Mushi Production

Mushi Production, nicknamed Bug Production, was a Japanese animation studio set up by the manga artist Osamu Tezuka after his contract with Toei Animation ended in 1961. It pioneered television animation in Japan and made landmark series such as Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, Princess Knight, Dororo and Ashita no Joe, together with adult-oriented animated features including A Thousand and One Nights, Cleopatra and Belladonna of Sadness. It also did overseas animation work for Videocraft International, later Rankin/Bass, including the Christmas special Frosty the Snowman. Tight budgets and financial trouble led the original company to declare bankruptcy in 1973, after Tezuka had already left to found Tezuka Productions. The company was re-established in 1977 and continues as a legacy company with headquarters in Nerima, Tokyo. Several later studios were founded by former Mushi animators.