User:Namcokid47/Bandai Namco Pictures

Bandai Namco Pictures Inc. (株式会社バンダイナムコピクチャーズ) is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise headquartered in Nerima, Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Sunrise, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. The company was established in April 2015 following a corporate restructuring of Bandai Namco Holdings, where it absorbed Sunrise's children-oriented anime properties and production divisions.

History
On February 12, 2015, Bandai Namco Holdings announced it would begin restructuring itself through the usage of a three-year medium-management plan. As the company sought to focus its resources on the creation of marketable characters and new intellectual properties (IPs), it required faster planning and development times to satisfy demand. Bandai Namco also believed it was necessary for its IP Creation department to strengthen collaborations with its Toy and Hobby department, as the company claimed it would lead to strong, healthy relationships between the two divisions.

As part of its efforts to fulfill these obligations, in April 2015 it established Bandai Namco Pictures 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.