Tezuka Productions

Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd. (株式会社手塚プロダクション, Kabushiki-gaisha Tezuka Purodakushon^?) is a Japanese animation studio founded by Tezuka Osamu in 1968. It is known for animating notable works such as Marvelous Melmo, the 1980 and 2003 Astro Boy series, and Black Jack. His son, Macoto Tezuka, currently aims to use Tezuka Productions to extend Tezuka's manga series with new issues and publish posthumous works such as Legend of the Forest.

In 1961, Osamu Tezuka established Osamu Tezuka Mushi Production as an video and animation production unit. It was officially incorporated as Mushi Productions Co., Ltd., the following year. Tezuka served as acting director of the company until 1968, when he left to start another animation studio, Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd., as a spun-off division of Mushi Productions dedicated to manga production and copyright management.

In 1970, Tezuka moved the headquarters of Tezuka Productions to the second and third floors of a cafe business across from Fujimidai Station in Nerima. The second floor was reserved for employee offices and production assistants, while the third floor was Tezuka's own workspace and office. For the first few years, the studio took sub-contracted animation work from Mushi Productions, which included a variety of animated shorts and a full television series, Fushigi na Merumo (Marvelous Melmo), which was broadcast by TBS for 26 episodes from October 1971 to March 1972. After Mushi Productions filed for bankruptcy in 1973, Tezuka Productions took on animation production full-time along with its manga and copyright businesses and began growing rapidly as an animation studio. In 1976, Tezuka Productions relocated itself again to the Takadanobaba Seven Building (高田馬場のセブンビル, Takadanobaba no Sebun Biru^?) in Takadanobaba, Shinjuku.