What is Ichiban-kuji? A way to get your hands on premium anime items!

In Japan there is a way to get your hands on exclusive anime goods called Ichiban-Kuji.

Ichiban-kuji (lit. Number-One lottery) is a kind of raffle-lottery handles every month by Banpresto where you can win anime merchandise – there are no losses! There have been collaborations with many anime, such as Evangelion, Gundam, FMA, One Piece, etc.

This is how the lottery works: To participate to the lottery you must buy ¥500 tickets in Japanese convenience stores, toy stores like Jump stores, and online. Premium sessions may call for ¥800 to ¥1,000 priced tickets instead. The quality of the item depends on its rarity, but there are so many things to win that Otaku all over Japan are taking part in these lotteries.

The latest lottery prizes are from the movie that has recently shaken the world – Kimi no Na wa.!
We thought, ‘We really want to get our hands on all of them!’, so Manga.Tokyo took out its wallet and we prepared ¥100,000 (about 960 USD) to give the Kimi no Na wa. Ichiban-kuji a go!

Here is the prize line-up:

A Prize: A pair of glass tumblers featuring Taki and Mitsuha
B Prize: Movie Screenshot Art Frame (Mitsuha Version)
C Prize: Movie Screenshot Art Frame (Taki Version)
D Prize: Movie Screenshot Art Frame (Comet Version)
E Prize: Movie Screenshot Art Frame (Itomori Landscape Version)
F Prize: Movie Screenshot Art Frame (Shinjuku Landscape Version)
G Prize: Mini glass with chibi characters (4 available)
H Prize: Post card set (3 sets available)

『君の名は。』が新サービス「一番くじONLINE」第１弾にラインナップ！10月20日販売開始!! https://t.co/OVi2UVx1jE #君の名は #1bankuji pic.twitter.com/DkGG1jHcLg

— 電撃ホビーウェブ (@hobby_magazine) October 19, 2016

Including the different versions of the prizes there are a total of thirteen different goods available! So let’s get pulling!

We did the Ichiban-kuji online, so we logged on to the ‘Ichiban kuji ONLINE’ website!
（From the official site）

Here is the prize lineup:
（From the official site）

Time to register a credit card and get started:
（From the official site）

We’re drawing from here!

Here’s our first pull:
（From the official site）

3 glasses, one art frame and some postcards
The art frames are rare goods so this seems like a good sign!

Pull Number 2:
（From the official site）

Oho~! We got the Shinjuku Art Frame!

Pull Number 3:
（From the official site）

Oooooooh~! Many art frames that we hadn’t got yet!!
The comet that is the symbol of the movie, and the Taki art frames! Great!
We have all the chibi mini glasses except for the green one.

Pull Number 4:
（From the official site）

We pulled so many of these prizes before, but it’s mostly just postcard sets now.
We’re starting to crave that pair of tumblers!

Pull Number 5:
（From the official site）

Again, just postcards!

Pull number 6:

Oh? What’s this!!!???

Yeeeeeessssss!!!!

We managed to pull the A prize!!
（From the official site）

At this point, we have over 50 goods, but we have finally been blessed with the top prize!
We just need the Mitsuha art frame now…!

Pull Number 7:
（From the official site）

Pull Number 8

Oh? What’s this…? Could it be…?

Mitsuhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

And we finally have all the goods!
（From the official site）

After 71 other prizes we finally got the Mitsuha art frame. That completed the set of Kimi no na wa. Ichiban-kuji goods!

But since we haven’t spent our whole budget of ¥100,000… Let’s see how many more prizes we can get!

And so we pulled twelve more times until we had used up the budget.

（From the official site）

It feels really good to get this many rare goods!

¥100,000-worth of pulls!

We are super happy to have gotten everything! We got about the same amount of H prizes as we did with all the prizes ranked above G. It seems that the chance to get the rare goods isn’t so low.

Also, pulling ¥100,000 of the lottery is an exciting experience! It makes you feel nervous and energetic and has you wish every second for the prize you are missing to get the complete set!

EXTRA (Best shot)
On the middle row, Mitsuha and Taki are together!
It makes our chests feel warm and fuzzy.