Tuesday, 20 September 2022

The Big P Productions Timeline

While P Productions has a rather prominent tokusatsu catalog, it is a stockholder primarily known outside of Japan for its UltraMan competitor SpectreMan. 

1964

Its first animated show was the anime adaptation of Kyoto prefecture native Naoki Tsuji’s (controversial and downright values dissonant) second best known manga, 0 Sen Hayato. Naoki Tsuji went on to create the famed art of the original Tiger Mask mangas by the infamous late Ikki Kajiwara. 

It was a subcontractor for a few episodes of the first animated Astro Boy show in 1964. 

1965

Its only adaptation of a Mitsuteru Yokoyama manga was the pilot of a scrapped anime based on Spaceship Red Shark. 

1966

Its first live action success on international airwaves was the tokusatsu adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s own battle giant manga Ambassador Magma, itself the first major colour Toku in world history other than the first show under the UltraMan name.

1967

Its only anime adaptation of a Shotaro Ishinomori manga was that of Don Kikko. 

Its first original animated tv show was the anime Chibikko Kaiju Yadamon (aka Little Monster Yadamon).

Its first live action tv work was the Jidaigeki tv Dorama Kaze. 

Its first original tokusatsu tv show was the Monster Prince, which succeeded in a couple of Asian nations but flopped hard in Japan. 

1971 

Its biggest international original success by far, SpectreMan, began that year. 

1972

The Lion Maru Trilogy began with Kaiketsu Lion Maru, one of its biggest international original successes by far. 

1973 

Kaiketsu Lion Maru ended up with a much less popular (although still good, but not great) sequel, Fuun Lion Maru. The trilogy would remain only two thirds complete until 2006. 

The Lion Maru Trilogy begat an honorary Kamen Rider style spin-off, Iron Man Tiger Seven. 

1983

Its last subcontracted animated movie and tv show were from a Mainland Chinese-Japanese-German coproduced franchise, TaoTao, which heroically remains partly responsible, in an ironic twist, for the fall of Communism in Albania. 

2006 

The Lion Maru trilogy + Iron Man Tiger Seven formally ended with the darker and edgier Lion Maru G. 

No comments:

Post a Comment