Bandai

This article is about the Japanese toy manufacturer. For other uses, see Bandai (disambiguation).

Bandai Co., Ltd.

Bandai's corporate headquarters in Taitō, Tokyo
Native name	株式会社バンダイ
Romanized name	Kabushiki-gaisha Bandai
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Toy
Founded	July 5, 1950 (July 5, 1950)
Founder	Naoharu Yamashina
Headquarters	Taitō, Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Masaru Kawaguchi (President)
Products	Toys Music Prize machines
Operating income	¥21.7 billion (2019)
Net income	¥242.8 billion (2019)
Number of employees	810 (August 2018)
Parent	Bandai Namco Holdings
Website	http://www.bandai.com/
Footnotes / references "Bandai Namco Group Integrated Report 2019". Bandai Namco Holdings. 13 September 2019. Archived from the original on 17 May 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2020.

Bandai Co., Ltd. is a Japanese toy maker and a producer of many plastic model kits as well as a former video game company. It was the world's third-largest producer of toys in 2008 after Mattel and Hasbro. Some ex-Bandai group companies produce anime and tokusatsu programs. Its headquarters are located in Taitō, Tokyo.

History

Former logo

In 1947, Naoharu Yamashina was working for the company of his brother-in-law, a textile wholesaler. As that segment of the market was becoming weak at the time, he realized the potential of the toy industry. He successfully convinced his brother-in-law to dedicate a portion of the company's activities in that industry and to be in charge of it. Step by step, Yamashina developed a toy distribution empire within the company. On July 1950, Yamashina took full control of the toy distribution business, renamed it and founded the company Bandai-ya (a Chinese phrase meaning "things that are eternal") whose name was eventually shortened to Bandai in 1961.

In its first year, Bandai produced its first internal game, the Rhythm Ball, and its first metallic toy, a reproduction of the B-26. It also began the exportation of toys. As the company expanded, Bandai increased its exports by building a new warehouse outside of Komagata in 1953. Several services were created within the company such as quality control, an R&D department and a transport division.

In early 1955, Bandai founded the subsidiary Waraku Works, a manufacturing facility. During the summer, Bandai moved to new headquarters in Taito-ku, not far from Komagata. The first company logo was created using the initials "BC" based on the first letters of Bandai Company. At the end of the year, Bandai launched its first product with a guarantee, a mini replica of the Toyopet Crown car.

In 1958, Bandai introduced its first television commercial using the slogan «The Red Box means a BC-guaranteed toy ». In the middle of the following year, the company launched a lineup of mini toys representing car models from all over the world dubbed as "Cars of the World". The company logo was redesigned to emphasize on the quality of Bandai's products and was known as the "Banzai mark".

In the 1960s Bandai expanded to include international export sales. The management was handed to a new subsidiary created in New York called Bandai Overseas Supply. Bandai's racing car set, which first appeared in 1962, became a huge success.

In 1963, Bandai separated the transportation service from the company to become its own subsidiary called Bandai Transport. Due to an increase of activity volume, the company relocated to new offices in Asakusa, Taitō. Bandai launched the toy Astro Boy, based on the character of the animated series. It was the first time Bandai created a toy based on an existing hero.

Bandai continued to expand in the 1970s with the creation of several subsidiaries; Tonka Japan in 1970 following a joint venture with Tonka, Bandai Models being established in 1971, and finally Popy, who specialized in the manufacturing of toy characters. Although not their most profitable range, Bandai's 1/48 scale AFV models dominated that segment of the model kit market. Bandai America Inc. was established as local US sales/marketing operation in 1978. Spacewarp, a line of build-it-yourself toy rolling ball "roller coasters" was introduced by Bandai in the 1980s.

In May 1980, Makoto Yamashina, son of the founder, became president of Bandai. Naoharu Yamashina became chairman of the board. Upon his arrival, Makoto Yamashina completely changed the aging staff of Bandai and replaced it with young employees with the intent of not only bringing new ideas, but also revisiting the strategy of the group. The new president took a different commercial approach by selling directly to retailers rather than going through intermediates.

In July 1980, Bandai launched the Gundam Plastic Model based on the animated series which gave birth to the Gunpla series. In November, the subsidiary Celent was created.

