Summary
Thousands of Tokyo Lab’s master anime photographs will be preserved by the newly established TOHO Archives, allaying fears they will be destroyed. TOHO Archive will now manage unclaimed anime masters, ensuring their preservation and preventing their destruction. While many questions remain about TOHO’s long-term plans for the media, for now, anime fans can rejoice that the masters will not be erased from history.
In an early Christmas gift to advocates of media preservation, Tokyo Lab has announced thousands of original anime photos will be preserved. Despite fears they would be destroyed due to the company’s impending closure, it was announced that the newly established TOHO Archives would now manage the documents. This is probably a comfort to fans who saw this disturbing announcement months ago.
Tokyo Lab was a subsidiary of TOHO that closed at the end of November. One of its responsibilities was to archive many of the anime that had passed through its doors. According to X user Nao Arakawa, Toho is securing all unclaimed anime previously held by Tokyo Laboratory;
“This is an excerpt from Tokyo Photo Studio’s announcement that was made previously.
[Notice of closure of all operations] Since our company closed all operations on November 30 (Thursday), we have finished the process of returning the original film from the company. Please note that copies of original films for which the copyright owner cannot be confirmed will be managed by TOHO Archive Co., Ltd.”
While the fate of these master reels was in doubt, TOHO’s announcement of a dedicated storage unit resolved this lingering issue.
The new TOHO Archive will continue to protect uncredited Anime masters
News spread in September that the closure of Tokyo Laboratory put their anime inventory at risk of destruction. This film editing and development company took care of thousands of rolls of physical film that went unclaimed by other companies. Following a restructuring process aimed at converting to digital film, the Tokyo Lab’s duties were divided among new departments, but there was no information regarding its archives, leaving many worried. afraid the worst will happen. If TOHO were not willing to foot the bill and continue to preserve the reels even after going digital, countless anime would be destroyed, never to see the light of day again.
The panic regarding the preservation of the masters even led to politician Zenko Kurishita posting on his X account promising to intervene in the matter, assuring netizens that everyone “ aware of the historical value of film masters”. Thankfully, news sources like AnimeNewsNetwork report that TOHO has created the TOHO Archive. This new company will take over management of the unclaimed masters after Tokyo Laboratory closes, suggesting that their destruction is clearly not on the film giant’s radar. Questions remain about what TOHO will ultimately do with these vehicles, but at least they will be preserved.
A skeptical explanation is that the can has just been kicked down the road, since there’s no promise that TOHO Archive itself won’t go the way of Tokyo Lab. The unclaimed originals are ultimately a sunk sum that the company is holding on behalf of other parties. However, given that it was founded just this year, it is unlikely that TOHO will give up on media preservation tomorrow. For now, these anime will not be erased from history. This marks a victory for cartoon fans now Tokyo Laboratory confirmed to have closed gracefully, all its issues neatly tied.
Source: Anime News Network