Yutaka Fujioka

Yutaka Fujioka (藤岡豊 Fujioka Yutaka, born June 19, 1927 - died March 30th, 1996) is the founder of TMS Entertainment Co., Ltd. (株式会社トムス・エンタテインメント, Kabushiki gaisha Tomusu Entateinmento), formerly known as the Tokyo Movie Shinsha Co., Ltd., also known as Tokyo Movie or TMS-Kyokuichi, a Japanese animation studio established on October 22, 1946.

History
Yutaka Fujioka was born on June 19th 1927. On October 22, 1946, Yutaka Fujioka founded a textile manufacturer company called Asahi Gloves Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Getting Into Animation
In 1964, Fujioka had the company start working in the animation industry as Tokyo Movie (東京ムービー, Tōkyō Mūbī) after the failure of Fujioka's previous studio, Tokyo Ningyo Cinema (東京人形シネマ, Tōkyō Ningyō Shinema). The studio's first production was an animated adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's Big X.

In 1977, Fujioka reformatted Tokyo Movie into Tokyo Movie Shinsha. A subsidiary, Telecom Animation Film, was founded in 1975, but didn't start production until after Tokyo Movie was restructured.

In 1989, TMS released Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland in Japan, followed by a United States in 1993. The movie was infamous for being in development hell with figures such as George Lucas, Chuck Jones, Hayao Miyazaki, and Gary Kurtz being involved with the movie before dropping out. The film receiving mixed to positive reviews from publications including The Washington Post, Variety, the New York Post, the Boston Globe, and The New York Times, and became a box-office bomb. In response to this, founder Fujioka decided to retire from the animation business.

His Legacy After Retiring
On July 1, 1991, Tokyo Movie Shinsha's holding company changed their name to Tokyo Movie Kyokuichi. In 1995, Tokyo Movie Kyokuichi merged with Tokyo Movie Shinsha. In 1996, the Los Angeles studio division was established for overseas TMS animation and in 2000, the company was re-branded as TMS Entertainment Co., Ltd.

Death
Yutaka Fujioka died on March 30th, 1996.

Selective Works
Here is a selection of works Fujioka was involved with:

Producer & Executive Producer

 * Big X (1964)
 * Lupin the 3rd Part 1 (1971)
 * Lupin the 3rd Part 2 (1977)
 * The Mystery of Mamo (1978)
 * The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
 * Space Adventure Cobra - The Movie (1982)
 * Lupin the 3rd Part III (1984)
 * Sherlock Hound (1984)
 * The Legend of the Gold of Babylon (1985)