A famous Japanese anime studio, Fanworks, has announced that the CryptoNinja anime series will air on Japanese television in October 2023.
The news was welcomed by the NFT enthusiasts, as this is the first major anime series ever created with NFT characters. However, it also took the anime industry by surprise, as CryptoNinja is a new IP (intellectual property) character that is largely unknown to the general public in Japan.
In this article, I would like to discuss how CryptoNinja, an IP character born in the NFT, has managed to grow in such a short time and what this means for the IP business and the NFT industry in the future.
What is CryptoNinja?
CryptoNinja is an NFT collection on the Ethereum blockchain, released in September 2021. The founders of the projects are Japanese marketing influencer Ikehaya and popular creator Rii2.
What makes CryptoNinja unique is that it has a royalty-free licensing model that allows creators to use the characters and earn without paying any fees for the CryptoNinja IP.
“Japan is the land of anime content, and I was always interested in creating an IP character that would be loved by everyone around the world for many years to come,” said Ikehaya. “When I learned about NFT, I thought I could use this new technology to create a new type of IP and grow it in a way that had never been done before. ”
To achieve this goal, Ikehaya founded the NinjaDAO community prior to the release of the CryptoNinja NFT Collection. Using his position as an influencer, he attracted many Japanese creators to join the community and encouraged members to create CryptoNinja fan art and sell it on the NFT market.
The openness of CryptoNinja’s licensing model was welcomed by creators and the NinjaDAO community began to grow exponentially.
If you are a fan of Japanese amine or games, you should take a look at CryptoNinja NFTs. Although they've been under the[…]
Road to Creating CryptoNinja Animation
㊗手裏剣NFT完売御礼㊗
ご購入いただいた皆さま、誠にありがとうございます🎉引き続き、パスポートNFTは販売しておりますのでWLをお持ちの方はぜひMintください🙏✨また、手裏剣NFTは再販を予定しております👀二次流通での購入も可能ですが””再販を待つ””ことも選択肢としてご検討ください🙇♂️” pic.twitter.com/Llzb4KcxQB— CryptoAnime Labs (@CryptoAnimeLabs) November 5, 2022
These NFTs were mainly sold to members of the NinjaDAO community who applied for the allow lists. However, people bought multiple NFTs, causing a click war – many were left disappointed.
As the team received requests from NinjaDAO members to release more Shuriken NFTs, they decided to organise additional crowdfunding campaigns.
1/5
🎉手裏剣NFT追加販売について🎉🌟販売開始:11/12(土)12:00[JST] 🌟販売枚数:10,000枚
⬇️ 手裏剣NFT購入ページhttps://t.co/fuBy9MvvHp
⚠️枚数設定の経緯や今後の方針につきまして、”5/5″までぜひご確認ください⚠️ pic.twitter.com/quL7tuzY1w
— CryptoAnime Labs (@CryptoAnimeLabs) November 10, 2022
So far, the team has organised four crowdfunding campaigns, raising a total of 446 ETH.
“Only with the support of NinjaDAO was this outstanding result possible,” said Ikehaya.
Normally, an IP character is created and grown by a company, and as it becomes famous, it gains fans and their support.
“But we are growing CryptoNinja in a very unique way by first building a strong community. I believe that with the solid support of the NinjaDAO members, we will be able to raise the profile of CryptoNinja faster than any other IP character.”
The announcement of the CryptoNinja anime series is proof that the brand’s growth is well on track.
Impact of CryptoNinja’s success
Currently, CryptoNinja is a popular character only in a niche NFT industry. However, the TV show will significantly raise its profile by bringing the name to the attention of the general public.
Ikehaya’s tweet below explains that “Content is King” is the new digital marketing dogma that can’t be ignored.
In the 2010s, the digital marketing dogma was “Content is King”.
In the 2020s, “Community is King” will be the new dogma.
Of course, new technologies such as NFT and crypto will be essential to community management.
— 🍺 ikehaya (@IHayato) June 5, 2023
Of course, offering high-quality content is a must. But having an active and robust community is what gives content an edge.
“I can tell you that it’s not easy to build a community like NinjaDAO… But I will continue to dedicate myself and show the world that we are entering a new era by making CryptoNinja a globally loved character. ”
Building an IP character is a long-term project. Whether “Community is King” is true or not, we will not know the answer immediately.
So where will the CryptoNinja brand be in five, ten, twenty years?
I’ll keep you posted!
Read the article below to learn more about the CryptoNinja Collection.
NinjaDAO/CryptoNinja Useful Links
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