Bandai: Difference between revisions

{{Company InfoxboxInfobox

|title = Bandai

|image = [[File:Bandai.png|{{ImageSize}}]]

|ja_kanji = 株式会社バンダイ

|industry = Toys and Figures Manufacturer

|locationhq = {{W|Tokyo}}, {{W|Japan}}

|keypeople = Naoharu Yamashina {{s|Founder}}<br>Masaru Kawaguchi {{s|President}}

|site = [https://www.bandai.co.jp/ bandai.co.jp]

Bandai was founded by Naoharu Yamashina on July 5, 1950, as {{Nihongo|'''Bandai-Ya'''|萬代屋}} in {{w|Taitō, Tokyo|Taito, Tokyo}}, when it spun off from his family's textile business. Their first original toy, Rhythm Ball, a ball with bells inside, was introduced in September of the same year. In March 1951, Bandai began exporting toys to foreign markets, becoming one of the earliest Japanese companies to do so. In 1955, the company became the first in the toy industry to have a quality assurance system, with the 1956 {{w|Toyopet Crown}} model car being the first toy approved. Bandai-Ya was renamed to Bandai in July 1961.

In the 1960s, the company began to expand its overseas operations and opened an office in New York City. Bandai met considerable success when it introduced action figures based on the anime {{w|Astro Boy}} in 1963. The toy line's success prompted the company to move away from manufacturing original toys to making tie-in products as well as funding various television series. In May 1980, Makoto Yamashina, son of the founder, became the president of Bandai. Bandai was one of the first third-party developers for the {{w|Nintendo}} {{w|Nintendo Entertainment System|Family Computer}}. In 1986, they released the {{w|Power Pad}}, a floor mat accessory for the Famicom. In February 1989, Bandai acquired arcade game developer Coreland and reorganized it into [[Banpresto]]. In 1988, Bandai launched the first {{w|Carddass}} card vending machines, which were based on the {{w|Saint Seiya}} anime. Many other popular franchises were made into trading cards, including [[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]], with the [[Adventure Battle Card]], [[Crusade]], and [[JoJo's Bizarre Hanafuda]] card games.<ref name="Card">[https://sec.carddass.com/club/about/carddass/ カードダスドットコム 公式サイト | カードダスとは]</ref> In 1996, [[MegaHouse]] also became a subsidiary of Bandai.

{{TestBoxImageBox|image=Capsule Figure CollectionKIRA Merch Preview.png|title=[[Capsule FigureKIRA|linktitle=KIRA Collection]](Bandai)}}

{{TestBoxImageBox|image=C-002Bandai purpleCandy logo.png|height=450|linktitle=Crusade|title=Crusade System Card[[Bandai SeriesCandy]]}}

{{TestBoxImageBox|image=Hanafuda5-01-3Chibi Nuigurumi.jpgjpeg|title=[[JoJo's BizarreChibi HanafudaPlush]]}}