The new TV series, Science Ninja Team Gatchaman II, started airing on November 1, 1978.
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Moreover, the idea of making a compilation movie out of an old series in order to hype for a sequel was probably inspired by the success of the Yamato franchise, which suddenly became immensely popular thanks to its own 1977 compilation film. Then, they also started producing a series of remakes: New Star of the Giants in 1977, New Aim for the Ace in 1978, and of course New Lupin III, better known as Lupin III Part II. First, they restructured in two studios: one in charge of general management, TMS (although it kept an animation division), and a more specialized animation studio, Telecom.
Indeed, studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha, which was going through internal and financial difficulties around 1976-1978, went through developments extremely similar to Tatsunoko’s. But if we look outside of Tatsunoko, such a return to a past property is far from a unique move. This may explain why one of Kenji and Kuri’s first decisions was a symbolic refoundation of the studio: a return to Tatsunoko’s most popular property, Gatchaman, through a compilation movie and a sequel. With him gone, perhaps some of the chemistry went away as well. But all that time, they had been coordinated by Tatsuo, who regularly took his closest associates to a resort where they would create together. Indeed, the top levels of the studio initially didn’t change: people like Hiroshi Sasagawa, Seitarô Hara and Yoshitaka Amano were still there, and they had always been the ones, with Kuri, to collectively pitch ideas and art for new works. This split no doubt had many consequences on the studio’s internal organization, but it remains hard to gauge exactly what was the impact of Tatsuo’s death – especially because no signs of the change were visible in credits. Kenji Yoshida, who had quickly moved on to become the business expert among the three brothers, took the reins of Tatsunoko proper, which now became a headquarters for general management. Ippei Kuri, the one of the two who hadn’t quit illustration and manga altogether in 1965, became the president of subsidiary company Anime Friend, which would handle most of the on-site animation production. Tatsunoko’s new generationsĪfter Tatsuo Yoshida’s death, Tatsunoko’s operations and management were split between the two remaining Yoshida brothers. This article will follow those artists by retracing the situation inside and outside Tatsunoko just before and after Yoshida’s death: where they went, what they worked on, and whether or not they gave birth to a distinct “ex-Tatsunoko lineage”. Yoshida’s death only accelerated that process and confirmed, for many, that it was time to try their luck elsewhere.
Even though it produced an increasing number of successes, creativity was declining and, slowly but surely, artists began to leave Tatsunoko. I explained that, from the moment Gatchaman ended in Fall 1974, the studio’s early golden age was over. I already provided some elements of an answer in the previous article of this series.
Aside from the mark Yoshida left as a person, however, there remains a question: did his death really change anything for the studio as a whole? Because of Yoshida’s stature within the company – that of a kind, paternalistic and appreciated boss, but also the face and name of Tatsunoko – this was no doubt a traumatic event for many. Although his sickness was known among the studio’s top brass, few, if any, were aware of its seriousness, and nobody expected that their leader would be gone so soon. Tatsuo Yoshida’s death from liver cancer on September 5, 1977, is generally understood as a turning point in the history of studio Tatsunoko. This article is Part 7 in the History of Tatsunoko series.
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