Tsuburaya Productions

is a Japanese special effects studio founded in 1963 by special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya and was run by his family, until October 2007, when the family sold the company to advertising agency TYO Inc. The studio is best known for producing the original Ultraman TV series, as well as the Ultraman Series. From 2005 to 2011, the head office was located in Yawatayama, Setagaya District, Tokyo. However, since 2012, the head office has been relocated to Shibuya District, Tokyo.
==History==
First established in 1963, it was responsible for the creation of such classic shows as Ultraman (and its many sequels), Kaiju Booska and many other spectacular tokusatsu family/children's shows.
The company's current logo was originally the arrow-like logo from their 1968 TV series, Mighty Jack, designed by that show's art director, Tohru "Tohl" Narita.
The company, when first formed in 1963, was called . In 1968, Toho Company Ltd. forced the company to change the name to just "Tsuburaya Productions," not only because they thought Eiji acted as though only he can do special effects, but they also felt that his own TV shows were becoming a strong competition to the movies he was doing for them. Although Eiji had strong political power at Toho, he and the company were at odds with each other until his death in 1970.
Their more recent work includes the "Ultra N Project" (ULTRAMAN and Ultraman Nexus) and Bio Planet WoO, based loosely on an unused concept which was planned before the production of Ultra Q, but never filmed.
===Corporate Buyout===
Due to rising production costs and crippling loans, the Tsuburaya family sold the company to Japanese advertising agency TYO Inc. in September 2007, which bought out 80% of its outstanding shares worth ¥80 million.https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2007/09/13/business/tyo-to-make-ultraman-firm-its-subsidiary Bandai, the main licencor of merchandise for the Ultraman Series, acquired a 33.4% stake in 2008https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2008/01/22/business/bandai-secures-ultraman-rights-with-share-purchase with TYO transferring another 15.6% in 2009 giving Bandai a total of 49.9%. As a result, the old Kinuta Office used by Tsuburaya as its Head Office was razed, and the company moved to newer facilities. Kazuo Tsuburaya, Eiji's grandson, stayed with the company on its board of directors.
Fields Corporation, a pachinko machine producer, bought out TYO's 51% stake in Tsuburaya Productions in 2010, with Bandai retaining the remaining 49%.https://www.fields.biz/ir/j/files/press/2010/press_20100317ae.pdf
===Tsuburaya Fields===
After becoming a subsidiary of Fields, Tsuburaya Productions resolved the ongoing debt excess issue that had persisted since 2007 by the fiscal year ending in March 2014.http://kbtkhero2.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-126.html
On August 1, 2017, Shinichi Ooka resigned, and Takayuki Tsukagoshi succeeded as the eleventh president. On April 1, 2019, Masayuki Nagatake succeeded as the twelfth president, while Tsukagoshi assumed the position of CEO.https://tsuburaya-prod.com/company
In October 2022, with Fields transitioning to a holding company system, including group subsidiaries, Tsuburaya Productions became a subsidiary of Tsuburaya Fields Holdings. As of March of that year, Tsuburaya Productions accounted for nearly 40% of Fields' business profit.https://www.tsuburaya-fields.co.jp/ir/j/files/press/2022/press_20220518b.pdf
==Presidents==
#Eiji Tsuburaya (1963-1970)
#Hajime Tsuburaya (1970-1973)
#Noboru Tsuburaya (1973-1995)
#Kazuo Tsuburaya (1995-2003)
#Masahiro Tsuburaya (2003-2004)
#Hideaki Tsuburaya (2004-2005)
#Shigeki Oyama (2005-2007)
#Kazuo Tsuburaya (2007)
#Tsuneyuki Morishima (2007-2008)
#Shinichi Ooka (2008-2017)
#Takayuki Tsukagoshi (2017-2019)
#Masayuki Nagatake (2019-present)
==World Record==
In 2013, the Guiness Book of World Records awarded the Ultraman Series with the world record for the most television spin-offs, with a total of 27.https://m-78.jp/news/n-2108https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWciEBep3jQ It was displayed in the 2014 edition of the book, and a ceremony was held where Takuya Negishi and various Ultras received a plaque on the day of the book's release. The list excludes remakes like Heisei Ultraseven, one-off specials (movies), summaries and home releases. Although technically many of the shows were not originally meant to be sequels, they were retconned to be in a single Multiverse.
