Japan’s crane game industry is unrivalled in the world, so it follows that the range and quality of prizes are also top class. With Japanese anime, games and characters popular globally, Japanese prize figures can become high-value goods as they are not available elsewhere. Despite not being a figurine collector myself, after a year and a half of avid crane gaming, I have come to become familiar with all the major brands.
On this page
1) Banpresto (Bandai Namco)
Bandai Namco is undoubtedly the leader in crane game prizes, if not just for the sheer quantity and variety they put out each month. They also have the largest number of figurine brands, as far as I can tell. It would be near impossible to cover everything, so I have just listed the most commonly seen ones here.
| Figure Brand | Description |
|---|---|
Grandista | Banpresto’s premium figure series that stands roughly 25–30 cm tall and is intended to be visual centerpieces. According to the company it “pushes size and sculpting detail to the absolute limit.” |
Maximatic | A “max volume / max expression” line focusing on strong presence, solid sculpting, and vibrant coloring. |
Vibration Stars (Plus) | A series generally used to depict popular characters in action poses. The figures are smaller than Grandista. |
| Relax Time Break Time Collection  | A more casual style line depicting characters in relaxed or domestic settings. |
Glitter & Glamours | A dynamic large-scale figure series that pursues each character’s unique beauty in a captivating, glossy finish. Usually only features female characters. |
Espresto | A relatively new brand that focuses on “each character’s charm and detail with exceptional care.” Whatever that means. Also mainly for female characters. |
Figlife | A fun series that combines figures with daily life (hence the portmanteau). The figures are in poses to serve as phone stands, pen holders, glasses holders and other useful things. It is one of my personal favourite brands, although the figure quality may not be as high as pure figure ones. |
| Sofvimates | “Soft-style” figures that make characters look more rounded and cute. |
Series limited brands
| Figure Brand | Description |
|---|---|
| King of Artist | Only seen for One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen. |
| Combination Battle | A high-impact prize figure series bringing together iconic characters in battle scenes. They usually come in sets of two. Not surprisingly, only features “fighting” anime like Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia. |
| Memorable Saga | A series that brings to life memorable scenes through diorama bases and finely crafted figures. Only seen for Naruto and Hunter x Hunter so far. |
| (Series-specific) Dragonball | Blood of Saiyans Match Makers Solid Edge Works G x Materia Clearise History Box |
| (Series-specific) One Piece | Battle Record Collection The Shukko The Grandline Series Senkou Zekkei |
| (Series-specific) My Hero Academia | The Amazing Heroes The Evil Villains Age of Heroes |
2) Sega
Sega comes second in prominence of figurine prize brands, although nowhere close to the plethora offered by Banpresto.
| Figure Brand | Description |
|---|---|
Luminasta | Sega’s highest quality prize figure brand. Characters are well detailed, and often painted with a glossy or luminous finish. |
| Super Premium (SPM) | Born from the passion of its creators, this figure brand transcends the boundaries of prize figures, with dynamic posing, meticulously designed situations, and finely detailed craftsmanship. A lot of Evangelion figures released by Sega fall under this brand. |
Chokonose | Small-sized figures of popular characters in various sitting poses. Likely the Sega equivalent of Noodle Stopper. |
FIGURIZM | The most “emotional” figure brand in Sega’s lineup, crafted with absolute dedication to expression and colouring. |
Desktop × Decorate Collections | A collectible figure series meant to be displayed on desktops and small spaces. Currently only seen for Project Sekai and Chainsaw Man. |
Yumemirize | Enjoy your favourite dream-like scenes from every 360° angle. |
Xross Link | A world of coexistence × overwhelming presence — a figure brand that comes in sets of two to create scenes from anime. |
3) Taito
Taito comes into third for crane game prize variety, with a few brands in its lineup among the monthly staples. Almost all feature only female characters. The company also tends to release exclusive variations on its online crane game app.
