Good Smile Company
Outline. Good Smile Company was established by Aki Takanori in 2001 as an event management and talent company. Thereafter it began working with Max Factory on hobby related products which soon become the main focus of the company. Good Smile Company is now primarily involved in the planning, production, manufacturing and sales of figures and toys, but also markets accessories and other goods. Good Smile Company also acts as a distributor and for a number of other hobby related companies including Max Factory, FREEing and Phat! Company. The company has a particularly long relationship with Max Factory , and often shares booths and display space with them at events such as Wonder Festival. As of June 2012, Good Smile Company moved from Matsudo, Chiba to the Tokyo Skytree's East Tower, which has become the joint headquarters for them and Max Factory. 'Kahotan's Blog' is a popular blog which introduces both Good Smile Company and related products to the public through the eyes of one of the female staff members. The blog is available in both English and Japanese. Corporate history. A summarized history of the company can be found below. Primary products. Good Smile Company sells  a variety of products with a focus on PVC character figurines. Most products are based on anime, manga or video game characters that are popular within Japan. They have products based on American movies and comics popular in the West such as Star Wars and characters from Marvel Comics. Popular series included in companies product line-up include "Hatsune Miku", "Black Rock Shooter" products, "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" products, as well as characters from Nintendo games. They are most well known for: Related anime productions. Good Smile Company has been involved in the following productions as a member of the  production committee. Additionally, they were involved in the production and distribution of the "Black Rock Shooter" film (2010). Motorsports. In 2008, Good Smile Company became the primary sponsor of Studie GLAD Racing, a team which took part in the GT300 race division of the "Super GT" racing series in a car featuring illustrations of Hatsune Miku. In 2010, a new subsidiary company called Good Smile Racing (GSR) was established which became the new racing team owner. Good Smile Racing also produces model cars and related goods to support the racing team with sponsors. After a long struggle in the debut  seasons, the team would taste their first success in 2011 season, by winning three out of eight races and take their first driver's championship title in GT300 class. They would later win another two GT300 drivers Championship in 2014 and 2017 season, being one of the most successful Super GT teams in series' history. In 2017, they also made their international GT debut, becoming the first Japanese GT3 team participating in the Spa 24 Hours of Intercontinental GT Challenge. In 2019 Spa 24 Hours, they partnered with Type-Moon (as Type-Moon Racing), TRIGGER, and Black Falcon to field  three Mercedes-AMG GT GT3 cars with Hatsune Miku, "Fate", and "Promare" liveries. The "Promare" car started from pole position and finished 3rd overall and the Hatsune Miku car also finished 3rd in the Silver Cup class, becoming the first itasha team to reach podium in international GT racing. Anime production business. In recent years, the company played a large part in bringing together four smaller animation companies (Sanzigen, Trigger, Ordet and LIDEN FILMS) and pooling their talent together as a new holding company named ULTRA SUPER PICTURES. This business is a part of the animation production industry, but focuses  not only on the production and development of high quality animation projects, but also the licensing of works, general management and training of new staff in order to create content aimed at a worldwide audience.