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Tatsunoko Production | |
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| Tatsunoko Production (株式会社タツノコプロダクション) | |
| Founder | Tatsuo Yoshida |
| Key People | Tatsuo Yoshida |
| Services Provided | Animation Studio 
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| Parent Company | Takara Tomy, Production IG |
| Subsidiaries | Production I.G (Former)
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Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd. (株式会社竜の子プロダクション or 株式会社タツノコプロダクション, Kabushiki gaisha Tatsunoko Purodakushon), often shortened to Tatsunoko Pro (竜の子プロ or タツノコプロ, Tatsunoko Puro), is a Japanese animation company.
Tatsunoko (タツノコ) is the Japanese word for seahorse, hence the use of a seahorse as the company's logo. However, it can also mean Tatsu's child (竜の子), after Tatsuo Yoshida, founder of the company and creator of many of its earliest works such as Mach Go Go Go, Tekkaman, and the Time Bokan series.
Many of Tatsunoko's titles were inspired by superhero comic books given to Yoshida and brothers Kenji and Toyoharu (Ippei Kuri) by American soldiers after the defeat of Japan in World War II.
Many top animation studios can trace their lineage to Tatsunoko, Studio Pierrot (Saber Rider and Naruto) was founded in 1979, and J.C.Staff (animators of the Orguss 02 OVA) in 1986 by former employees. A notable offshoot is Production IG (Ghost in the Shell) and its own offshoot, XEBEC (Space Battleship Yamato 2199), founded as IG Tatsuonoko, it eventually acquired 11.2% of Tatsonoko itself, the rest is owned by Horipro (13.5%) while the bulk (75.3%) is owned by famous toy manufacturers Takara Tomy, which published the fighting game Tatsunoko Fight, for the PS1 featuring many famous Tatsunoko characters, on the topic of video games, Tatsunoko has also participated in the "vs Capcom" series of fighting games, pitting Tatsunoko characters against Capcom's game characters.
