Toei Animation



Formerly called Toei Douga until 1998. Toei Animation is the Anime department of the Toei Company and one of the oldest (it can trace its roots back to 1948) and largest animation companies. Toei is responsible for producing a large number of popular and Essential Anime, including Mazinger Z, Devilman, Fist of the North Star, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Digimon, and One Piece. In other words, it was responsible for defining the Humongous Mecha, Space Opera, Shonen, and Magical Girl genres as we know them today.

When the studio started in 1956, the studio did mostly Disney like art films, but based around native Japanese artwork and some stuff for Rankin Bass. Some people like Isao Takahata (the director of Grave of the Fireflies), Yoichi Kotabe (mostly known for doing most of Nintendo's 2D artwork), Yasuo Otsuka and Hayao Miyazaki worked at Toei at this time. However due to the staff members wanting more money and how the studio was going, many staff members left for other studios.

They've also done a bit of work on American cartoons, but those are few and far between after the 1980s ended. They, along with T Ms, Sunrise and Sony also had a hand in Animax.

See also: Sei Young and Dai Won, two Korean studios that worked with Toei in the late 70's to mid 80's.

Major Anime Productions

 * 3x3 Eyes
 * AIR (movie)
 * Air Gear
 * Airmaster
 * Ashita no Nadja
 * Beast Wars Special Super Lifeform Transformers (Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger! segment)
 * Binbou Shimai Monogatari
 * Bobobobo Bobobo
 * Captain Harlock
 * Clannad (movie)
 * Cutey Honey
 * Cyborg 009
 * Demashita Power Puff Girls Z
 * Devilman
 * Digimon
 * Digimon Adventure
 * Digimon Adventure 02
 * Digimon Tamers
 * Digimon Frontier
 * Digimon Savers
 * Digimon Xros Wars
 * Digimon Xros Wars the Young Hunters Leaping Through Time
 * Doctor Slump
 * Dragonball
 * Dragon Ball Z
 * Dragon Ball GT
 * Dragon Ball Kai
 * Fist of the North Star (the TV series and the 1986 movie)
 * Future War 198 X
 * Galaxy Express 999
 * Gash Bell
 * Getter Robo
 * Hell Teacher Nube
 * Honey Honey no Suteki Na Bouken
 * Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem
 * Jack and The Witch
 * Kanon (2002)
 * Kinnikuman
 * Kinnikuman Nisei
 * The Little Mermaid
 * Marmalade Boy
 * Mazinger Z
 * Mononoke
 * Ojamajo Doremi
 * One Piece
 * Pretty Cure
 * Futari wa Pretty Cure
 * Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart
 * Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star
 * Yes Pretty Cure 5
 * Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo!
 * Fresh Pretty Cure
 * Heartcatch Pretty Cure
 * Suite Pretty Cure
 * Smile Pretty Cure
 * Sailor Moon
 * Saint Seiya
 * Slam Dunk
 * Sonic CD (Cutscenes with Studio Junio)
 * Speed Grapher (Philippines studio; With GONZO)
 * Thriller Restaurant
 * Toward the Terra (1980 movie)
 * Transformers Anime
 * Transformers Headmasters
 * Transformers Super God Masterforce
 * Transformers Victory
 * Voltron (also produced American made episodes)
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! (first series, pre-Duel Monsters)

Western Animation work

 * Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines
 * Defenders of the Earth (2 episodes)
 * Dungeons and Dragons
 * G.I. Joe
 * Halo Legends - Odd One Out segment
 * Inhumanoids
 * Inspector Gadget - Five episodes under contract; uncredited.
 * Jem
 * The Jetsons - Third season only
 * The King Kong Show
 * The Mouse On The Mayflower
 * Muppet Babies
 * My Little Pony - Plus the movie with AKOM
 * The Real Ghostbusters - Both openings, 2 episodes of season 2 and season 4; most of the show was done by KKC and D Asia (along with other studios like T Ms, Hanho Heung Up and Saerom/Plus One Animation).
 * Robotix
 * The Smokey Bear Show
 * The Smurfs - Credited with Wang Film Productions in season 6-8 episodes.
 * Spider Man and His Amazing Friends (Season 2)
 * Transformers (seasons 1-3) (plus the toy commercials)
 * Transformers the Movie
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
 * Turbo Teen (with Hanho)
 * Voltron: Fleet of Doom (American exclusive special based on the series)

Other works (largely through their studio in the Philippines) include

 * A Channel - 2nd Key Animation, Finish Animation, In-Between Animation
 * Beyblade: Metal Fury - In-Between Animation
 * Black Rock Shooter - Finish Animation, In-Between Animation
 * Fairy Tail - In-Between Animation
 * Last Exile Fam the Silver Wing - 2nd Key Animation, Finish Animation, In-Between Animation
 * Princess Mononoke - Ink & Paint (Main studio)
 * Squid Girl - Finish Animation, In-Between Animation; second season
 * Working - Finish Animation, In-Between Animation

Tropes associated with Toei:

 * All CGI Cartoon: A couple, Two of them handled in China (One by Imagi Animation Studios and one in Taiwan by Wang (through CGCG)).
 * Animation Bump: Happens in any (if not all) of their movies.
 * Cash Cow Franchise: IN SPADES, but One Piece, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, Transformers, Digimon and Pretty Cure are the most prominent.
 * Conspicuous CG: Has been becoming more obvious since 1999 or so.
 * Doing It for The Art: The films Toei did during 1958 to 1972.
 * Filler: Very often, especially in Dragon Ball Z.
 * Limited Animation: Fairly common, due to producing long running series (and relatively shorter series during those long runners). The majority of their American projects too.
 * Long Runners: Most of the series mentioned either had several incarnations or were continuously going on.
 * Mascot: Pero from the company's adaptation of Puss in Boots is their official mascot.
 * However; Goku, Voltron, Mazinger Z, Cutey Honey, Monkey D. Luffy, Agumon, Sailor Moon herself and (to a much lesser extent) Optimus Prime can be considered to be honorary mascots.
 * No Export for You: In recent years, Toei have been quite reluctant to licence their work for foreign translation or rerelease, with Sailor Moon having being hit particularly hard by this for quite a while. After the fate that befell One Piece, you can't really blame them.
 * Off-Model: A frequent victim of this trope due to the fact that they end up producing incredibly long running series, mostly at the same time as one another, rotating each around various animation teams of wildy varying quality.