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Bushiroad President Takaaki Kidani Steps Down as BanG Dream! Franchise's Executive Producer
posted on by Alex Mateo
Kidani had been leading the BanG Dream! project for nine years since its conception. For the past two years, he had already been entrusting the project to other developers.
Bushiroad appointed Kidani as chairperson in June 2020. During that time, he also returned to his former position as a representative director alongside the company's previous president Yoshitaka Hashimoto.
Kidani had previously stepped down from the representative director position at a stockholder's meeting in October 2017, and took a position as board member of the company. He stepped down from the position so he could directly lead and manage the production of content better in the company's following three or four years, which the company called a "decisive" period. Kidani was focused on and directly responsible for developing the company's intellectual property.
Kidani founded Bushiroad in 2007. The company owns a number of cross-media franchises, some of which originate from its card games. Bushiroad's Cardfight!! Vanguard and Future Card Buddyfight series have both inspired long-running television anime series, and its Luck & Logic card game inspired two television anime series. Bushiroad also owns the Weiß Schwarz anime crossover card game. The company owns the Tantei Opera Milky Holmes franchise, as well as the BanG Dream! franchise, both of which have television anime series. The company owns the Revue Starlight franchise, and both BanG Dream! and Revue Starlight have active smartphone games. Additionally, the company owns the New Japan Pro Wrestling promotion.
Bushiroad launched the BanG Dream! multimedia project in January 2015.
The main BanG Dream! television anime's first 13-episode season premiered in January 2017, and Anime Network Online and Crunchyroll streamed the first season as it aired in Japan. The anime's second season premiered in January 2019. Sentai Filmworks licensed the anime, and HIDIVE and Crunchyroll both streamed the series as it aired.
The BanG Dream! 3rd Season television anime debuted in January 2020. Sentai Filmworks licensed the season, and HIDIVE and VRV streamed the series as it aired. The BanG Dream! Poppin' Dream! anime film continued the story from the third season, and it opened in Japan in January 2022. The franchise's Morfonica band got a two-episode anime in July 2022.
The franchise also includes the BanG Dream! FILM LIVE and BanG Dream! FILM LIVE 2nd Stage films, the two-part BanG Dream! Episode of Roselia films, as well as several web anime spinoff series.
Sources: Famitsu.com, Gamer via Otakomu
