Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd.
(株式会社竜の子プロダクション or 株式会社タツノコプロダクション, Kabushiki gaisha Tatsunoko Purodakushon), often shortened to Tatsunoko Pro (竜の子プロ or タツノコプロ, Tatsunoko Puro), is a Japanese animation company.Tatsunoko (タツノコ ) is the Japanese word for seahorse, hence the use of a seahorse as the company's logo. However, it can also mean Tatsu's child (竜の子 ), after Tatsuo Yoshida, founder of the company and creator of many of its earliest works such as Mach Go Go Go, Tekkaman, and the Time Bokan series.
Many of Tatsunoko's titles were inspired by superhero comic books given to Yoshida and brothers Kenji and Toyoharu (Ippei Kuri) by American soldiers after the defeat of Japan in World War II.
Many top animation studios can trace their lineauge to Tatsunoko, Studio Pierrot (Saber Rider and Naruto) was founded in 1979, and JC Staff (animators of the Orguss II OVA) in 1986 by former employees. A notable studio is Production IG (Ghost in the Shell) and its ofshoot, XEBEC (Space Battleship Yamato 2199), founded as IG Tatsuonoko, it eventually acqiured 11.2% of Tatsonoko itself, the rest is owned by Horipro (13.5%) while the bulk (75.3%) is owned by famous toy manufacturers TakaraTomy, which published the fighting game Tatsunoko Fight, for the PS1 featuring many famous Tatsunoko characters, on the topic of video games, Tatsunoko has also participated in the "vs Capcom" series of fighting games, pitting Tatsunoko characters against Capcom's game characters.
Mecha Anime[]
- Super Dimension Fortress Macross (With Studio Nue and Tatsunoko affiliates like AnimeFriend); adapted into Robotech: The Macross Saga.
- The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? (With Studio Nue, Artland, AIC, Topcraft and others)
- The Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross (With Ammonite); adapted into Robotech: The Robotech Masters.
- Megazone 23 (AIC and Artland are recognized as the animators however as Tatsunoko was the company that licensed it to Harmony Gold, Tatsunoko must have had some involvement.)
- Genesis Climber MOSPEADA; adapted into Robotech: The New Generation.
- Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles
- Casshern
- Tekkaman: The Space Knight
- Tekkaman Blade (Teknoman)
- Neon Genesis Evangelion (main animation done by Gainax)
- Armored Trooper VOTOMS (main animation done by Sunrise)