A Brief History of BANDAI

A Brief History of BANDAI
Since BANDAI’s establishment in 1950, the Company has developed
numerous hit products through the years that reflect the spirit of the times.
Here, we trace BANDAI’s footprints in time through a geneology of some of these hit products.
Always with the Dreams of the Times
Milestones at BANDAI
Signature Products
1950
1950
Sales of BANDAI’s
first toy with product
warranty begin
★
★
1955
1961
★
★
1971
1974
1975
★
BANDAI-YA Inc. established in
Asakusa-Kikuyabashi, Taito-ku, Tokyo
Industry pioneering quality-control
system established, and sales of
BANDAI’s first toy with product
warranty begin.
Name changed from BANDAI-YA Inc.
to BANDAI Inc.
BANDAI AMERICA INC. established.
The Kamen Rider Henshin
(Transformation) Belt becomes a hit
product.
★ Chogokin
★
1971
Mazinger Z launch
1974
Super Sentai action hero series launched
BANDAI enters the capsule products market
★ BANDAI (H.K.) CO., LTD.
established in Hong Kong as an
overseas manufacturing base
★ Space Battleship Yamato plastic
models launch
★
1977
1978
1980
1981
★ Ultraman
★ Gunpla
★
soft vinyl figures launch
launch
BANDAI enters the candy toy market
BANDAI adopts “Dreams and Creation”
as a corporate slogan and renews its
corporate logo to the current version
★ BANDAI enters the apparel market
★ Kinniku-Man (Muscleman) erasers become
a hit as a vending machine capsule product
★
1983
Kinniku-Man
(Muscleman) eraser
1984
19
★
1977
Donjara children’s mahjong games launch
1980
BANDAI-YA was founded by Naoharu
Yamashina, the Company’s first
president. The Company started out as
a wholesaler of celluloid toys and metal
vehicle toys, as well as rubber flotation
aids, and introduced its first original
product, the Rhythm Ball, in September
of 1950. This was the first sign of
BANDAI’s future as a developer and
inventor of toys.
The Kamen Rider Henshin
(Transformation) Belt was developed
by Popy Co., Ltd., a group company
set up to specialize in manufacturing
character-based toys. The belt featured
gimmicks similar to the one worn by
the TV character, such as a glowing,
spinning typhoon at the center of the
buckle, as well as novel packaging. It
became a mega-hit, selling over 3.8
million units during the time the TV
program was on the air.
Milestones at BANDAI
1986
★
Signature Products
Nekonyanbou beomes a hit product
Nekonyanbou
BANDAI enters the lifestyle goods
market
★ The Saint Seiya Saint Cloth
animation series becomes a hit
★
1987
Saint Seiya Saint Cloth
★
BANDAI enters the card game
market
★
The Sailor Moon series becomes a hit
among young girls.
★
The Power Rangers series is
introduced to the American market
1994
★
Charadeco launch
1995
★
The BANDAI Children’s
Questionnaire is launched
1988
1993
1993
With the catchphrase of “In
the name of the moon, I will
punish you!” Sailor Moon
captured the admiration of
girls all over Japan. BANDAI
merchandised a range of hit
products from the show, such
as transformation items, rods,
and dolls. The TV animation
series went on to become a
long-running hit that was
broadcast for five consecutive
years.
Power Rangers
This is the noteworthy first model of
the Chogokin series, which to this day
represents BANDAI’s line of
ever-popular character-based toys for
boys. With its die-cast construction
giving it weight and presence, finely
detailed features, and the“rocket
punch” function, this product achieved
widespread popularity, selling over
500,000 units in its first year.
The Space Battleship Yamato plastic
model series was developed with
attention to quality and targeted high
school students and young adults, the
main fan base of the TV program. At
the time, the show boasted a 12 to
22% audience rate as an animation
TV program and drew in over 2.25
million viewers as a feature film. After
attaining sales of 250,000 units in the
first three years, the series has
continued to spawn a wide array of
products.
The Gundam Plastic Model series,
known more commonly among
enthusiasts as Gunpla, has sold over
400 million units to date. Product
strengths such as reasonable pricing
and easy assembly worked in synergy
with the popularity of the animation
series and sparked a Gunpla boom
when the product was launched. By
1981, the following year, the series
was so popular that overall sales
reached 25 million units, with
production unable to keep up with
demand even at full capacity.
