Bushiroad

Bushiroad is a Japanese entertainment company founded in 2007 by Takaaki Kidani and headquartered in Tokyo. It began with a strong focus on collectible and trading-card games, but developed into a broader intellectual-property company whose projects are designed to circulate across cards, mobile games, anime, manga, music, stage performances, radio, merchandise, and live events. This cross-media model is central to the company’s identity: a single property can generate a card game, an animated series, a smartphone title, character music, concerts, theatrical productions, and related consumer products. The company’s best-known card-game property is Cardfight!! Vanguard, while Weiß Schwarz, Future Card Buddyfight, Luck & Logic, Rebirth for you, Shadowverse: Evolve, and other titles have extended its presence in the hobby-games market. Bushiroad has also published or operated mobile and online games through its Bushimo service, including BanG Dream! Girls Band Party!, Shōjo Kageki Revue Starlight: Re LIVE, The Prince of Tennis Rising Beat, and games associated with several licensed anime and manga properties. Bushiroad has created and developed original multimedia franchises including Tantei Opera Milky Holmes, BanG Dream!, Shōjo Kageki Revue Starlight, and D4DJ. BanG Dream! is especially representative of the company’s approach: fictional bands are connected to real performance units whose voice actors perform instruments and appear at live concerts, while the wider franchise spans animation, manga, recorded music, games, and events. Revue Starlight similarly links stage productions, animation, music, games, and related publishing. Through these properties, Bushiroad participates in both content production and the monetization of fan communities. The group expanded beyond games and animation through publishing, music, internet radio, voice-talent management, merchandise, and event production. Businesses associated with the group have included Bushiroad Creative, Bushiroad Move, Bushiroad Music, Bushiroad Music Publishing, and Bushiroad Works. The company established overseas operations, including Bushiroad USA in Los Angeles in 2012, to support international distribution and promotion of its card games and entertainment properties. Professional wrestling became another major part of the portfolio. Bushiroad acquired New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 2012 and later acquired World Wonder Ring Stardom in 2019. In 2024, Stardom became a subsidiary of New Japan Pro-Wrestling. These acquisitions gave Bushiroad a substantial live-entertainment business alongside its anime, gaming, and music activities. The company has also taken minority or controlling interests in selected production and game companies, including Kinema Citrus, Sanzigen, and Frontwing, supporting its broader content ecosystem. Bushiroad became a publicly traded company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2019. Its business remains centered on developing recognizable intellectual properties and extending them across multiple forms of entertainment rather than operating solely as a card-game publisher or game developer. The company’s current scope includes trading cards, mobile and console-related games, animation investment and production, music and events, publishing, talent-related activities, merchandise, and professional wrestling.

Bushiroad was founded in Japan in 2007 by Takaaki Kidani. The company developed a business model based on hobby games and media properties that could be extended across several entertainment formats. Trading-card games became the foundation of the business, with Cardfight!! Vanguard and later Weiß Schwarz and other titles providing organized play, retail distribution, collectible products, and a platform for related fiction and animation. The company’s first major phase of expansion involved turning game concepts into broader franchises. Tantei Opera Milky Holmes began in 2010 and combined games, animation, manga, novels, music, and voice-actor performances. Bushiroad also expanded internationally, creating an overseas-oriented subsidiary in 2010 and establishing Bushiroad USA in Los Angeles in 2012. These operations supported distribution and promotion in markets outside Japan. In 2012, Bushiroad announced Bushimo, a smartphone social-gaming platform. The move reflected the company’s effort to complement physical card products with digital games and mobile services. The same year, Bushiroad acquired New Japan Pro-Wrestling from Yuke’s. Wrestling added live events, media rights, merchandise, and a large established fan base to the company’s entertainment portfolio. Bushiroad revived the Neppu Kairiku Bushi Road project in 2013 in partnership with Bandai Visual, Nitroplus, and Kinema Citrus, leading to an animated television production. It also launched Monthly Bushiroad in 2013, a magazine used to publish manga and related material connected with its card games and franchises. BanG Dream! was created in 2015 and became one of Bushiroad’s defining cross-media properties. Its model connected animated and fictional narratives with real bands performed by voice actors, alongside music releases, concerts, manga, and mobile games. Revue Starlight followed in 2017 as a stage-and-animation project, and D4DJ followed in 2019 with anime, mobile gaming, recorded music, and live DJ performance. The group continued to broaden its corporate structure through businesses involved in merchandise, music, music publishing, internet radio, voice-talent management, publishing, and events. Bushiroad also increased its involvement in animation and game production. In 2019, it and Kadokawa each acquired a 31.8 percent interest in Kinema Citrus, while Bushiroad separately acquired an 8.2 percent interest in Sanzigen. In 2021, it acquired a 50.625 percent controlling stake in Frontwing. Professional wrestling became an increasingly important second pillar. Bushiroad acquired World Wonder Ring Stardom in October 2019, following its earlier acquisition of New Japan Pro-Wrestling. New Japan later established New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America, supporting international expansion. In June 2024, Stardom was transferred into New Japan Pro-Wrestling as a subsidiary. Bushiroad became publicly traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in July 2019. The company continues to operate as a diversified Japanese entertainment group, combining physical hobby products with digital games, animated and stage content, music, publishing, merchandise, and live sports entertainment.

