One of the world’s biggest toy manufacturers, in the toy world they’re known for Dragon Ball, One Piece, Kamen Rider, Naruto and Pretty Cure (which you should watch right now, starting with Futari wa…). Having absorbed animation studio Sunrise in 1994, they were also responsible for shows like Inuyasha, Gintama and Accel World, as well as franchises like Aikatsu, Love Live, Code Geass, and Bandai’s most beloved mecha show, Cross Ange.
Starting in 1950 under Naoharu Yamashina’s direction as a spinoff of what used to be a textile wholesaler, Bandai-ya (derived from the term “bandai fueki”, meaning eternally unchanging), Yamashina would conduct research on how to build toys, having come into the industry as a complete amateur. Bandai-ya would be among the first companies to export Japanese goods outside the country, before achieving their first major successes with Astro Boy toys and later Ultraman toys in the 60s.
It would not be until the 80s that Bandai would gain their now-inescapable connection with an obscure and little-known series called Mobile Suit Gundam, creating their first ever Gunpla under the direction of staff hired by Naoharu’s son Makoto, who was now head of the company. Bandai would love Gundam so much that it would eventually absorb Sunrise entirely. Throughout the 80s and 90s, they would engage in various other pursuits and acquiring more licenses, even briefly dabbling in the video game industry with the Playdia and WonderSwan.
As an aside, a toy company called Clover, not Bandai, was the original sponsor of Gundam in regards to toys. However, their Gundam toys were inaccurate and significantly less popular than Bandai’s Gunpla, and they wouldn’t survive long enough to course correct, shuttering in 1983 even as science-fiction plastic model kits made other companies heaps of money.
It was also in the 80s that Bandai would also make its first stab at working on girlpla, producing mecha musume model kits through their B-Club garage kit label. While not as successful as they would’ve liked, in hindsight, Bandai could probably have looked towards Sunrise, where the likes of Mika Akitaka and Kunio Okawara were cooking up the likes of Lady Gouf left and right. Sadly, LARK (later Wave), Kaiyodo and a whole host of other companies and smaller outfits would beat them to the punch.
An economic downturn in the late 90s would force Bandai to first attempt a failed merger with SEGA, and then successfully merge with video game company Namco in 2005, becoming known today as Bandai Namco, with the Bandai side of the merger continuing to deal with toys. Bandai would make its first attempt at mecha musume since the 80s with the Armor Girls Project toyline in 2012, fittingly helmed by Akitaka alongside Hajime Katoki of Victory Gundam, Policenauts and Virtual-ON fame.
However, it would not be until late 2015 where Bandai would finally make its next stab at making girlpla model kits as we understand them today, firstly testing the waters with their (frankly horrific) HGBF model kits of the likes of Loheng-Rinko and Super Fumina from Build Fighters, then slowly advancing their tech through their Figure-rise Standard and Girl Gun Lady lines, before finally reaching a renaissance with their 30 Minutes Sisters line in 2021, whose engineering has since been used to enhance their Figure-rise Standard kits and which finally placed them on an even footing with reigning girlpla king Kotobukiya.
Produced Lines:
- 30 Minutes Label
- Aqua Shooters
- Figure-rise Standard
- Gashapon Quest
- Link Travelers
- MS Girls (HGBF)
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