Created by Bushiroad president Takaaki Kidani in January 2015 with original story by Kō Nakamura, the project began as a manga before expanding to other media.

includes an anime television series, live concerts, singles and albums, VTubers, and the mobile rhythm game BanG Dream!

The first band, Poppin'Party, was formed in February 2015, and further groups were introduced in 2017 with the launch of the mobile game: Roselia, Afterglow, Pastel Palettes, and Hello, Happy World!.

The two later visit a local live house, Space, where Kasumi decides to create a band upon watching a performance by a group named Glitter Green.

Figuring that such a concept would best be viable as a media franchise, Kidani concluded his new project's best method to gain success would be to have voice actresses who could play their own instruments in live shows.

[13] Prior musical experience was not a prerequisite for voice actresses as their primary responsibility was to portray characters for in-universe media, though they remained committed to playing their instruments, a mindset that Kidani felt grew the series' charm with fans;[14] in 2019, he noted that some cast members practiced for ten hours daily.

[20][21] To lead the animation, Nakamura served as writer while Agematsu and Pixiv artist Hitowa managed music production and character design, respectively.

[31] The band went through two member changes in 2018, with Yuki Nakashima replacing the retiring Yurika Endō as bassist Lisa Imai in May and Kanon Shizaki taking over for Satomi Akesaka, who left the project in September due to sensorineural hearing loss, as keyboardist Rinko Shirokane in November.

[36] Afterglow's remaining cast members confirmed their involvement later in the month,[37] while the voice actresses for the other bands were announced in a promotional event at EX Theater Roppongi on February 24, 2017.

at the event as their voice actresses were not musicians, eventually became a standalone unit;[44] the tentative name was a reference to being the third live-action band in the franchise after Poppin'Party and Roselia.

[48] A triple release took place on December 12 with Poppin'Party's "Kizuna Music", Roselia's "Brave Jewel", and Raise A Suilen's "R・I・O・T"; the three singles recorded top-ten Oricon Weekly Chart placements.

[82] Ave Mujica released their first single "Black Birthday" on April 11, 2023, followed by their introductory concert on June 4 as part of the final music festival for Nakano Sunplaza prior to its closure.

[78] On November 30, 2022, Maeshima announced her departure from the franchise as part of a career hiatus for health reasons;[83] she had missed the Special Live Girls Band Party!

[88] The first season under Issen also incorporated elements of the performances into the plot, such as Kasumi losing her voice in one episode being based on the same occurring to Aimi during the franchise's first show.

at the Budokan sold out its 11,000 tickets prior to general sale; Live Viewing Japan simulcasted the performance in 41 Japanese theaters, with showings also taking place in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

[92][93] In December 2020, the franchise began streaming "Sound Only Lives", online concerts with exclusively song audio and interactions between the voice cast, on its YouTube channel.

Featuring numerous differences in character traits from the current series, the manga consisted of twelve chapters and ran from the magazine's February 2015 to January 2016 issues.

[9] A light novel by Nakamura and illustrated by Hitowa, which follows Star Beat's story, was published on August 25, 2016, by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint.

Sentai Filmworks licenses the series for digital and home release in regions like North America, Oceania, and Europe;[109] the company also simulcast the second and third seasons on its HIDIVE platform.

Girls Band Challenge and the growth of Raise A Suilen;[133] the premise of a competition had been entertained by the animation staff prior to beginning production on the second season.

[139][140] Studio A-Cat worked on Pastel Life with leadership from Tommy Hino,[141][142] while Pico was animated by Sanzigen in conjunction with DMM.futureworks and directed by Seiya Miyajima.

[132][148] The movie was directed by Tomomi Umetsu with script by Nakamura; in addition to the main cast, Kazuyuki Ueda and Elements Garden returned to reprise their roles as character designer and music producer, respectively.

[171] Crunchyroll licensed the series in North America, Latin American (except Brazil), Oceania, South Africa and selected European territories under the title Ave Mujica - The Die is Cast -.

Girls Band Party!, also known as Garupa, is a free-to-play mobile rhythm game developed by Craft Egg and published by Bushiroad's Bushimo for the Android and iOS platforms.

[175] The game was also released in traditional Chinese in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao on October 19, 2017, with Mobimon Inc. serving as publisher;[176][177] mainland China received its own version by bilibili on May 30, 2019.

Kidani compared the inclusion of covers to the use of mainstream series in Bushiroad's Weiß Schwarz card game as "drops in momentum" are canceled out by "the addition of popular titles.

[121] Opinions on the animation and design were divided, with Farris calling it "a great-looking product overall" while Otaku USA writer Brittany Vincent—who noted other music shows like Love Live!

"[208] In a 2018 interview with Real Sound, Kidani admitted the unenthusiastic reception from Japanese audiences led him to shift his investment to promoting Girls Band Party!

Nevertheless, he commended its emotional impact and increase in musical numbers, grading the season as a "C+" as he felt there were "still a lot of caveats to iron out before it can be called a true success for all but the most devoted.

"[129] The third season enjoyed favorable responses from writers like Farris and The Fandom Post's Shawn Hacaga, the former issuing a "B+" grade and the latter—who considers himself a fan of the franchise—writing reviews for each episode.