is a Japanese animation studio founded by

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...

in 1968. It is known for animating notable works such as ''

Marvelous Melmo is a magical girl manga and anime by Osamu Tezuka. This series centered on Melmo, a nine-year-old girl whose mother is killed in an auto accident and has to then take care of her two younger brothers (Totoo and Touch). While in Heaven, the ...

'', the

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

and 2003 ''Astro Boy'' series, and '' Black Jack''. It is also the holder of the intellectual property of Tezuka's works; his son,

Makoto Tezuka , officially romanized as Macoto Tezka, is a Japanese film and anime director, born in Tokyo. He fashions himself as a visualist and is involved in the creation of moving images beyond film and animation. He partially owns Tezuka Productions and ...

, currently aims to use the company to extend Tezuka's

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

series with new issues and publish posthumous works such as ''Legend of the Forest''. Their logo is a blue silhouette of Astro Boy's head as a mascot.

History

In 1961, Osamu Tezuka established Osamu Tezuka Mushi Production as a video and animation production unit. It was officially incorporated as Mushi Productions Co., Ltd., the following year. Tezuka served as acting director of the company until 1968, when he left to start another animation studio, Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd., as a spun-off division of

Mushi Production or Mushi Pro for short, is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Fujimidai, Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. It previously had a headquarters elsewhere in Nerima. The studio was headed by manga artist Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka started it as a rivalry wi ...

s dedicated to manga production and copyright management. In 1970, Tezuka moved the headquarters of Tezuka Productions to the second and third floors of a cafe business across from

Fujimidai Station is a railway station on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line in Nerima, Tokyo, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Seibu Railway. Lines Fujimidai Station is served by the Seibu Ikebukuro Line from in Tokyo, with some services inter-running via ...

Nerima is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The ward refers to itself as Nerima City. , the ward has an estimated population of 721,858, with 323,296 households and a population density of 15,013 persons per km2, while 15,326 foreign residents are ...

. The second floor was reserved for employee offices and production assistants, while the third floor was Tezuka's own workspace and office. For the first few years, the studio took sub-contracted animation work from Mushi Production, which included a variety of animated shorts and a full television series, '' Fushigi na Merumo'' (Marvelous Melmo), which was broadcast by TBS for 26 episodes from October 1971 to March 1972. After Mushi Production filed for bankruptcy in 1973, Tezuka Productions took on animation production full-time along with its manga and copyright businesses and began growing rapidly as an animation studio. In 1976, Tezuka Productions relocated again to the in Takadanobaba, Shinjuku. From 1980 to 1981, Tezuka Productions produced a remake for '' Astro Boy'' that ran for 52 episodes on

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed ...

. Tezuka had been dissatisfied with the first ''Astro Boy'' series produced at Mushi Production, and had wanted to create a remake for the series since 1974. In 2007, Tezuka Productions began a multi-year project to digitize and color all of Tezuka's published manga series, comprising over 150,000 pages. Tezuka's former personal assistants reproduced the color charts that they originally used for all-color pieces while Tezuka was still producing series, in order to ensure that the new coloring process remained faithful to the colors used in Tezuka's time. In 2008, Tezuka's son, Makoto, announced that he would complete ''Legend of the Forest'', his father's final unfinished work, at Tezuka Productions. The film was completed in 2014, premiering at the 2014 Hiroshima International Animation Festival in August, and in North America at the Japan Society in New York City on February 21, 2015.

Works

Television series

*''

'' (October 3, 1971 – March 26, 1972) *'' Astro Boy'' (October 1, 1980 - December 23, 1981) *'' Don Dracula'' (April 5, 1982 – April 26, 1982) *'' Blue Blink'' (April 7, 1989 – March 16, 1990) *'' The New Adventures of Kimba The White Lion'' (October 12, 1989 – October 11, 1990) *''

The Three-Eyed One ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' (October 18, 1990 – September 26, 1991) *'' Dear Brother'' (July 14, 1991 - May 31, 1992) *'' In the Beginning: The Bible Stories'' (April 1, 1997 – May 9, 1997) *'' Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick'' (April 2, 1997 – May 12, 1999, from episodes 19–26) *'' Astro Boy'' (April 6, 2003 - March 28, 2004) *'' Phoenix'' (March 21, 2004 – May 4, 2004) *'' Black Jack'' (October 11, 2004 - March 6, 2006) *'' Black Jack 21'' (April 10, 2006 - September 4, 2006) *'' Mokke'' (October 3, 2007 – March 25, 2008) *''

Genji Monogatari Sennenki is a Japanese anime adaptation of '' The Tale of Genji''. Originally, it was meant to be an anime adaptation of Waki Yamato's '' The Tale of Genji'' manga, but the director decided to make it a direct adaptation of the original tale. The char ...