• 2024

  Stardom joins New Japan Pro-Wrestling

  [1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  Stardom becomes a subsidiary of New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

• 2021

  Frontwing investment

  [1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  Bushiroad acquires a controlling stake in Frontwing.

• 2019

  Bushiroad becomes publicly traded

  [1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  The company begins trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

• 2019

  Stardom acquisition

  [1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  Bushiroad acquires World Wonder Ring Stardom.

• 2017

  Revue Starlight begins

  [1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  Bushiroad launches a franchise combining stage performance, animation, music, manga, radio, and mobile gaming.

• 2015

  BanG Dream! is created

  [1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  Bushiroad launches its major music-centered cross-media franchise.

• 2013

  Monthly Bushiroad is introduced

  [1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  The company introduces a monthly magazine featuring manga and material related to its games and franchises.

• 2012

  New Japan Pro-Wrestling acquisition

  [1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  Bushiroad acquires New Japan Pro-Wrestling for ¥500 million, according to the cited reference.

• 2010

  Tantei Opera Milky Holmes begins

  [1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  Bushiroad launches a multimedia property spanning games, animation, publishing, music, and live voice-actor performance.

• 2007

  Bushiroad is founded

  [1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  Takaaki Kidani establishes Bushiroad in Japan.

A Japanese cross-media entertainment group that uses trading-card games, mobile games, animation, music, live performance, merchandise, and wrestling to build and monetize interconnected fan communities.

• Trading-card game and multimedia franchise

  Cardfight!! Vanguard

  One of Bushiroad’s principal original trading-card properties. The brand has been supported by animation, manga, video games, organized play, merchandise, and international distribution, making it a central example of Bushiroad’s strategy of extending a physical game into a broader entertainment franchise.

• Trading-card game

  Weiß Schwarz

  A collectible card game built around characters and properties from multiple anime, game, and entertainment franchises. Its licensing-oriented structure gives Bushiroad a way to bring numerous external properties into the organized trading-card market.

• Cross-media music franchise · 2015

  BanG Dream!

  A Bushiroad-created franchise centered on fictional bands and real performance groups associated with the characters. It spans anime, manga, music releases, concerts, merchandise, and mobile games, particularly BanG Dream! Girls Band Party!, and is one of the company’s most prominent examples of character-driven live entertainment.

• Cross-media stage and animation franchise · 2017

  Shōjo Kageki Revue Starlight

  A multimedia property combining musical theatre, animated productions, manga, radio, music, live events, and the mobile game Revue Starlight: Re LIVE. Its theatrical foundation distinguishes it from Bushiroad’s card-led and band-led properties.

• Cross-media music and mobile-game franchise · 2019

  D4DJ

  A DJ-oriented Bushiroad project that combines animated storytelling, a mobile game, recorded music, character units, and live DJ performances. It extends the company’s practice of linking fictional performers with real-world music activity.

• Professional wrestling promotion

  New Japan Pro-Wrestling

  Japan’s major professional-wrestling promotion acquired by Bushiroad in 2012. It provides the group with live sports entertainment, events, media content, merchandise, and international activities, including New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America.

• Women’s professional wrestling promotion

  World Wonder Ring Stardom

  A Japanese women’s professional-wrestling promotion acquired by Bushiroad in 2019. In 2024 it became a subsidiary of New Japan Pro-Wrestling within the Bushiroad group.