In 2015, the record was updated for the 2016 edition of the book. Ultraman Retsuden was replaced with Ultra Zero Fight and therefore placed after Ultra Zone instead of before, and entries 28-33 were added.https://m-78.jp/news/n-3314 The record is yet to be updated since.https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/71041-most-tv-spin-off-series Separately, in 2023, an Ultraman Zero statue in Shanghai, China was given the world record for "Largest Ultraman".https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/708592-largest-ultraman
===Works Listed in the Record===
#Ultraseven (1967)
#Ultra Fight (1970)
#Return of Ultraman (1971)
#Ultraman Ace (1972)
#Redman (1972)
#Ultraman Taro (1973)
#Ultraman Leo (1974)
#The☆Ultraman (1979)
#Ultraman 80 (1980)
#Andro Melos (1983)
#Ultraman Kids Proverb Stories (1986)
#Ultraman Kids: 30 Million Light-Years in Search of Mother (1991)
#Ultraman Tiga (1996)
#Ultraman Dyna (1997)
#Ultraman Gaia (1998)
#Ultraman Cosmos (2001)
#Ultraman Boy's Ultra Coliseum (2003)
#Ultraman Nexus (2004)
#Ultraman Max (2005)
#Ultraman Mebius (2006)
#Ultraseven X (2007)
#Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle (2007)
#Kanegon KANEGON (2008)
#Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle: Never Ending Odyssey (2008)
#Ultra Zone (2011)
#Ultra Zero Fight (2012)
#Ultraman Ginga (2013)
#Mega Monster Rush Ultra Frontier (2013)
#Ultraman Ginga S (2014)
#Ultra Fight Victory (2015)
#Ultra Kaiju Walks (2015)
#Kaiju Sakaba Kanpai! (2015)
#Ultraman X (2015)
==Non-Ultraman Series==
These are all of the series Tsuburaya has produced that isn't the Ultraman Series and is a form of tokusatsu.
*Kaiju Booska (November 1966 - September 1967)
*Mighty Jack (April 1968 - June 1968)
*Fight! Mighty Jack (July 1968 - December 1968)
*Operation: Mystery (September 1968 - March 1969)
*Chibira-kun (March 1970 - September 1971)
*Mirrorman (December 1971 - November 1972)
*Redman (April 1972 - October 1972)
*Triple Fighter (July 1972 - December 1972)
*Emergency Directive 10-4·10-10 (July 1972 - December 1972)
*Fireman (January 1973 - July 1973)
*Horror Theater Unbalance (January 1973 - April 1973)
*Jumborg Ace (January 1973 - December 1973)
*Mirror Fight (April 1974 - September 1974)
*Army of the Apes (October 1974 - March 1975)
*Pro-Wres no Hoshi Azteckaiser (October 1976 - March 1977)
*Dinosaur Expedition Born Free (October 1976 - March 1977)
*Dinosaur Great War Izenborg (October 1977 - June 1978)
*Star Wolf (April 1978 - September 1978)
*Dinosaur Squadron Koseidon (July 1978 - June 1979)
*Bokura Yakyu Detective Team (April 1980 - September 1980)
*Andro Melos (February 1983 - April 1983)
*Gridman the Hyper Agent (April 1993 - January 1994)
*Booska! Booska!! (October 1999 - June 2000)
*Otasuke Girl (June 2003 - August 2003)
*Mirrorman REFLEX (January 28, 2006) (direct-to-DVD)
*Bio Planet WoO (April 2006 - August 2006)
*Operation: Mystery - Second File (April 2007)
*Mirror Fight 2012 (April 2012)
*Operation: Mystery - Mystery File (October 2013 - November 2013)
==Collabs==
*Daigoro vs. Goliath (December 1972) with Toho
*The Last Dinosaur (February 1977) with Ranken Bass
*The Bermuda Depths (January 1978) with Ranken Bass
*The Ivory Ape (April 1980) with Ranken Bass
*Ultraman: The Adventure Begins (October 1987) with Hanna-Barbera
*Ultraman: Towards the Future (January - March 1990) with South Australian Film Corporation 
*Ultraman vs. Kamen Rider (July 1993) with Toei Company
*Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad (September 1994 – April 1995) with DiC Entertainment
*Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero (April - July 1995) with Stepping Stone Entertainment
*Ultraman Ribut (November 2014) with Les' Copaque Productions
*Gridman the Hyper Agent: boys invent great hero (January 2015) with Trigger Inc.
