TMS Entertainment

TMS Entertainment Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 株式会社トムス・エンタテインメント, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Tomusu Entateinmento), formerly known as the Kyokuichi Corporation, is a Japanese animation studio owned by Sega Corporation based in Nakano, Tokyo with its offices in Nakano and its studios in Chūō. TMS is one of the oldest and most renowned animation studios in Japan, known for its numerous anime franchises such as Detective Conan, Lupin the Third, D.Gray-man, and Anpanman. Aside from animation production, the company also handles program sales and character licensing. TMS Entertainment is the animation business company of the Sega Group and a well-established animation studio with its origins in Tokyo Movie. Originally established in 1946 as a textile manufacturer, the company entered animation when they merged with animation studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha to start an animation production business, known as the Kyokuichi Tokyo Movie division or TMS-Kyokuichi. Tokyo Movie Shinsha was one of the five major studios in the early days of Japanese animation, producing and/or animating a string of popular works from the 1960s to the 1970s, including Obake no Q-Tarō, Star of the Giants, Moomin, Attack No. 1, Tensai Bakabon, Lupin the 3rd Part I, Aim for the Ace!, and Gamba no Bouken. TMS has studios 1 through 7 under its production headquarters, each with a nickname for the work they are involved in, such as Studio 1, 3xCube, Trois Studios, Rogue Studio, and Double Eagle. Each studio has its own production and management staff, including producers and production assistants. As for animators, each studio contracts them on a work-by-work basis. However, head creators sometimes have exclusive contracts and are given their own desks within the company to work on. In addition to its own studios, TMS has wholly owned animation studios such as Telecom Animation Film, TMS Jinni's (former Jinni's Animation Studio) and Toon Additional...