or Mushi Pro for short, is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Fujimidai, Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. It previously had a headquarters elsewhere in Nerima.

The studio was headed by manga artist Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka started it as a rivalry with Toei Animation, his former employer, after Tezuka's contract with Toei expired in 1961. The studio pioneered TV animation in Japan, and was responsible for many successful anime television series, such as Astro Boy, Gokū no Daibōken, Princess Knight, Kimba the White Lion, Dororo and Ashita no Joe, as well as more adult-oriented feature films such as A Thousand and One Nights, Cleopatra (the first Japanese X-rated animated film) and Belladonna of Sadness.

In addition to doing their anime productions, Mushi was best known for its overseas work on five traditionally animated TV projects from Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass' Videocraft International (now Rankin/Bass Productions) in New York, New York, including the Christmas special Frosty the Snowman, with the production artwork being done by Paul Coker, Jr., along with the animation supervision by Yusaku "Steve" Nakagawa.

Morisawa argues that Tezuka "proposed an unrealistically suppressed production budget... in an attempt to outbid his competitors", a budget that contributed to the Studio's (and industry at the time) low profitability.

See also

  • Tama Production, an animation studio founded in 1965 by former Mushi Production animator Eiji Tanaka. Went bankrupt in 2011
  • Tezuka Productions, another animation studio founded in 1968 by Tezuka
  • Group TAC, an animation studio founded by former Mushi employees, including sound effects director Atsumi Tashiro, and animators Susumu Akitagawa and Gisaburo Sugii. Went bankrupt in 2010
  • Madhouse, an animation studio founded by former Mushi animators, including Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Now a subsidiary of Nippon Television. Maruyama later founded MAPPA in 2011
  • Sunrise, an animation studio founded by former Mushi Production animators, now part of Bandai Namco Holdings
  • Studio Pierrot, an animation studio founded by former Mushi Pro employees, along with employees from Tatsunoko Production
  • Kyoto Animation, an animation studio founded in Kyoto by former Mushi Pro staff
  • Shaft, a studio formerly concerned with cel work that eventually branched off into original productions, founded in 1975 by Hiroshi Wakao
  • Studio Gallop, animation studio founded in 1978 by former Mushi Pro staffers
  • A.P.P.P., animation studio founded in 1984 by Kazufumi Nomura. Dissolved in 2021

Notes

References

  • Article and interview over Mushi Production