Written by Eric S. and sega3dmm. Editions by kidinbed and mr3urious Logo captures by Eric S. and sega3dmm
1st Logo (Early 1935) Nicknames: "東宝", "The Circle of Boredom", "Toho Circle" Logo: On a grey background with lines with the circle filled completely. On the center, we see a white circle with the kanji "東宝" arranged vertically, which means "TOHO". Underneath the kanji, the words (in English) says "TOHO". FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Can be seen on early Toho films. Scare Factor: None.
2nd Logo (1935-1955)
Nicknames: "Shining Circle", "東宝 II", "東宝株式会社", "Toho Circle II"
Logo: On a space background with lines, with a shining center. On the center, we see a white circle from before with the kanji "東宝" in the same font as before. Under the circle, we see the kanji that reads "東宝株式会社", which means "TOHO COMPANY, LTD". FX/SFX: The background shining; pretty good for its time
Music/Sounds: Usually silent or the opening theme of the film.
Availability: Can be seen on films produced by Toho, like Godzilla. Also seen on other films distributed by Toho. Also seen on America prints of Japanese films
Scare Factor: None to minimal. 3rd Logo (1955-Late 1950s) Nicknames: "Shining Circle II", "東宝 III", "東宝株式会社 II", "Toho Circle III"
Logo: A color variant of the last logo, only the words "東宝" is smaller size. FX/SFX: Same as the last logo.
Music/Sounds: None of the opening theme of the movie.
Availability: Can be seen on films produced and distributed by Toho.
Scare Factor: None to low. 4th Logo (Late 1950s-1968, 2004) Nicknames: "Shining Circle III", "東宝 IV", "東宝株式会社 III", "The CinemaScope Logo", "Toho Circle IV", "TohoScope"
Logo: A widescreen variant of the previous logo, only the words "TOHO" in yellow on the left and "SCOPE" in yellow on the right.
Variants:
- There is also a B&W variant.
- A version where the words "TOHO SCOPE" and Japanese text in white.
FX/SFX: Same as the last logo. Music/Sounds: A bombastic fanfare. On some movies, it's silent or the opening theme of the movie. Availability: Can be seen on TohoScope movies produced and distributed by Toho. Scare Factor: None to minimal.
5th Logo
(1968-1997)
Nicknames: "Shining Circle IV", "東宝 V", "東宝株式会社 IV", "The Toho Circle V" Logo: A redone variant of the 3rd logo, only modern. Variant: English-dubbed prints of Japanese movies had an English-translated logo (with "TOHO" written in the circle and/or "TOHO COMPANY, LTD." in English, replacing the kanji). FX/SFX: The background shining; pretty good for its time Music/Sounds: Usually silent or the opening theme of the film. Availability: Can be seen on films produced by Toho, like Godzilla, Black Dog, Last Song, or Super Godzilla to name a few. It can also be seen on a lot of anime features, such as Doraemon andCrayon Shin-Chan films, Metropolis, Akira, Macross: Do You Remember Love? and the Japanese releases of the Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl films, among many others. It can also be seen on Koneko Monogatari (1986; redubbed by Columbia Pictures in 1989 as The Adventures of Milo and Otis). Scare Factor: Low; those Japanese letters might surprise first-time viewers, but this logo is a favorite among anime and tokusatsu fans.
6th Logo (1997-2012)
Nicknames: "Shining Circle", "東宝", "東宝株式会社" Logo: A computerized variant of the 3rd logo. Variant: English dubbed prints of Japanese movies have the English version of the Toho logo and text from the last logo. A still shot of this variant can be seen on the trailer for the anime film Metropolis. FX/SFX: The background shining; pretty good for its time Music/Sounds: Usually silent or the opening theme of the film. Availability: Can be seen on films produced by Toho. It can also be seen on a lot of anime features, such as current Doraemon and Crayon Shin-Chan films, Metropolis and the Japanese releases of the Pokémon films, among many others.
Scare Factor: Low; those Japanese letters might surprise first-time viewers, but this logo is a favorite among anime and tokusatsu fans.
TOHO DVD
TBA