Mushi Production

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]

Mushi Production headquarters in Tokyo

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. 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 1001 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) 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). A new Mushi Production company was later founded in 1977. This company continues to operate today.

Original productions

(based on the works of Osamu Tezuka)

Non-original productions

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

gollark: You're taking active steps to worsen it. This is generally considered sabotage.
gollark: It is not better because you're """funny""" about it.
gollark: I consider this bad. I don't think you care, but you also don't have the right to stop it being fixed now.
gollark: And yet you try and hold it in reserve so you can feel smug and do stuff with it.
gollark: You're actively trying to stop an existing report. This is not fine.

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
  • 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

References
  1. Home. Mushi Production. Retrieved on March 15, 2012. "〒177-0034 東京都練馬区 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. Morisawa, T. (19 August 2014). "Managing the unmanageable: Emotional labour and creative hierarchy in the Japanese animation industry". Ethnography. 16 (2): 262. doi:10.1177/1466138114547624.
  4. . Cartoon Research. Retrieved on February 3, 2015.
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