*Ultraman Ribut II (November 2015) with Les' Copaque Productions
*SSSS.GRIDMAN (October - December 2018) with Trigger Inc.
*SSSS.DYNAZENON (April - June 2021) with Trigger Inc.
*The Rise of Ultraman (September 2020 - January 2021) with Marvel Entertainment
*The Trials of Ultraman (March - August 2021) with Marvel Entertainment
*The Mystery of Ultraseven (August 2022 - January 2023) with Marvel Entertainment
*Ultraman: Rising (2024) with Industrial Light & Magic
==Comissioned Works/Provided Effects==
*Matango (1963)
*Atragon (1963)
*Dogora (1964)
*Mothra vs Godzilla (1964)
*Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
*Frankenstein vs, Baragon (1965)
*Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)
*Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)
*The War of the Gargantuas (1966)
*King Kong Escapes (1967) with Toho and Ranken Bass
*Destroy All Monsters (1968)
*Latitude Zero (1969)
While Eiji Tsuburaya himself helped provide special effects for the Toho films since 1954, Tsuburaya Productions was founded in 1963. At the time, they worked in the Toho Studio lot.
==Gallery==
old building of Tsuburaya Productions.jpg|The old building of Tsuburaya Productions
Tsuburaya prods..png|The former Tsuburaya Production Headquarters located in Mt. Hachiman, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. The head office was later relocated to Shibuya Garden Building in Shibuya-ku in 2011.
Tsuburaya World.jpg|A photo of all the early Tsuburaya series.
posterallstars.jpg|Tsuburaya heroes
souko-1.webp|Kaiju warehouse, demolished in 2008
Tsuburaya Productions 50th.jpg
===Main Logos===
Tsuburaya Productions Logo 01.webp
Tsuburaya Productions 1984.png|1984
Tsuburaya Productions 1987.png|1987
Tsuburaya Productions 1990.png|1990
Tsuburaya Productions 1996.png|1996-2002
Tsuburaya Productions 2003.png|2003
Tsuburaya Productions 2004.png|2004
Tsuburaya Productions 2006.png|2006-2008
Tsuburaya Productions 2009.png|2009-2015
Tsuburaya Productions 2010s.png|2016-present
===Miscellaneous===
Tsuburaya Productions Tiga.png|Tsuburaya Productions, which appears in Ultraman Tiga.
Tsuburaya Productions 1965.png|Tsuburaya Productions from 1965, as seen in Ultraman Tiga.
Tsuburaya Productions Max.png|Tsuburaya Productions, which appears in Ultraman Max.
==External Links==
*The Official Tsuburaya Productions Webpage (English)
*The Official Tsuburaya Productions Webpage (Japanese)
*Official Facebook page
*Official Twitter account
*Official Instagram account
*Official Youtube account
==References==
*a b The Official Tsuburaya Productions English Webpage company profile
*^ If only 'Ultraman' was here to stop the wrecking ball Asahi Shimbun February 7, 2008 (English website)　
*^ 円谷プロの“聖地”にお別れ MSNSankei news February 6, 2008 (Japanese website)
*^ Japanese book: The Man Called the "God of Special Effects"　特撮の神様と呼ばれた男 ISBN 4-901006-21-5
*^ Japanese book: Eiji Tsuburaya: The Inheritance Left in the Japanese Film World　円谷英二 日本映画界に残した遺産 ISBN 4-09-681421-0
*^ Sci-Fi Japan: Tsuburaya Productions Sold
id:Tsuburaya Productions
ja:円谷プロダクション
Category:Companies