BanG Dream: Complete Media Franchise List – Manga, Anime & Game
Bang Dream is one of the most famous music & media franchises all around the world. A perfect combination of music, fun, and entertainment, the franchise has moved strength to strength starting from manga to anime, ONAs, OVAs, Movies, and Games.
BanG Dream! was the idea of Bushiroad president Takaaki Kidani, who wanted to lead a music group after the success of the mobile game “Love Live! School Idol Festival.” As the company started working on the idea, Kidani decided that the series should be a Girl Band series rather than being an Idol Franchise in order to differentiate it from other series.
The journey of Bang Dream! started with a manga series that was first serialized in January 2015. The first manga was written by Kō Nakamura and illustrated by Aya Ishida. The manga has continued till date and its popularity even led to several spin-off manga and Light Novels. Here is the complete list of media under BanG Dream! Franchise.
Manga
The first and original manga of the Bushiroad media franchise is titled BanG Dream! Star Beat,
written by Kou Nakamura & illustrated by Aya Ishida, Bushiroad published 2 volumes and 12 chapters of manga which ran from January 8th, 2015 to February 6th, 2015
The next manga adaptation of the series served as the source for the TV anime adaptation, the manga was titled BanG Dream!, written by Kou Nakamura and illustrated by Mami Kashiwabara. Bushiroad published 4 volumes and 31 chapters from April 8th, 2016 to February 8, 2019.
The next spin-off 4-Koma manga is titled Yonkoma: Bandori! which was written & illustrated by Hakuto Shiroi, was published by ASCII Media Works and ran for 2 volumes & 18 chapters from April 30th, 2016 to September 30th, 2017.
Currently, Bushiroad is publishing a monthly manga titled Raise! The story of my music was written by Kou Nakamura & illustrated by Ryou Shihara in January 2019 and is still ongoing.
Light Novel
BanG Dream! Original Light novel came out after the collaboration of Kou Nakamura as a writer and Hitowa as the illustrator of series manga in 2016. A single volume of 6 chapters was published on April 25, 2016, by ASCII Media Works.
Anime
The official TV Anime adaptation named BanG Dream! was announced by Bushiroad on July 6th, 2016. The first season of the anime series was directed by Atsushi Outsuki, & composed by Yuniko Ayana. Produced by Studio Issen and Xebec, the series ran for 13 episodes from January 21th, 2017 to April 22, 2017.
The second & third season was directed by Koudai Kakimoto, and produced by studio Sanzigen. The second season aired 13 episodes from January 3rd, 2019 to Mar 28th, 2019. The third season of the anime also had 13 episodes which telecast from January 23, 2020, to April 23, 2020.
An OVA movie titled BanG Dream! Film Live premiered on September 13, 2019. The sequel to OVA movie, named BanG Dream! Film Live 2nd Stage, was released on August 20th, 2021, both movies were directed by Tomomi Umetsu & written by Kou Nakamura, produced by Studio Shanzigen.
There is also a single-episode OVA special named BanG Dream!: We Had Some Fun!, which aired on November 22th, 2017, produced by Studio Xebec.
A TV anime spinoff series named Pastel Life directed by Tommy Hino and produced by Studio A-Cat, aired 6 episodes from May 16th, 2018 to June 21st, 2018.
After the first season of the canon anime series, a short chibi anime TV series named BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! Pico, aired 26 episodes from July 5th, 2018 to December 27th, 2018.
Similarly, after the second season, a sequel of short chibi anime named BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! Pico: Ohmori aired 26 episodes from May 7th, 2020 to October 29th, 2020.
And after the third season, a short Chibi anime returned with the title BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! Pico Fever! The series is still ongoing after airing 16 episodes from October 7th, 2021 onwards.
All of the three short chibi anime series was directed by Seiya Miyajima & produced by Sanzigen & DMM Futureworks.
The series has also released an original anime movie titled BanG Dream! The episode of Roselia – I, on April 23, 2021. The movie was directed by Koudai Kakimoto and Atsushi Mimura and written by Koudai Kakimoto & Midori Gotou. The movie was produced by Studio Sanzigen.
And the series’ movie, titled BanG Dream! Poppin’ Dream!, premiered on January 1st, 2022, with the same chief director Kōdai Kakimoto and Masanori Uetaka, with music composed by Yuniko Ayana and produced by Studio Sanzigen.
Season 4 of the original BanG Dream anime series is expected to come out in 2022.
Music Tracks
Besides these series has released several music tracks as ONAs for the game through characters of the series from 2016, which goes as follows,
- StoryYes! BanG_Dream!
- Star Beat!: Hoshi no Kodou
- Hashiri Hajimeta Bakari no Kimi ni
- Happy Happy Party!
- Shuwarin☆Dorimin
- Black Shout
- That Is How I Roll!
- Egao no Orquesta!
- Neo-Aspect
- Mou Ichido Luminous
- Tsunagu, Soramoyou
- Kimi ga Inakucha!
- Lost One no Goukoku wo Utattemita
- Alien Alien wo Utattemita
- Romeo to Cinderella wo Utattemita
- Karakuri Pierrot wo Utattemita
- Kirin Gogo no Koucha x BanG Dream! Collab Animation CM Koukai!
- Daylight
- Yakusoku
- !NVADE SHOW!
- ONE OF US
- TITLE IDOL
- Nico Niconnect!
- Live Beyond!!
- Introduction
Game
The franchise’s most important part of the media mix project was the original Rhythm game titled BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! The game was developed for IOs and Android platforms by Craft Egg and published worldwide by Bushiroad International. The game was released on March 16th, 2017 in the Japanese language. In later years, the game was released in other languages.