# Bandai Namco Pictures

Bandai Namco Pictures Inc., also known as BN Pictures and BNP, is a Japanese animation studio. It is a spinoff of Sunrise, a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Filmworks which is owned by Bandai Namco Holdings. The company was formed as a part of the medium-term management plan of Bandai Namco Holdings on restructuring itself. All the anime intellectual property and production divisions of Sunrise that target children and family were transferred to Bandai Namco Pictures. The company began its operations in April 2015.

## History

On February 12, 2015, Bandai Namco Holdings announced plans to restructure itself through the usage of a three-year medium-management plan. The company sought to focus its resources on creating new intellectual properties (IPs) and marketable characters, and required faster planning and development time to satisfy these demands. Bandai Namco executives also believed it was necessary for its IP Creation content area to strengthen ties with its Toy and Hobby area, as it would lead to both strong relationships between the two divisions and allow for future product collaborations.
As part of its efforts to fulfill these obligations, Bandai Namco Pictures was established in April 2015 in Nerima, Tokyo. Headed by Masayuki Ozaki, the representative director of animation studio Sunrise, the company was to lead its parent's "Strengthen IP Creation Output" project and focus on the creation of new characters and franchises, specifically those targeted towards children and families. Bandai Namco Pictures would also work together with the Toy and Hobby division of Bandai Namco Holdings to strengthen the linkage between the two areas of the latter company. Pictures absorbed Sunrise's production departments relating to children-oriented IPs, becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Sunrise and part of Bandai Namco's IP Creation department.
The company's first project was Aikatsu!, an anime based on the Bandai trading card arcade game of the same name which had been produced by Sunrise until that point. In addition to working on pre-established franchises, Bandai Namco Pictures would produce several original projects, such as the stop-motion animation series Milpom! Pictures focused primarily on series and characters targeted towards children and families, though some, such as Tiger & Bunny and the Gintama series, were aimed at older audiences. The company regularly collaborates with other subsidiaries within Bandai Namco Holdings; in 2016, it partnered with Bandai Namco Entertainment to produce Dream Festival!, a multimedia franchise centered around video games and original net animations.
In August 2018, Bandai Namco Pictures opened a division in Osaka, the Bandai Namco Pictures Osaka Studio, for the purpose of digitally transferring animation to decrease production times. The company hoped the success and productivity from the Osaka Studio could allow for additional offices to be opened in Japan and eventually overseas. A year later in October, Pictures absorbed Studio Dub, an animation subcontractor established by former Sunrise animators. The acquisition renamed the company Bandai Namco Pictures Iwaki, though it continues using the name Studio Dub for its projects.

## Works
### Television series

| Title | Director(s) | First run start date | First run end date | Eps. |
| Battle Spirits: Burning Soul | Kunihisa Sugishima | April 1, 2015 | March 30, 2016 | 51 |
| Aikatsu! | Ryūichi Kimura | April 2, 2015 | March 31, 2016 | 52 |
| Tribe Cool Crew | Masaya Fujimori | April 5, 2015 | October 4, 2015 | 26 |
| Gintama° | Chizuru Miyawaki | April 8, 2015 | March 30, 2016 | 51 |
| Brave Beats | Yūta Murano | October 6, 2015 | March 27, 2016 | 22 |
| Battle Spirits: Double Drive | Kunihisa Sugishima | April 6, 2016 | March 29, 2017 | 51 |
| Aikatsu Stars! | Teruo Satō | April 7, 2016 | March 29, 2018 | 100 |
| Heybot! | Shinji Ishihira | September 18, 2016 | September 24, 2017 | 50 |
| Gintama. | Chizuru Miyawaki | January 8, 2017 | March 26, 2017 | 13 |
| Gintama. Porori-hen | Chizuru Miyawaki | October 1, 2017 | December 24, 2017 | 13 |
| Gintama. Shirogane no Tamashii-hen | Chizuru Miyawaki | January 7, 2018 | October 7, 2018 | 26 |
| Aikatsu Friends! | Shishō Igarashi | April 5, 2018 | September 26, 2019 | 76 |
| B-PROJECT～Zecchō＊Emotion～ | Makoto Moriwaki | January 11, 2019 | March 29, 2019 | 12 |
| Aikatsu on Parade! | Shishō Igarashi | October 5, 2019 | March 28, 2020 | 25 |
| Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun | Makoto Moriwaki | October 5, 2019 | March 7, 2020 | 23 |
| Motto! Majime ni Fumajime Kaiketsu Zorori | Takahide Ogata | April 5, 2020 | November 8, 2020 | 25 |
| Saikyō Kamizmode | Mitsutoshi Satō | October 9, 2020 | April 9, 2021 | 26 |
| Aikatsu Planet! | Ryūichi Kimura | January 10, 2021 | June 27, 2021 | 25 |
| Motto! Majime ni Fumajime Kaiketsu Zorori 2nd Season | Takahide Ogata | April 2, 2021 | October 22, 2021 | 25 |
| Cestvs: The Roman Fighter | Toshifumi KawaseKazuya Monma | April 15, 2021 | June 24, 2021 | 11 |
| Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun Season 2 | Makoto Moriwaki | April 17, 2021 | September 11, 2021 | 21 |
| Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story | Takayuki Inagaki | April 6, 2022 | June 29, 2022 | 13 |
| Motto! Majime ni Fumajime Kaiketsu Zorori 3rd Season | Takahide Ogata | April 6, 2022 | September 21, 2022 | 25 |
| Raven of the Inner Palace | Chizuru Miyawaki | October 1, 2022 | December 24, 2022 | 13 |
| Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun Season 3 | Makoto Moriwaki | October 8, 2022 | March 4, 2023 | 21 |
| Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari | Ryūichi Kimura | January 10, 2023 | September 19, 2023 | 24 |
| Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story Season 2 | Takayuki Inagaki | April 8, 2023 | June 24, 2023 | 12 |
| Wistoria: Wand and Sword | Tatsuya Yoshihara | July 7, 2024 | TBA | TBA |
| I Left My A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths! | Katsumi Ono | January 12, 2025 | TBA | TBA |
| Mashin Creator Wataru | Yumi Kamakura | January 12, 2025 | TBA | TBA |
| Rock Is a Lady's Modesty | Shinya Watada | April 3, 2025 | TBA | TBA |
| 3-Nen Z-Gumi Ginpachi-Sensei | Makoto MoriwakiNatsumi Higashida | October 2025 | TBA | TBA |
| Shabake | Takahiro Ōkawa | 2025 | TBA | TBA |