| Figure Brand | Description |
|---|---|
Artist MasterPiece (AMP) | Taito’s higher-end prize figure line that pushes the limits, combining artistic vision and technical finesse to deliver collectible masterpieces. |
Desktop Cute | Features characters in seated poses to let you enjoy their cuteness up close. |
| Coreful | A brand that vividly brings to life the core characters of each story, crafted with meticulous attention to detail, clear parts, and glossy finishes. |
| Aqua Float Girls | Female characters in bikinis on floats. Not much else to say here. |
T-most | A newish brand for figurine fans that boasts “overwhelming” quality and presence. Currently only seen for My Dress-Up Darling and Oshi no Ko. |
4) FuRyu
While FuRyu is more well-known for producing plushies and other character goods, the company also does have a number of original figurine brands, the most popular being Noodle Stopper.
| Figure Brand | Description |
|---|---|
Noodle Stopper | Undoubtedly the company’s most popular prize figurine brand. Made to be placed on top of cup noodle lids while waiting for them to heat. The figures themselves are usually under 20 cm. The brand celebrated its 10th anniversary in November 2024. |
| BiCute Bunnies BiCute Dark  | A large-scale 31 cm figure series featuring female characters in sexy outfits such as bunny costumes and real fabric fishnet stockings. |
| Trio-Try-iT | And the award for the most wasei-eigo brand name goes to… Seriously, I could not even begin to decipher the meaning of this brand, with most English speakers probably assuming it features a trio of characters or the like. Not at all. According to the official website: ‘”Trio’ stands for the three pillars of quality, size, and sculpting; ‘Try’ embodies the spirit of challenge and innovation; and ‘iT’ represents the product itself.” Why is the “i” in lower case and the “t” capitalized? Who knows, except Japanese like to use capitalization as a stylistic choice. |
5) System Service
System Service is another industry player more well-known for their character goods, in particular Sumikkogurashi and Rilakkuma. They are also behind the FANS lineup, which makes plush toy versions of food, animals and everything under the sun. In terms of figurines, I am only aware of the below three brands. They appear to be just dipping their toes in at this stage, and the range will likely expand in the future if well-received.
| Figure Brand | Description |
|---|---|
| Vivit | Launched in September 2024, the brand is based on the concept of “a vivid and striking encounter.” Characters come to life with dazzling colors and presence so real, it feels like they’ve stepped out of the screen, according to the company. |
| Brilliant | Features characters over 20 cm tall, beautifully dressed in elaborate costumes. |
| One-Seventh Carat | System Service’s newest figure brand released September 2025, designed with impressive volume and crafted to be displayed beautifully even without a base. The first character to be featured is a bunny-costumed Albedo from Overlord. |
What figure brands are worth the most?
While you may think higher quality or larger figurines would be worth more, this is not always the case. As with everything, the biggest deciding factor is demand (and supply). Exclusive figures only able in select arcades, or no longer available to play for, tend to fetch higher prices.
The second biggest factor is novelty. Figurines sell for higher prices when they are just released, gradually dropping in value after a week or so, unless deciding factor #1 holds true.
High quality figures of popular characters in dynamic or interesting poses have a better chance of qualifying for deciding factor #1. But you may have to wait a few months (or years) for them to really soar in value. And even then, only a small percentage of the thousands of prizes released every year become such coveted items. For most prize figures, selling them off in the first week of release is the safest move.
Wrap up
Of the companies above, the top three (Bandai Namco, Sega, Taito) also operate their own game arcades, although for Sega it is now exclusively online after they sold their amusement business to GENDA GiGO. The latter two (FuRyu, System Service) are purely manufacturing companies, but they also produce goods for gachaphon, Ichibankuji (lottery) and general purchase.
As you would imagine, companies that run their own arcade sometimes release figures you can only get by playing there. However, at times you will also see exclusive figures released for third party arcades like Round 1 and GiGO.
Another fun fact is that the top three companies also produce the claw machines, with Sega and Bandai Namco accounting for the vast majority. I would say the 80%-90% of claw machines in your average Japanese arcade are by either Sega or Namco. In fact, UFO Catcher is a trademarked name for Sega’s machines, even though it is used as a generic term nowadays. (Like Band-Aid for plasters, or Velcro for hook-and-loop fasteners. Apparently the phenomenon is known as a proprietary eponym).
Taito produced a few claw machines back in the day, but nothing very noteworthy in recent years. Rather, they are more famous for their classic arcade games like Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble.
As you can see, each company has its strengths, so there is no clear overall “best” — it just depends on what you place the most importance on.
For more on crane gaming, check out The Beginner’s Guide to Mastering Crane Games or the archives.