'' (January 15, 2009 – March 26, 2009) *'' Kids on the Slope'' (April 12, 2012 – June 28, 2012) - co-produced with

MAPPA is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Suginami, Tokyo. Founded in 2011 by Madhouse co-founder and producer Masao Maruyama, it has produced anime works including ''Terror in Resonance'', '' Yuri!!! on Ice'', '' In This Corner of th ...

*''

Little Astro Boy is an anime television spin-off series ''Astro Boy'' franchise created by Osamu Tezuka. Aimed at preschoolers, the series was produced by Tezuka Productions and Yomiuri TV Enterprises in partnership with Nigerian broadcaster Channels TV. C ...

'' (March 22, 2014 – April 26, 2014) *'' Samurai Warriors'' (January 11, 2015 – March 29, 2015) - co-produced with TYO Animations *'' Young Black Jack'' (October 1, 2015 – December 17, 2015) *'' Dagashi Kashi 2'' (January 12, 2018 – March 30, 2018) *'' Dororo'' (January 7, 2019 – June 24, 2019) - co-produced with MAPPA *'' Go Astro Boy Go!'' (October 3, 2019 – October 1, 2020) *'' The Quintessential Quintuplets'' (January 9, 2019 – March 28, 2019) *''

Adachi and Shimamura is a Japanese '' yuri'' light novel series written by Hitoma Iruma and illustrated by Non, which began serialization in October 2012 in ASCII Media Works' ''Dengeki Bunko Magazine'' and is published under the Dengeki Bunko imprint. The ligh ...

'' (October 9, 2020 – December 25, 2020) *'' How Not to Summon a Demon Lord Ω'' (April 9, 2021 – June 11, 2021) - co-produced with

Okuruto Noboru is a Japanese animation studio An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a ma ...

; Tezuka Productions animated episodes 1, 3–6, and 8–10. *'' Girlfriend, Girlfriend'' (July 3, 2021 – September 18, 2021) *'' Muteking the Dancing Hero'' (October 3, 2021 – December 19, 2021) - co-produced with Tatsunoko Production *'' The Dawn of the Witch'' (April 8, 2022 – July 1, 2022) *''Mamekichi Mameko NEET no Nichijō'' (October 3, 2022) *'' Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte'' (January 7, 2023) *'' My Home Hero'' (April 2023) *'' The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses'' (April 2023) *''Astro Boy Reboot'' (TBA)

Specials

*'' Okazaki City in 70 Years'' (March 21 - May 17, 1987) *''Brave Fire S09'' (April 29, 1987) *''Tezuka Osamu Academy Grand Prize'' (December 31, 1999) *'' The Last Mystery of the 20th Century'' (December 5, 2000) *'' Black Jack: The 4 Miracles of Life'' (December 22, 2003)

Films

* ''Once Upon a Time'' (March 15, 1970) - short film * ''Misuke in the Land of Ice'' (July 1970) - short film * ''Misuke in Southern'' (August 1971) - short film * ''Thumbelina'' (March 18, 1978) - co-produced with

Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' '' GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...

* '' One Million-Year Trip: Bander Book'' (August 27, 1978) * '' Unico: Black Cloud, White Feather'' (April 5, 1979) - short film * '' Undersea Super Train: Marine Express'' (August 26, 1979) * '' Phoenix 2772'' (March 15, 1980) * '' Fumoon'' (August 31, 1980) * '' The Fantastic Adventures of Unico'' (March 14, 1981) - co-produced with

Sanrio is a Japanese entertainment company. It designs, licenses, and produces products focusing on the '' kawaii'' ("cute") segment of Japanese popular culture. Their products include stationery, school supplies, gifts, and accessories which are so ...

and Madhouse * '' Bremen 4: Angels in Hell'' (August 23, 1981) * ''

Unico in the Island of Magic is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. It was serialized in Sanrio's manga magazine ' from November 1976 to March 1979 and collected in two volumes. A pilot film for a potential television series was produc ...

