Banpresto, one of the biggest names in the Dragon Ball merchandise world has been absorbed completely and dissolved by Bandai Spirits.
Anime News Network
The February 22 issue of the National Printing Bureau’s Kanpō
publication revealed that toy company Banpresto
has been dissolved and combined with Bandai Namco Holdings
‘ toy and hobby subsidiary Bandai Spirits. Bandai Spirits has taken over all rights and duties from the former company.
Bandai Spirits was established on February 15, 2018. The subsidiary absorbed the figure and plastic model business from Bandai and the convenience store goods business from Banpresto. The company had a capital stock of 100 million yen (about US$923,000) and about 450 employees at the time of its establishment.
Banpresto
was founded as Hoei Sangyo, Co. Ltd. in 1977, and the company was renamed as Coreland in 1982. The company then became a partially owned subsidiary of Bandai in 1989 and gained its most recent name. Banpresto
became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings in 2006.
Unsure what this means for any lines currently in production by Banpresto, but I’m sure the Shonen Jump Calendar will reveal more information on that over the next few months.
For those who have been following this company, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Banpresto has been partially owned by Bandai since 1989 and has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai since March, 2006.
Will you miss Banpresto? I know we will. Sound off in the comments in honor of all the years of fun Banresto brought us.
I pretty much exclusively buy banpresto dragon ball figures. I really hope nothing goes south here.