Probably the name that most modelers in this space most associate with girlpla, and in our humble opinion the king of the girlpla space, Kotobukiya is a name you will be seeing a LOT in relation to girlpla, for reasons that will become clear when you read the list of lines they were directly responsible for producing.
Founded out of a toy store selling dolls in 1947 by Jusaburo Shimizu, he converted his tiny shop into a company run with his brothers in 1951. However, they would not be opening their first dedicated store in a department store until 1967, known as “Kotobukiya Dolls and Toys”. To this day, the Shimizus are still in charge of the company they created, with Kazuyuki Shimizu, Jusaburo’s son, still being president as of 2026.
They would not adopt their familiar name as just Kotobukiya until 1981; the Tachikawa store still stands as Kotobukiya Tachikawa, which can be found, funnily enough, in Tachikawa in the western Tokyo metropolitan area. In 1983, Kotobukiya would also begin their mail order service, and, more importantly, begin their path into model kit domination in 1983 with their Armament model kit, turning it into a one-two punch with a model kit of King Godzilla in 1985.
Kotobukiya would also hold the honor of being one of the only companies to officially produce Gunpla while not being named “Bandai” prior to Bandai throwing out their rivals from the market; the G-3, an original design made by Kazuhisa Kondo (known for his work on Zeta Gundam) based on the Elmeth and the Qubeley, was a Kotobukiya special. In 1989, they’d begin business dealing with soft vinyl and active styling figures, now known as ARTFX, and marking their diversification into other areas of toys which they sell today.
However, it would be in 2003 where Kotobukiya would have a fateful encounter with the now-legendary Masaki “Apsy” Asai who sought them out to gather supplies for his now-legendary Phantasy Star Online RACaseal garage kit, well-known for being one of the first, if not the first, snap-fit mecha musume kits. Asai himself already had built a reputation for his garage kits from the 90s for Galaxy Fraulein Yuna under Kaiyodo.
Asai struck up a working relationship with Kotobukiya, who used his talents to improve their own model kits, including their own RAcaseal model kits. Lessons learned from Asai as well as their own development of the Xenogears KOS-MOS and Super Robot Wars Valsione model kits would allow Kotobukiya to launch Frame Arms Girl in 2015. Later, in collaboration with Asai and many of his colleagues from Konami’s Busou Shinki, Kotobukiya would manufacture Megami Device in 2016.
This one-two punch would spark a girlpla boom and ensure Kotobukiya’s reign at the top well into the 20s, as Kotobukiya would launch a variety of girlpla lines, remaining the most prolific producer of girlpla in the hobby industry, with Megami Device’s Machineca engineering leading innovation in the girlpla industry over the last ten years and, judging from how much inspiration many lines take from it, probably for the next ten years.
Produced Lines:
- Frame Arms Girl
- HoiHoi-san!
- Megalomaria
- Mega Man
- Megami Device (in collaboration with Masaki Asai)
- Phantasy Star Online/2
- Sousai Shoujo Teien
- TITANOMACHIA (STRATO HOUND and GALE HOUND only)
Singular Kits:
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