Mushi Production

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Mushi Production
TypePrivate
IndustryJapanese animation
Founded1961 (original company)
November 26, 1977 (revived company)
FounderOsamu Tezuka
Defunct1973 (original company)
HeadquartersFujimidai, Nerima, Tokyo, Japan
Websitewww.mushi-pro.co.jp

Mushi Production (虫プロダクション, Mushi Purodakushon, lit. "Bug Production") or Mushi Pro for short, is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Fujimidai, Nerima, Tokyo, Japan.[1] It previously had a headquarters elsewhere in Nerima.[2]

The studio was headed by manga artist Osamu Tezuka.[3] Tezuka started it as a rivalry with Toei Animation, his former employer, after Tezuka's contract with Toei expired in 1961.[citation needed] The studio pioneered TV animation in Japan, and was responsible for many successful anime television series, such as Astro Boy, Gokū no Daibōken, Princess Knight, Kimba the White Lion, Dororo and Ashita no Joe, as well as more adult-oriented feature films such as A Thousand and One Nights, Cleopatra (the first Japanese X-rated animated film) and Belladonna of Sadness.

In addition to doing their anime productions, Mushi was best known for its overseas work on five traditionally animated TV projects from Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass' Videocraft International (now Rankin/Bass Productions) in New York, New York, including the Christmas special Frosty the Snowman, with the production artwork being done by Paul Coker, Jr., along with the animation supervision by Yusaku "Steve" Nakagawa.

Morisawa argues that Tezuka "proposed an unrealistically suppressed production budget... in an attempt to outbid his competitors", a budget that contributed to the Studio's (and industry at the time) low profitability.[3] Mushi, plagued by financial difficulties, declared bankruptcy in 1973 and its assets were divided.[3] Tezuka had already left the company by then, having stepped down as acting director in 1968 and formed a new animation studio, Tezuka Productions (which made such works as Marvelous Melmo and Unico). The company was later reestablished in November 26, 1977, and has continued to operate ever since.

Productions[]

Original (1962-1973)[]

(based on the works of Osamu Tezuka)

Films[]

  • Tales of a Street Corner (November 5, 1962) - experimental film
  • Male (November 5, 1962) - experimental film
  • Memory (September 21, 1964) - experimental film
  • Mermaid (September 21, 1964) - experimental film
  • Mighty Atom, the Brave in Space (July 26, 1964)
  • Cigarettes and Ashes (October 1, 1965) - experimental film
  • The Drop (October 1, 1965) - experimental film
  • Jungle Emperor Leo Movie (July 31, 1966)
  • Pictures at an Exhibition (November 11, 1966) - experimental film
  • Genesis (October 1, 1968) - experimental film

Television series[]

Television specials[]

Non-original (1968-present)[]

(original TV/film productions, or adaptations of other material)

Television series[]

  • Wanpaku Tanteidan (February 2, 1968 - September 26, 1968)
  • Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae (October 3, 1968 – September 24, 1969; co-production with Toei Animation and Studio Zero)
  • Animal 1 (April 1, 1968 – September 30, 1968)
  • Moomin (October 5, 1969 – December 27, 1970; produced the anime from episode 27 to the final episode, the production from episode 1 to episode 26 was from Tokyo Movie Shinsha)
  • Ashita no Joe (April 1, 1970 – September 29, 1971; original; second series was created by Tokyo Movie Shinsha)
  • Andersen Monogatari (January 3, 1971 – December 26, 1971)
  • Wandering Sun (April 8, 1971 – September 30, 1971)
  • Kunimatsu-sama no Otōridai (October 6, 1971 - September 25, 1972)
  • Vicky the Viking (1974; first six episodes only)
  • Wonder Beat Scramble (April 16, 1986 – November 19, 1986) - co-produced with Magic Bus

Films[]

OVAs[]

  • Toki-iro Kaima (March 20, 1989 - February 25, 1990)
  • Blue Sonnet (July 16, 1989 – June 25, 1990)
  • Legend of the Galactic Heroes (1997, episodes 100 and 106)
  • Kuzuryuugawa to Shounen (October, 1998)
  • Legend of the Galactic Heroes: A Hundred Billion Stars, A Hundred Billion Lights (1998, episodes 15, 18, and 19)
  • Kaitou Gary no Nihonjin Kouryakuhou! (1999)
  • Kuma no Minakuro to Kouhei Jiisan (1999)
  • Kochira Tamago Outou Negaimasu (2008)

Conmission work[]

  • Frosty the Snowman (December 7, 1969; American production by Rankin/Bass Productions with animation by Mushi Production)
  • The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians (April 7, 1970; American production by Rankin/Bass Productions with animation by Mushi Production)
  • The Reluctant Dragon and Mr. Toad Show (September 12, 1970 – December 26, 1970; American production by Rankin/Bass Productions with animation by Mushi Production)
  • Mad Mad Mad Monsters (September 23, 1972; American production by Rankin/Bass Productions with animation by Mushi Production)
  • Festival of Family Classics (January 1, 1972 – November 26, 1973; American production by Rankin/Bass Productions with animation by Mushi Production; 17 episodes)[4]

See also[]

  • Tama Production, an animation studio founded in 1965 by former Mushi Production animator Eiji Tanaka, but gone bankrupt in 2011
  • Tezuka Productions, an animation studio founded in 1968 as a spun-off division by Tezuka
  • Group TAC, an animation studio founded by former Mushi Productions employees, including sound effects director Atsumi Tashiro, and animators Susumu Akitagawa and Gisaburo Sugii, went bankrupt in 2010
  • Madhouse, an animation studio founded by former Mushi Production animators, including Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro and Yoshiaki Kawajiri
  • Sunrise, an animation studio founded by former Mushi Production animators
  • Studio Pierrot, an animation studio founded by former Mushi Pro employees, along with the other employees from Tatsunoko
  • Kyoto Animation, an animation studio founded in Kyoto by former Mushi Pro staff
  • Shaft, a studio formerly concerned with cel work that eventually branched off into original productions, founded in 1975 by Hiroshi Wakao
  • Studio Gallop, animated studio founded in 1978 by former Mushi Pro staffers

References[]

  1. ^ Home. Mushi Production. Retrieved on March 15, 2012. "〒177-0034 東��都練馬区 富士見台2-30-5"
  2. ^ "Inquiries." Mushi Production. Retrieved on February 26, 2010. "本社：〒169-0075 東京都新宿区高田馬場 ４丁目32番11号'
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Morisawa, T. (19 August 2014). "Managing the unmanageable: Emotional labour and creative hierarchy in the Japanese animation industry". Ethnography. 16 (2): 262–284. doi:10.1177/1466138114547624. S2CID 147049529.
  4. ^ [1]. Cartoon Research. Retrieved on February 3, 2015.

External links[]

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