'' (July 16, 1983) - co-produced with Sanrio and Madhouse * '' A Time Slip of 10,000 Years: Prime Rose'' (August 21, 1983) * ''Jumping'' (June 1984) - experimental film * ''

Bagi, the Monster of Mighty Nature is a Japanese anime film that premiered on the Nippon Television network on August 19, 1984. It was written by Osamu Tezuka as a critique of the Japanese government's approval of recombinant DNA research that year. The film was streamed by Ani ...

'' (August 19, 1984) * ''Broken Down Film'' (August 15, 1985) - experimental film * '' Galaxy Investigation 2100: Border Planet'' (August 24, 1986) * '' Phoenix: Karma Chapter'' (December 20, 1986) - co-produced with Madhouse * ''Push'' (August 21, 1987) - experimental film * ''Muramasa'' (August 21, 1987) - experimental film * '' Legend of the Forest, Part I'' (December 18, 1987) - experimental film * ''Self-Portrait'' (June 1988) - experimental film * '' The Tezuka Osamu Story: I Am Son-goku'' (August 27, 1989) * '' Black Jack: The Movie'' (November 30, 1996) * '' Black Jack: Capital Transfer to Haien'' (1996) - short film * ''

Jungle Emperor Leo ''Jungle Emperor Leo'', known in Japan as is a 1997 Japanese animated film focusing on the last half of Osamu Tezuka's manga, ''Jungle Taitei'' (known in earlier US productions as ''Kimba the White Lion'' and '' Leo the Lion''). Plot At the ...

'' (August 1, 1997) * '' My Son Goku'' (July 12, 2003) * '' Astro Boy: Mighty Atom - Visitor of 100,000 Light Years, IGZA'' (September 1, 2005) * '' Black Jack: The Two Doctors of Darkness'' (December 17, 2005) * '' Dr. Pinoko's Forest Adventure'' (December 17, 2005) - short film * '' Jungle Emperor: The Brave Can Change the Future'' (September 5, 2009) * ''

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

'' (May 28, 2011) - co-produced with

* '' The Life of Budori Gusuko'' (July 7, 2012) * '' Buddha 2'' (February 8, 2014) - co-produced with

* '' My Tyrano: Together, Forever'' (December 10, 2021) * ''

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

'' (TBA)

Original video animations

*''

Lion Books is a 1950s Japanese manga series by Osamu Tezuka. It was published by Shueisha in the '' Omoshiro Book'' as a supplement. The same company published ''Lion Books II'' in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' in the 1970s, which would commonly be referred ...

'' (October 10, 1983 - July 16, 1993) *'' Love Position - The Legend of Halley'' (December 16, 1985) *'' Phoenix: Yamato Chapter '' (August 1, 1987) - co-produced with Madhouse *'' Phoenix: Space Chapter'' (December 21, 1987) - co-produced with Madhouse *'' Symphonic Poem: Jungle Emperor Leo'' (April 1, 1991) *''

Ambassador Magma is the title and protagonist of a manga and tokusatsu TV series created by Osamu Tezuka. The TV series, produced by P Productions, Norway Productions and Krantz Films, was aired on Fuji TV from July 4, 1966, to June 26, 1967, lasting a tota ...

'' (February 21, 1993 - June 21, 1993) *'' Golgo 13: Queen Bee'' (May 21, 1998) *'' Black Jack'' (December 12, 1996 - December 16, 2011) *'' Black Jack: The Boy Who Came from the Sky'' (March 22, 2000) *'' Ravex in Tezuka World'' (November 7, 2009) *'' The Prince of Tennis: Best Games!!'' (August 24, 2018 - present)

Original net animations

*''Black Jack'' (2001)

Video games

*'' Astro Boy: Omega Factor'' (2003) *'' Astro Boy'' (2004) *'' Blood Will Tell: Tezuka Osamu's Dororo'' (2004) *'' Astro Boy: The Video Game'' (2009) *'' Astro Boy: Tap Tap Rush'' (2011) *'' Astro Boy Dash'' (2013)

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Japanese companies established in 1968 Animation studios in Tokyo Japanese animation studios Mass media in Niiza, Saitama Mass media companies established in 1968 Osamu Tezuka