### Films

| Title | Director(s) | Release date | Notes |
| Kaiketsu Zorori: Uchū no Yūsha-tachi | Tomoko Iwasaki | September 12, 2015 | Co-produced with Ajia-do Animation Works |
| Aikatsu! Music Awards - The Show Where Everyone Gets an Award! | Shinya Watada | August 22, 2015 | |
| Aikatsu Stars! The Movie | Shinya Watada | August 13, 2016 | |
| Aikatsu! The Targeted Magical Aikatsu Card | Ryūichi Kimura | August 13, 2016 | Double-billed with Aikatsu Stars! The Movie |
| Kaiketsu Zorori: ZZ no Himitsu | Masaya Fujimori | November 22, 2017 | Co-produced with Ajia-do Animation Works |
| Gintama: The Very Final | Chizuru Miyawaki | January 8, 2021 | |
| Hula Fulla Dance | Seiji MizushimaShinya Watada | December 3, 2021 | |
| Aikatsu Planet! The Movie | Ryūichi Kimura | July 15, 2022 | |
| Aikatsu! 10th Story ~Starway to the Future~ | Ryūichi Kimura | July 15, 2022 (short film) January 20, 2023 (feature film) | The short-film version was double-billed with Aikatsu Planet! The Movie |
| Kaiketsu Zorori: Lalala Star Tanjō | Takahide Ogata | December 9, 2022 | Co-produced with Ajia-do Animation Works |

### OVA/ONAs

| Title | Director(s) | First run start date | First run end date | Eps. | Notes |
| Milpom! (Pilot) | N/A | March 20, 2015 | N/A | 1 | |
| Milpom! | N/A | September 5, 2015 | September 29, 2017 | 6 | |
| Dream Festival! | Yūta Murano | September 23, 2016 | December 16, 2016 | 12 | Co-produced with Ajia-do Animation Works |
| Gintama°: Love Incense Arc | Chizuru Miyawaki Youichi Fujita | April 8, 2015 | March 30, 2016 | 2 | |
| Dream Festival! R | Yūta Murano | August 23, 2017 | November 8, 2017 | 12 | Co-produced with Ajia-do Animation Works |
| Gintama: Monster Strike-hen | N/A | August 29, 2019 | September 4, 2019 | 2 | |
| Fight League: Gear Gadget Generators | Daisuke Nakajima | February 14, 2019 | August 8, 2019 | 26 | Co-Produced by XFLAG |
| Battle Spirits: Kakumei no Galette | Masaki Watanabe | August 28, 2020 | April 23, 2021 | 5 | |
| Aikatsu on Parade! Dream Story | Shishō Igarashi | March 28, 2020 | July 11, 2020 | 6 | |
| Tiger & Bunny 2 | Mitsuko Kase | April 8, 2022 | October 7, 2022 | 25 | |