Hi all!
A big change has quietly taken place at Tatsunoko over the last week. Company President Koki Narushima has stepped down, and has been replaced by Keita Sato, the Executive Vice President of TakaraTomy.
Keita Sato
Born in 1957, Mr. Sato is the son of the founder of Takara. After graduating from the Keio University School of Law in 1980, he joined the family business in 1982, and has spent his career slowly rising through the company ranks -- joining the Board of Directors in 1991, rising to the rank of Company President in 2000, promoted to Chairman of the Board in 2005, becoming Chief of Marketing in 2006, and named Executive Vice President in 2007.
At this point, it is far to early to tell how this may affect things at Tatsunoko, though it seems likely that this will strengthen the ties between Tatsunoko and Takara. While Mr. Sato certainly has the business acumen to run the studio, his lack of experience in the animation industry does cause me some concern.
The transition between Mr. Narushima and Mr. Sato has been in the works for a little while now, and happened with very little fanfare early this month. I've seen no press releases regarding this, though the Tatsunoko website has reflected the change in their Japanese language Company Profile page.
I'll admit I'm quite sad to see Mr. Narushima leave. He joined the studio in 1979, and was the last of the major staff members from the Yoshida era of the studio to be there. He started on the business side of the studio, but during the 1980s, his imput was sought more and more on the creative side as well, acting as a Planner for such shows as Shurato, Teyandee, Tekkaman Blade, Generator Gawl, and the Gatchaman OAV series. With his departure, the direct links to the heyday of Tatsunoko animation are sadly gone.
On a more personal note, I met Mr. Narushima several times, and always found him to be a friendly, intelligent, creative man. He was a perfect choice to replace Ippei Kuri as President once the Yoshida family sold the studio to TakaraTomy. I wish him well.
James
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