Ichiban Kuji, literally the number-one lottery, is less a figure line than the system a huge share of Japan's prize figures arrive through. Banpresto built it into a convenience-store fixture in 2003, and Bandai Spirits runs it now: a character lottery with no losing tickets, sold across convenience stores, bookshops, hobby shops and game centers, where every draw hands back one of the prizes in that month's set.

The structure is the appeal. Each campaign covers a single property and lays its prizes out in ranked tiers, the top ones almost always the figures, descending through smaller goods, with a fixed number of each prize seeded into a shop's pool. Whoever pulls the final ticket in a shop takes the Last One Prize, a version reserved for that moment, and a Double Chance mail-in gives a second shot at a separate prize off the ticket number.

Because it sells by property and by month, Ichiban Kuji turns over an enormous catalogue, Dragon Ball, One Piece, Naruto, Demon Slayer, Gundam, Evangelion and dozens more cycling through on a steady release calendar. Its figures are organized under their own house brands, MASTERLISE the best known for its prepainted figure prizes, alongside others like SOFVICS, Gracemaster and Kongou Jizou.

For a figure collector the kuji is one of the main routes a character reaches a shelf, and a popular top-tier or Last One figure can be as sought-after as any standalone release. The lottery still runs every month, with new property campaigns and an online version, Ichiban Kuji ONLINE, drawing alongside the in-store pools.