Kitty Records

The sound recording work by Ken'ichi Benitani on their 1979 film, Almost Transparent Blue, was co-nominated (with Benitani's work on another film) for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Recording at the 3rd Japan Academy Film Prize ceremony in 1980.

• Name — Kitty Films Co., Ltd. • Type — Kabushiki gaisha • Native Name — 株式会社キティフィルム • Romanized Name — Kabushiki-gaisha Kiti Firumu • Fate — Reincorporated as Kitty Group; properties now split between various companies • Founder — Hidenori Taga • Hq Location Country — Japan • Industry — Production company • Divisions — Kitty Film Mitaka Studio

The company was first established in 1972 as Kitty Music Corporation under Hidenori Taga, 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 Almost Transparent Blue and Lady Oscar (a live-action adaptation of the manga The Rose of Versailles). Almost Transparent Blue received a nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Recording for Ken'ichi Benitani at the 3rd Japan Academy Film Prize ceremony in 1980 (shared nomination with Benitani's work on The Man Who Stole the Sun). Kitty's entry into anime production began with the 1981 television anime series Urusei Yatsura, based on Rumiko Takahashi's manga of the same name. They would go on to produce most of the animated versions of Maison Ikkoku and Ranma ½, as well. The actual animation of Kitty's works was handled by several independent anime studios. Studio Pierrot did the animation for the first half of Urusei Yatsura, Studio Deen animated the second half (except for several of the OVAs) and all of Maison Ikkoku and Ranma ½, while Madhouse handled the final Urusei Yatsura movie, some of the later Urusei Yatsura OVAs, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Yawara: A Fashionable Judo Girl!. Kitty was a pioneer in releasing complete collections of series, beginning with the limited-run 50-disc laserdisc collection of Urusei Yatsura in May 1987, which sold out quickly and led to many other companies releasing series in laserdisc and (later) DVD box sets. 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 Shigekazu Ochiai transferred to Pao House Studios (he died in 1999). Around 1995, Kitty Enterprise was purchased by PolyGram. Kitty continued to produce less well-known shows such as Ping Pong Club (1995), but their output shrank to almost nothing by the end of the 20th century. Rumiko Takahashi did not work with Kitty again after the last Ranma OVA was released in 1996; Sunrise handled the animation duties on Inuyasha, and TMS animated Rumic Theater. Kitty also had a subsidiary animation studio that produced a few anime series and OVAs. The studio's name was Kitty Film Mitaka Studio and never became as famous or successful as its parent. The studio was eventually disbanded. Kitty Films was eventually reincorporated as Kitty Group and mainly exists as a talent agency, having sold off the rights to most of the Kitty Films library. The Kitty Records library is currently controlled by Universal Music Japan.

• Year Year of debut — Title — Animated by — Format — Note • 1981 — Urusei Yatsura (TV series) — Studio Pierrot & Studio Deen — TV series — Sold to Pony Canyon, Blu-ray release sub-licensed to Warner Bros. Japan • 1983 — Urusei Yatsura (film series) — Various — Film • 1983 — Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel — Studio Pierrot — TV series • 1985 — Touch — Group TAC — TV series • 1986 — Pastel Yumi, the Magic Idol — Studio Pierrot — TV series • 1986 — Maison Ikkoku — Studio Deen — TV series — Sold to Pony Canyon, Blu-ray release sub-licensed to Warner Bros. Japan. • 1986 — Tobira o Akete — Magic Bus — Film • 1986 — They Were Eleven — Magic Bus — Film • 1987 — Twilight of the Cockroaches — Madhouse — Film — A live-action/animation hybrid film. • 1988 — F — Studio Deen — TV series • 1988 — Kiteretsu Daihyakka — Studio Gallop — TV series • 1989 — Ranma ½ — Studio Deen — TV series — Sold to Pony Canyon. • 1989 — Yawara: A Fashionable Judo Girl! — Madhouse — TV series — Sold to VAP. • 1992 — Super Zugan — Studio Deen — TV series • 1995 — Zenki — Studio Deen — TV series — Rights transferred to K-Factory. • 1995 — The Ping Pong Club — Grouper Productions — TV series • 1997 — Sakura Diaries — Shaft — OVA — Produced by Kitty Films and later released by Victor Entertainment, which continued the project after Kitty Films went bankrupt.

• 1988: What's Michael? (TV) (co-production with Créativité et Développement (France); animation services by K.K. C&D Asia and Daume) • 1992: The Adventures of T-Rex (co-production with Gunther-Wahl Productions (U.S.) and Créativité et Développement (France); animation services by Madhouse)