Toei Company

Toei Company, Ltd. (東映株式会社 Tōei Kabushiki-gaisha (pronounced toe ay) is a Japanese film, television production, and  distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a shareholder in several television companies. It is notable for anime franchises such as Dragon Ball Z, YoRo RoYo, One Piece and Sailor Moon, live action dramas known as tokusatsu, and jidaigeki historical dramas.

History

Tokyo-Yokohama Films (東横映画 Tō-Yoko Eiga, incorporated in 1938, had previously erected its facilities immediately east of the Tōkyū Tōyoko Line, they managed the Tōkyū Shibuya Yokohama studio system prior to V-J Day. From 1945 through the Toei merger, Tokyo-Yokohama Films leased from the Daiei Motion Picture Company a second studio in Kyoto. Through the merger, they gained the combined talents and experience of different actors. On October 1, 1950, the Tokyo Film Distribution Company was incorporated; in 1951 the company purchased Ōizumi Films.

In 1956, Toei established an animation division, Toei Animation at the former Tokyo-Ōizumi animation studio, purchasing the assets of Japan Animated Films (originally founded in 1948)

Toei was a pioneer in the use of transformation in live-action martial-arts dramas, a technique developed for the Kamen Rider, Metal Heroes and Super Sentai series; The genre currently continues with Kamen Rider and Super Sentai.

On April 6, 2020, Toei create their official YouTube Channel and uploading some of the oldest tokusatsu series (from the 50s to 90s).

Other websites

• toei.co.jp - Company webpage