• 2021

  Bushiroad sues Future Card Buddyfight creator and studio

  Bushiroad announced that it decided to sue Yoshimasa Ikeda and Studio Ikecchi. According to the company, Ikeda repeatedly violated a confidentiality agreement and used images without Bushiroad's consent. The dispute concerns the alleged breach of confidentiality terms and unauthorized use of images by the creator and his studio.

  Source

Read more

• 2021

  Acquire control of FrontwingM&A

  Background

  Bushiroad continued expanding its software and content-production capabilities.

  Action taken

  Bushiroad acquired a 50.625 percent controlling stake in Frontwing.

  Aftermath

  Frontwing became part of Bushiroad’s wider game and media ecosystem.

  Source

• 2019

  Acquire World Wonder Ring StardomM&A

  Background

  Bushiroad expanded its wrestling portfolio after owning New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

  Action taken

  Bushiroad acquired World Wonder Ring Stardom.

  Aftermath

  Stardom was later placed under New Japan Pro-Wrestling as a subsidiary in 2024.

  Source

• 2019

  Invest in animation productionStrategy

  Background

  Bushiroad’s multimedia model required stronger relationships with animation studios.

  Action taken

  Bushiroad acquired an interest in Kinema Citrus with Kadokawa and separately invested in Sanzigen.

  Aftermath

  The investments strengthened Bushiroad’s participation in anime development and production.

  Source

• 2012

  Acquire New Japan Pro-WrestlingM&A

  Background

  Bushiroad sought to expand from card games and media projects into established live entertainment.

  Action taken

  The company acquired New Japan Pro-Wrestling from Yuke’s.

  Aftermath

  Professional wrestling became a major business area alongside games, animation, music, and merchandise.

  Acquisition price. ¥500 million (January 2012)

  Source

• 2024

  Stardom becomes a subsidiary of New Japan Pro-Wrestling[1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  World Wonder Ring Stardom became a subsidiary of New Japan Pro-Wrestling within the Bushiroad group.

• 2021

  Bushiroad acquires a controlling stake in Frontwing[1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  Bushiroad acquired a controlling interest in video-game company Frontwing, strengthening its position in game and visual-novel production.

• 2019

  Bushiroad acquires World Wonder Ring Stardom[1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  The group acquired the women’s professional-wrestling promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom.

• 2019

  Bushiroad lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange[1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  Other

  Bushiroad began trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on July 24, 2019.

• 2019

  Bushiroad invests in Kinema Citrus and Sanzigen[1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  Bushiroad acquired a stake in Kinema Citrus jointly with Kadokawa and separately acquired a minority stake in animation studio Sanzigen.

• 2019

  Bushiroad lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market[4]Bushiroad lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers marketjpx.co.jp

  Other

  Bushiroad became a publicly traded company in Japan, listing under ticker 7803.

• 2019

  Bushiroad acquires Stardom[5]Bushiroad acquires Stardomen.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  Bushiroad acquired the women's professional-wrestling promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom, broadening its live-event and wrestling businesses.

• 2015

  Bushiroad launches BanG Dream![1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  Product launch · Campaign

  Bushiroad created BanG Dream!, a cross-media property combining fictional bands, real performers, animation, games, music, manga, and live events.

• 2015

  BanG Dream! expands into a multimedia franchise[6]BanG Dream! expands into a multimedia franchiseen.wikipedia.org

  Product generation

  BanG Dream! developed into a cross-media property spanning music, animation, mobile games, live performances, manga, and merchandise.

• 2012

  Bushiroad acquires New Japan Pro-Wrestling[1]Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  Bushiroad acquired New Japan Pro-Wrestling, expanding from games and character entertainment into professional wrestling and live entertainment.

Showing the 10 most recent.

1. 1Bushiroaden.wikipedia.org
2. 2Bushiroad official websitebushiroad.com
3. 3Bushiroad sues Future Card Buddyfight creator and studioanimenewsnetwork.com
4. 4Bushiroad lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers marketjpx.co.jp
5. 5Bushiroad acquires Stardomen.wikipedia.org
6. 6BanG Dream! expands into a multimedia franchiseen.wikipedia.org
7. 7Cardfight!! Vanguard becomes a major Bushiroad franchiseen.wikipedia.org