Azuki Teases Anime Series, New Artwork After Missing the Mark on Elementals Mint

In the wake of Tuesday’s poorly received “Elementals” non-fungible token (NFT) mint, blue-chip NFT brand Azuki addressed its mistakes and laid out its plans to revive its NFT ecosystem.

Azuki this week released its latest 20,000-edition NFT collection titled “Elementals,” which promptly sold out in 15 minutes and brought in $38 million. But backlash was swift from several collectors who were unable to mint the NFTs due to technical issues and a condensed minting window. Soon after, Azuki released the artwork for the collection, which holders claimed was virtually indistinguishable from the original collection and fueled rumors of dilution through increased supply. Within hours, the original Azuki collection’s floor price slid 44%.

Pseudonymous Azuki holder Arcanic posted a Twitter thread on Thursday detailing what was discussed on a private call between the Azuki team and its community. According to Arcanic, Azuki’s pseudonymous co-founder Zagabond and other “core” team members provided clarity on the project’s next steps.

“The team wanted to capture the same feeling that people got when browsing through the OG Azuki collection. ‘Give them more of what they love.’ This was their intent, but they missed the mark here,” Arcanic wrote in a tweet.

The Azuki team noted its plans to update the artwork of the Elementals collection to further distinguish it from the original collection. Arcanic shared leaked artwork by Arnold Tsang, the co-creator of Azuki, which featured different backgrounds.

Azuki previously teased that it was working on an anime series featuring its character universe. According to Arcanic, the Azuki team expanded on its plans during the community call, saying that the show will consist of animated shorts that will be self-funded and incorporate Web3 technologies. The team also noted that the Green Bean recently airdropped to Azuki holders will also play a part in the series.

"Imagine watching an anime, and afterward you can interact with an NPC in the anime, whether that's via Twitter or a web app, and the NPC can issue you tokens with which you can interact,” said Zagabond on the call.

Azuki is also working on other ways to reward its holders, such as denoting “collector status” for long-term holders and those who own tokens with rare traits, Arcanic wrote.

Arcanic told CoinDesk that while he was frustrated with the Elementals mint and artwork reveal, he’s optimistic about the future of Azuki and how the project will learn from its mistakes.

“The team has proven to be extremely competent and passionate,” said Arcanic. “So long as they remain aligned with their core community from here on out, I believe they can begin to regain the trust of the broader community once more.”

At the time of writing, Azuki Elementals’ floor price was 1.29 ETH, about $2,480, with a trading volume of about 11,930 ETH, or just under $23 million, according to OpenSea. The floor price of Azuki is currently hovering at 8.19 ETH, about $15,775, with a trading volume of over 596,900 ETH, or over $1.1 billion.