Bandai

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Bandai Co., Ltd.

Type	Private
Founded	July 5, 1950
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Kazunori Ueno, President
Industry	Toy Maker, Software & Programming, film production
Products	Gundam models, Super Sentai models, Tamagotchi, Digimon, Ben 10, plastic model kits
Employees	973 (as of March 31, 2005)
Subsidiaries	Namco Bandai Holdings, Inc.
Website	Bandai Japan Bandai UK Bandai US Bandai Europe Bandai Asia

This article is about the Japanese toy manufacturer

Bandai Co., Ltd. (株式会社バンダイ, Kabushiki-gaisha Bandai^?) is a Japanese toy making company, as well as the producer of a large number of plastic model kits, anime, and tokusatsu programs. It is the world's third largest producer of toys.

After the merger with video game developer and producer Namco, Bandai Co., Ltd. is now under the management of Namco Bandai Holdings Inc.

1 History
2 Subsidiaries
3 Handheld systems
4 Games Produced/Published by Bandai
5 Manga produced by Bandai Entertainment
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Bandai was founded in 1950. Some of the early tin plate toys are highly collectible; the pictured model car will sell for around US$150.

In the 1960s Bandai expanded to include export sales. Bandai's racing car set, which first appeared in 1962, became a huge success.

The 1970s continued to see Bandai expand, with Bandai Models being established in 1971. 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.

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 Series (which they took part in creating), Gundam and many others.

Saab 96 tin plate toy car by Bandai

Image:Valentine overhead.JPG

1/48 scale tank model made from a Bandai plastic model kit in the 1970s.

Bandai has many subsidiaries. Further detail:

Main article: Bandai Visual

Bandai Visual, Co. Ltd, produces and distributes many popular anime and tokusatsu titles. These titles include Cowboy Bebop, Big O, Outlaw Star, Please Teacher!, Escaflowne, the Mobile Suit Gundam, Pilot Candidate franchise and Witch Hunter Robin. The company logo is the Moai, a statue found on Easter Island.

Bandai America is the American distribution arm of Bandai that makes toy products for the U.S. market, distributes Bandai games, and distributes many of Bandai Visual's anime titles (in addition to animes licensed from other animation studios, such as .hack//SIGN) in the United States through its Bandai Entertainment arm headquartered in Cypress, California and in Canada through Bandai Entertainment Canada, which is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario.

The companies releases of Power Rangers toys have been an occasional point of criticism from fans of the show and Super Sentai. Complaints include issues such as lack of paint applications, substituting plastic for die-cast metal and removeal of electronic gimmicks. A notable complaint is the near-constant absence of at least one item from the show each year as well as the lack of female characters, due to them not selling well with the target demographic of young males.^{[original research?]}

Bandai also manufactures Ben 10 toys.

Bandai Games produces and distributes video games based on Bandai properties including Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front, Gundam Wing: Endless Duel Calvin : Journey to Jaburo. Bandai Games most recently opened a United States office.

Carddass is the Bandai subsidiary responsible for releasing trading card games based on popular Bandai franchises. This includes games such as the Gundam War Collectible Card Game based on the Gundam metaseries, as well as a Gash Bell (Zatch Bell!) TCG, Naruto TCG, and their newest TCG, Rangers Strike (Sentai).

Main article: Sunrise (company)

Bandai has also released a series of handheld game consoles including the WonderSwan, WonderSwan Color, and Swan Crystal. The systems were only released in Japan.

NES

PlayStation 2