Draft:Tama Production
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Native name | タマプロダクション |
|---|---|
| Industry | Animation Outsourcing |
| Founded | January 1965 |
| Founder | Eiji Tanaka |
| Defunct | September 3, 2011 |
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
Key people | Eiji Tanaka Juji Mizumura Ryuji Sajiō |
Tama Production (タマプロダクション) was a Japanese anime studio known primarily for being an animation producer for U.S. animated shows throughout the 1990s and 2000s. In Japan, it is most infamous for co-producing Knack Productions' infamous show, Chargeman Ken! in 1974.
History
[edit]In January 1965, Eiji Tanaka (田 中 英 二 ), a Mushi animator and shojo mangaka, left and established Tama Production as an animation subcontractor.
With Mushi, they animated Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion since 1965. In 1967, Tatsunoko Production outsourced the animation of Mach GoGoGo! to Tama Production. Tama's relationship with Tatsunoko proved beneficial to both studios, with Tama expanding and Tatsunoko, Tatsuo Yoshida in particular, being influenced by Tanaka's sleek, graceful design of the female character.
Tama Production began to work with Knack Productions (now ICHI Corporation) from the 1970s, witn Tama co-producing its first original show, Astroganger with Knack. In 1974, Tama and Knack produced the infamous Chargeman Ken!, known for its absymal animation quality.
In spite of having the same staff, Ken and Ganger have wildly different animation qualities, with the latter being superior. The reason was that while Astroganger had a standard budget, Chargeman Ken had an abysmally low budget which caused the studios to neglect it in favour of going to the beach. Anyways, both have a cult following.
Eiji Tanaka died in 1982 and was succeeded by Tsushi Mizuguchi and Ryuji Sajiō.
In the 1990s and 2000s, due to the rise of animation outsourcing (primarily to Asian countries), Tama began to produce animation outsourced to it by Walt Disney Animation Japan, Warner Bros. Animation, Universal Cartoon Studios and Games Animation as well as Japanese studios like TMS Entertainment, Pierrot and Madhouse.
However, by the mid-2000s, Tama began to lose money and on the 3rd of September, 2011, they declared bankruptcy and closed doors.
References
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