was a Japanese manga artist, illustrator, as well as anime pioneer who founded the animation studio Tatsunoko Production as a businessman and the original author of many anime works.
As the first president of Tatsunoko Production, Yoshida supported the dawn of Japanese animation by producing numerous hits such as Speed Racer, Hakushon Daimaō, The Adventures of Hutch the Honeybee, and Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.
He took on challenges that other animation studios did not, such as insisting on producing his own original animation that was not based on manga or novels, or creating American-style animation.
Character designs were also drawn in Yoshida's style, with a solid skeleton and intricate lines that were drawn with precision, influenced by American comic books, rather than the simplified, less-linear style that was mainstream in Japanese animation at the time, and this became the origin of Tatsunoko's designs.
After working for a local newspaper in Kyoto, he moved to Tokyo and began his career as a novel illustrator and E-monogatari artist.
Initially, Tatsunoko was established as a production company specializing in manga, managing manga copyrights and assistants, but as Yoshida became interested in anime, the company began producing anime.
In 1965, Tatsunoko Productions' first anime Space Ace was aired.
On September 5, 1977, he died of liver cancer.
After his death, the presidency was taken over by his younger brother Kenji (from 1977 to 1987; chairman since 1995), followed by Ippei Kuri (since 1987), but they both left the company in 2005 when Tatsunoko became a subsidiary of major toy manufacturer Takara.
At the Tokyo Anime Awards held at the Tokyo International Anime Fair in 2005, he was awarded the Special Achievement Award as one of the 20 people who created Japanese animation.
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| Minoru Kume (story) / Ippei Kuri (art) / Tatsuo Yoshida (composition)
| Mach Sanshirō
| Weekly Shōnen Magazine (Kodansha)
| 1960 No. 8 - 1961 No. 52
| A motorcycle racing manga, which, along with Pilot A, was the basis for Tatsunoko Productions' anime Mach GoGoGo.