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Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd., often shortened to Tatsunoko Pro., is a Japanese animation company founded by legendary anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida along with his brothers Kenji and Toyoharu (Toyoharu adopted the pen name Ippei Kuri to distinguish himself from his brothers). The studio's name has a double Japanese meaning of "Tatsu's child" (Tatsu being a nickname for Tatsuo) and "seadragon" which was the inspiration for its seahorse corporate logo. The company itself is often accredited as the Hanna-Barbera of Japan (coincidentally, Hanna-Barbera provided the original English dub of Tatsunoko's Gatchaman, as Battle of the Planets). The translated and edited versions of their more successful animated series such as Speed Racer, Battle of the Planets, and Robotech or Macross are credited with bringing international attention to anime. Although Tatsunoko is best known for the science-fiction and action series which have earned it the nickname of Home of the Heroes, many of the studio's works for younger children, such as The Littl' Bits, Superbook, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Temple the Balloonist, Space Ace, Shurato, and Judo Boy, have also achieved wide distribution and acclaim around the world. In June 2005 Japanese toy company, Takara Co., Ltd. took a majority stake in the studio and with the subsequent merger of Takara and TOMY Co., Ltd. in 2006, Tatsunoko became a consolidated subsidiary of TOMY (aka TAKARATOMY in Japan). Tatsunoko's studios are located in the Kokubunji district of Tokyo. Studio Pierrot was founded in 1979 by former Tatsunoko employees.
Anime Series
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