Kitty Films

Kitty Films (キティ・フィルム "Kiti · Firumu") is an anime production company established in 1972 in Japan. The company also operates a record label under "Kitty" or "Kitty Records" (used interchangeably).

History

The company was first established in 1972 as Kitty Music Corporation under Hidenori Taga, a subsidiary of Polydor and Universal Music, producing TV drama soundtracks. Their first was for the 1972 film "Hajimete no Tabi". By 1979 the company began to branch off into live action with the films "Kagirinaku toumei ni chikai buru" and "The Rose of Versailles". However, major success first came with their anime version of "Urusei Yatsura". Starting in 1981, it marked Kitty's entry into anime production. Over the next two decades, Kitty Films would become noteworthy in and outside Japan as the producer of most of the animated versions of Rumiko Takahashi's manga series, including "Maison Ikkoku" and "Ranma 1/2". Takahashi had in fact attended the same college as Shigekazu Ochiai, the planner of most of Kitty's anime productions.

Despite their fame as producer, the actual animation of Kitty's works was handled by several independent anime studios, some of which still exist today. Studio Pierrot did the animation for the first half of "Urusei Yatsura", Studio Deen animated the second half and all of "Maison Ikkoku" and "Ranma", while Madhouse handled the final "Urusei Yatsura" movie, "Legend of the Galactic Heroes", and "Yawara!"

Unfortunately, the company had suffered financial troubles from early on, which started to come to a head towards the end of the "Ranma" TV series in 1992. Hidenori Taga had in fact helped finance Kitty's film division by spending money from their music branch, and that year was forced to step down due to an unknown scandal, while Ochiai transferred to Pao House Studios. Kitty continued to produce less well-known shows such as "Ping Pong Club" (1995) and "Shinkai Densetsu Meremanoid", but their output shrank to almost nothing by the end of the century. As of 2007, the company mainly exists as a talent agency, having sold off the rights of most of their anime hits.

Properties

*"Ike! Inachū Takkyūbu"
*"Karuizawa Syndrome"
*"Kiteretsu Daihyakka"
*"Legend of the Galactic Heroes"
*"Maison Ikkoku"
*"Miyuki"
*"Ranma ½"
*"Sakura Diaries"
*"Sena Keiko Obake Movies" series
*""
*""
*"Super Zugan"
*"Teki wa Kaizoku"
*"They Were 11"
*"Tobira wo Akete"
*"Tokyo Jusshōden"
*"Urusei Yatsura"
*"Yawara!"

External links

* [http://www.kitty.co.jp/ Kitty Films] (in Japanese)
* [http://www.5-ace.co.jp/ Five Ace] (in Japanese, Kitty Film's distribution company)
* Acres, Harley. [http://www.furinkan.com/features/articles/kitty.html "The Rise and Fall of Kitty Films"] , March 3, 2007. [http://www.furinkan.com/ Rumic World] . Accessed 11 April 2007. (Main source for the "History" section.)