Bandai became one of the first third-party developers for the Nintendo Family Computer in 1985. Among its first titles was Tag Team Match: MUSCLE, a video game adaptation of the Kinnikuman manga, which sold over one million copies. Bandai also produced the Family Trainer Pad, released outside Japan as the Power Pad, which also performed well commercially. A series of games was released both in the US and in Japan, including Athletic World and Stadium Events for the NES. Shortly after its release, Nintendo purchased the rights to the FFF mat in North America, replacing it with their own redesign, the Power Pad. In order to maintain branding continuity, Stadium Events was pulled from shelves after a short period of availability at Woolworth's stores. Because the game was pulled from shelves and discontinued before many copies were sold, Bandai's Stadium Events is universally accepted as the rarest licensed NES game released in North America. A shrink wrapped copy of the game sold for $41,270 on eBay in February 2010. The sister game to Stadium Events, called Athletic World was initially released with a label that indicated compatibility with the Family Fun Fitness mat, but was later re-released with an updated label that mentions the Power Pad instead. Stadium Events was not released by name again, but instead was slightly modified and relaunched as the Power Pad pack-in game, World Class Track Meet.

Since the 1980s, Bandai has become the leading toy company of Japan, and to this day, has the main toy licenses in Japan to popular properties including Daikaiju, Ultraman, Super Robot, Kamen Rider, the Super Sentai and Power Rangers series (which it took part in creating), Gundam, and many others. In February 1989, it acquired arcade game developer Coreland and reorganized it into Banpresto, which became Bandai's coin-operated entertainment division. In the early 1990s, Bandai published games for Nintendo in the United Kingdom, including Street Fighter II on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

In January 1997, Bandai announced it would merge its operations with Japanese video game developer Sega. The merge, a $1 billion stock swap where Sega would acquire Bandai and dissolve the company, would have established a new entertainment conglomerate named Sega Bandai Ltd. with an estimated $6 billion in revenue. The announcement followed a ¥9 billion loss from Bandai the same month, attributed to declining game sales and the poor reception of the Apple Pippin console. Bandai felt Sega was an appropriate company to merge with, as it possessed an American-esc management and several international offices, in addition to owning several successful franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog. Opposition arose within Bandai's employees and midlevel executives, as neither felt the company's family-friendly work ethic clashed well with Sega's top-down corporate culture. As a result, Bandai called off the merge in May before its finalization in October. President Makoto Yamashina took responsibility for its failure, publicly apologizing and resigning his position within the company. Bandai instead agreed to a business alliance with Sega.

After its merger with game developer and amusement facility operator Namco in 2005, Bandai Company is now under the management and a member of Bandai Namco Holdings (Bandai Namco Group). Following a group reorganisation in 2006, Bandai heads the group's Toys and Hobby Strategic Business Unit (SBU). Bandai Entertainment announced it would cease its distribution operations in January 2012. Beez Entertainment is no longer releasing new anime in Europe.

In February 2018, Saban Brands and Bandai's US division jointly announced a mutual agreement to not renew their Power Rangers master toy license, effective Spring 2019, after which competing toy company Hasbro will inherit the license. This transition will not affect Bandai Japan's Super Sentai master toy license with Toei.

A sister company, Bandai Spirits, was established on February 15, 2018. On April 1, 2018, the division of Bandai Co., Ltd that dealt with products for adult customers (including figures and plastic models) as well as Banpresto's prizes business were transferred over to Bandai Spirits.

Corporate structure

Bandai's headquarters is in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. The company owns offices in the United States (Bandai America), in Mexico (Bandai Corporacion Mexico), in the United Kingdom (Bandai UK), and in France, Spain, Taiwan, and mainland China. In the past, it owned offices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, Germany, and East Asia, which acted as distributors for Bandai products in their respective countries. Bandai is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings and heads its parent's Toy and Hobby Content Strategic Business Unit (CSBU).

Bandai is among the largest and most profitable toy companies worldwide, alongside Mattel and Hasbro. The company focuses on creating unique and innovative products for its consumers, and to bend established conventions within the industry; its slogan, "Break out of the box" was made in reference to this.

Subsidiaries of Bandai

The Bandai Hobby Center in Aoi-ku, Shizuoka

Bandai Spirits Co., Ltd. produces figurines and plastic models targeted towards older demographics, utilizing popular licenses such as Mobile Suit Gundam, One Piece, Pokémon, Kirby, Hatsune Miku, Demon Slayer, Ultraman, and My Hero Academia. Its Banpresto division also produces these products for arcades, in addition to designing mechanical prize-winning games and arcade game parts. Bandai produces confectionaries, board games, and capsule toys through its subsidiary MegaHouse Corporation, which also releases toys and figurines under its MegaToy label. MegaHouse also holds the license for the Rubik's Cube in Japan, and has created multiple variations of the toy specifically for Japanese audiences. Bandai Namco Collectables LLC, a division of Bandai America, imports and distributes Bandai-produced collectible figures across the United States. Products are often distributed through Bandai Logipal Inc. and Logipal Express Inc., divisions that also provide product inspection and manufacturing support, customs brokerage, and services relating to amusement facilities.

See also

• Bandai Museum

External links

• Official website