Press space or click the logo. Hooray! I think it's time for Yahay! Name History: Yahay! (1st era; 1972-1977) Yahay! Productions (1977-2003) Yahay! (2nd era; 2003-present) Short History: Yahay! was founded in 1972 by animator Joe Oriolo & former NBC executive Burt Hecht. Earlier this year, Oriolo & Hecht purchased the American rights to Osamu Tezuka's animes, after NBC's deal with Tezuka expired. Yahay! was established to produce & distribute the English dubs of said animes. Its 1st project was The Princess Knight, the English dub of the 1967 anime Ribbon no Kishi. The company would expand to distribute & dub content from other anime studios (notably Toei Animation & Tatsunoko Production) & some European studios. Yahay! would later produced its own content in 1976, changing its name to Yahay! Productions in 1977 to reflect this. The company would expand to home video in 1979, where the company began using its own rating system for video releases, which it continued to use until 2005. Joe Oriolo passed away in 1985 at the age of 72 while Burt Hecht retired in 1988, leaving Joe's son Mark to lead the studio, emphasizing in-house productions rather than outside properties. Mark Oriolo agreed to sell majority ownership of Yahay! Productions to Lark International in 1992, a company which ran various PBS affiliates. During the acquisition, the company began making most (but not all) of its content for PBS & PBS Kids. Its deal with Tezuka, which helped establish the studio ended in 1993. Lark International would sell Yahay! Productions to British kids media company Moonbug Entertainment in 2005. Following the sale to Moonbug, the company's home video arm was absorbed into Moonbug's US home video arm, "Productions" was dropped from its name in 2003, & the studio began focusing primarily on shows aimed at kids. The company's mascot since 1992 is Vistagon. Named after Mark Oriolo's son Vischer Oriolo, Vistagon is the main character of the Yahay-produced TV series Vistagon & Pals.
