Bandai Entertainment

## Overview

**Bandai Entertainment, Inc. is an anime distribution company owned by the Japanese conglomerate Namco Bandai Holdings. Unlike its former sibling company Bandai Visual USA (which was folded into Bandai Entertainment Inc. in 2008), BEI was intended to license and distribute series by all of the Japanese studios, rather than just Namco Bandai-owned titles.**

**Originally founded in 1998 as Bandai Co., Ltd., the company released DVDs as part of Anime Village, which was also its online retailer until the 2008 absorption of Bandai Visual USA, when the company began using BVU's dot-anime.us site.**

**For some time Bandai Entertainment was known primarily for releasing various Gundam series, although they also released the immensely popular Cowboy Bebop series. In late 2006 they surprised many in the industry by licensing the phenomenal fan favorite The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and releasing it with lavish special-edition sets (as well as regular edition). In 2007 they acquired Haruhi's "sister-of-the-heart" series Lucky Star and the mech drama Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, both also major fan favorites. They also surprised everyone in early 2008 when they announced the acquisition of 2007's biggest anime title, Gainax's Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann-- which had been licensed by ADV, who apparently lost the license (although details have not been made known). These triumphs have led to BEI becoming one of the major three players in the anime world.**

**BEI also has made some small forays into the manga world, usually only publishing series that are attached to their anime licenses: they have published the Eureka Seven manga, and announced the Lucky Star, Code Geass, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Gurren Lagann manga as well.**

**BEI's president is Ken Iyadomi. The company is headquartered in Cypress, CA.**

## **Halt of Future Anime Releases and Distribution**

**On January 2, 2012, Bandai Entertainment announced that they would halt the release of new DVD, Blu-Ray and manga releases effective as of the end of February. The distributor announced that they would still be releasing any titles they still had distribution rights to from their catalog until their licenses expired. As a result of this news, plans that Bandai originally had for releasing a number of their recently acquired anime and ongoing manga releases like Turn A Gundam, Kannagi and Code Geass: Renya were officially cancelled.**

**The company announced on August 31, 2012 that they will be halting all distribution of their video, manga and novel sales by the end of November 2012.**

## **Anime Titles Licensed by Bandai Entertainment**

* **Gundam franchise (Original Series, Zeta [TV series and film trilogy], Char's Counterattack, 0080, 0083, F91, G Gundam, Gundam Wing [TV series, movie and OVA], 08th MS Team, SEED [both seasons and their respective film trilogies], 00 [both seasons and movies], Unicorn [first four episodes only], SD Gundam Force)**
* **Cowboy Bebop (TV series and movie)**
* **Eureka Seven (first season and movie)**
* **Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (two TV seasons, Disappearance movie, Haruhi-chan ONA and Nyaoran ONA)**
* **Outlaw Star**
* **The Big O**
* **Gurren Lagann**
* **K-On! (first season)**
* **The Girl Who Leapt Through Time**
* **Agent Aika (Original and R-16 OVAs)**
* **Akira (third licensor to distribute movie)**
* **Kikaider (TV series and OVA)**
* **Angel Links**
* **Angel Tales**
* **Argento Soma**
* **Arjuna**
* **Avenger**
* **AWOL: Absent Without Leave**
* **Stars franchise (Crest of the Stars, bonus OVA, and both seasons of Banner of the Stars)**
* **Betterman**
* **Blue Submarine No. 6**
* **Brain Powered**
* **Tsukikage Ran**
* **Clamp School Detectives**
* **Clockwork Fighters Hiwou's War**
* **Code Geass (both TV seasons)**
* **D.I.C.E**
* **Dan Doh!!**
* **Digi Charat Nyo**
* **Don't Leave Me Alone, Daisy**
* **Dragon Drive**
* **Eat Man (original and 98 TV series)**
* **Ehrgeiz**
* **Escaflowne (TV series and movie)**
* **Fancy Lala**
* **Fantastic Children**
* **Fighting Fantasy Girl Rescue Me: Mave-chan**
* **Flag**
* **IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix**
* **Galaxy Angel (first series, A, S, X, and Z)**
* **Geneshaft**
* **Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (both TV seasons and Solid State Society movie)**
* **Ghost Slayers Ayashi**
* **The Girl Who Leapt Through Space**
* **.hack franchise (Sign, Gift, Intermezzo, Legend of the Twilight, Liminality, Roots, Unison)**
* **Haunted Junction**
* **Hayate the Combat Butler (first season)**
* **Hoop Days**
* **Infinite Ryvius**
* **Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade**
* **Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl: Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch**
* **Junkers Come Here**
* **Kannagi**
* **Kaze no Yojimbo**
* **Kurokami: The Animation**
* **Ronin Warriors franchise (TV series and OVAs)**
* **Love Hina franchise (TV series, Spring special, Christmas special, Love Hina Again OVA)**
* **Lucky Star (TV series and OVA)**
* **Magical Meow Meow Taruto**
* **Mars Daybreak**
* **Melty Lancer**
* **Monkey Magic**
* **My franchise (Hime, Otome, Otome 0 ~S.ifr~ and Zwei)**
* **Overman King Gainer**
* **Pilot Candidate**
* **Planetes**
* **Please franchise (Teacher, Twins and both OVAs)**
* **Roboanimal Panda-Z**
* **Rocket Girls**
* **S-CRY-ed**
* **Saber Marionette franchise (J, J Again, J to X and R)**
* **Scrapped Princess**
* **Silent Mobius (both movies and TV series)**
* **Spirit of Wonder: Scientific Boy's Club**
* **Star Driver**
* **Stratos 4 (TV series and OVA)**
* **Sword of the Stranger**
* **Tales of the Abyss**
* **Tamagotchi the Movie**
* **Tekken: Blood Vengeance**
* **Tenamonya Voyagers**
* **Tide-Line Blue**
* **Toward the Terra (TV series)**
* **Witch Hunter Robin**
* **Wolf's Rain (TV series and OVA)**
* **Yukikaze**
* **Z-Mind**
* **Zegapain**
* **Zentrix**

### **Cancelled Title Releases**

**Note: These were titles that Bandai had licensed months before their announced closure, which they had originally planned to release onto home video.**

* **Turn A Gundam**
* **Nichijou**
* **Gosick**