HYPER YO-YO
Digital Monsters
1996
★ Tamagotchi
1997
★
1999
★
2002
★
Bikkura? Tamago bath salts launch
2004
★
Pretty Cure series launched
★
1996
launch
HYPER YO-YO launch
Digital Monsters launch
Primopuel talking stuffed toys
launch
1999
Tamago (Egg)+Watch =
Tamagotchi. Based on the
innovative concept of a
“portable digital nursing
game,” Tamagotchi became an
astounding, overnight hit
among high school girls,
recording domestic and
international sales of 40
million units. Reintroduced as
the Tamagotchi Plus series in
2004, it is now growing again
in popularity among
elementary school girls.
Primopuel is an emotionally
soothing stuffed toy with a
built in optical sensor that
talks in a wide range of phrases
and sings songs in reaction to
being touched or cuddled. The
doll has a fan base from young
to old and was developed as a
toy to be enjoyed across three
generations; mainly for seniors
finished with child reaing, but
also for their chidren and
grandchildren.
20
A Brief History of BANDAI
BANDAI - From Japan to All Over the World
Milestones at BANDAI
Management integration with NAMCO
LIMITED; formation of BANDAI
NAMCO Holdings Inc.
★ Operation of DATACARDDASS begins
★
2005
BANDAI NAMCO
Holdings Inc.
established
2006
BANDAI Hobby
Center
Omochanomachi
BANDAI Museum
Mojibakeru
Kanji-Animal
Transformers
★
Signature Products
2005
The BANDAI Hobby Center plastic
model production plant opens in
Shizuoka Prefecture
Omochanomachi BANDAI Museum
opens in Mibu Town, Tochigi Prefecture
★ Tamagotchi Department Store opens in
Harajuku, Tokyo as an official
Tamagotchi shop
★
2007
2008
★
BEN 10 toys become a hit product on the
global market
2009
★
The official Premium Bandai shopping
site opens
The candy toy Mojibakeru Kanji-Animal
Transformers launch
★ GUNDAM Café opens in Akihabara,
Tokyo as an official Gundam cafe
★ Cumulative sales of Gunpla surpass 400
million units
2012
★
2010
GUNDAM Café
2012
2013
2014
DX Yo-kai Watch
2015
35th anniversary of
Gunpla
21
★
★
★
Aikatsu! series launched
STRICT-G, an apparel brand capturing
the spirit of Gundam, launch
Hako Vision, a palm-sized projection
mapping device, becomes a hit
★ The Yo-kai Watch series becomes a hit
★
A series of products, content and events
commemorating the 35th anniversary of
Gunpla is launched
Aikatsu! is an animation series
featuring a girl striving to
become a teen idol as the main
character. BANDAI’s
merchandizing of the series has
expanded beyond TV broadcasts
and DATACARDDASS to the
marketing of apparel imbued
with the same spirit as the
school uniform and clothing
worn by the main character.
The life-sized silhouette of the
heroine striving to realize her
dreams has struck a chord
among elementary school girls.
The Toys and Hobby Strategic Business Unit’s mid-term vision
from fiscal 2015 through fiscal 2017
The star mark (☆) is the idea of wanting the individual employees
of the Toys and Hobby SBU“to become stars” acting globally.
2013
Merchandise designed to
realize the childhood dreams
of women became a hot topic
in Japan. BANDAI leveraged
Sailor Moon and other beloved
childhood animation heroines
of women in their 20s and 30s
to turn out a wide array of
products including cosmetics
and collectors figures.
Merchandise targeting the women market
become a hit
★
DATACARDDASS arcade game
machines were introduced in
March 2005 as a new digital
card interface for hosting video
games played together with
BANDAI’s character card
games. In the first year of their
release, 7,000 of these machines
were installed in the Japanese
market. After robust growth
driven by combining the
popularity of animation
characters from Dragon Ball Z
and NARUTO with the play
capability of DATACARDDASS,
the game machine lineup was
strengthened in 2006 to include
Tamagotchi for girls and Digital
Monsters for boys.
2014
BANDAI created a buzz with
Hako Vision, a palm-sized device
for the easy enjoyment of 3D
projection mapping and other
video images. BANDAI sells
projection mapping recreations
of actual events, and character
tie-in products.
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東映アニメーション ©PANINI S.p.A. All Rights Reserved The Trading Card Game is developed by PANINI and the online game is developed for PANINI by BANDAI.
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