange,[18] and Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation.[19]
• Marza Animation Planet Inc. (Japanese: 株式会社マーザ・アニメーションプラネット, Hepburn: Kabushiki gaisha Māza Animēshonpuranetto), a CG studio formerly a part of Sega and known for producing Space Pirate Captain Harlock,[20] Resident Evil: Vendetta,[21] and the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog film.[22]
• V1 Studio (Japanese: ヴィーワンスタジオ, Hepburn: Vīuwan Sutajio), a studio most known for co-producing the Detective Conan films since the 19th movie and the 2nd season (and OVAs) of Kamisama Kiss.[23]
• Double Eagle (Japanese: だぶるいーぐる, Hepburn: Daburuīguru), a studio most known for co-producing ReLIFE, Nana Maru San Batsu, and The Thousand Musketeers.[24]
• 8PAN (Japanese: エイトパヌ, Hepburn: Eito Panu), a studio best known for co-producing Bakuon!!, D.Gray-man Hallow, and Dr. Stone.[25]
• 3xCube (Japanese: スリーキューブ, Hepburn: Surīkyūbu), a studio known for producing The Pilot's Love Song, My Monster Secret, Sweetness and Lightning, and Megalo Box.[26]
• Studio Sakimakura (Japanese: スタジオさきまくら, Hepburn: Sutajio Sakimakura), a studio founded in March 2011, and known for producing the second half of the first season of Cardfight!! Vanguard and Brave 10.
• Trois Studio (Japanese: トロワスタジオ, Hepburn: Torowa Sutajio), a studio that produced Lupin III: Goodbye Partner, the 27th film special for the Lupin the Third franchise.[27]
• Seoul Movie, a South Korean animation studio based in Seoul, established in 1990 and closed sometime in the late 2000s.