Anime has had Indian influences for decades. > Naruto: Indra, Asura, Chakra > Fate: Karna, Arjuna, Brahmastra, Pashupata, Indra > Record of Ragnarok: Shiva, Rudra, Tandava > Saint Seiya: Karma, Nirvana, Reincarnation > Berserk: Kushan Empire, Indian aesthetics > JJK: Mudras, Mandalas, Sukuna imagery > One Piece: Ashura form (Zoro), Garuda, Buddha > Hunter x Hunter: Meditation, Bodhisattva symbolism > YuGiOh: Numerous cards reference Garuda, Asura, Yaksha, Deva, etc. Many anime use Indian derived concepts for some of their strongest most god like powers, world building and character development.

this is @azuki

I went through all the balanced, logical @azuki takes on the timeline and read every reply Z made across those threads. Most people skim the discourse and stay confined to their own assumptions. But, if you take the time to understand where Z’s head is at, the vision is clear. > Azuki is doubling down on its core strengths: art, storytelling, technology, world building, manga and the TCG. > Team isn’t ignoring collectors or the community. The reality is that resources are finite and with a national TCG launch approaching, execution on that front has to take priority right now. > There are still resources dedicated to Web3, community support, collector groups, and ongoing conversations with holders. The challenge isn’t caring it’s balancing priorities and accepting that not everything can be done at a high level simultaneously. > Not every Web3 project needs the same playbook. Different projects have different paths to winning. > The goal is to reach the masses, and also serve existing NFT collectors. Sustainably. > Manga and TCG are being prioritized because they’re scalable consumer products that can introduce millions of people to the brand. > Azuki was early on collector culture, but late on building IP formats that mainstream audiences can easily consume. So that’s where the work is going on. > NFTs alone are not a sustainable business model. The market is simply too small. > Royalties and NFT sales cannot support a large and long term IP company. > Even with enforced royalties, you still have low volume. No serious team can scale a real project on that as the primary biz model. > Comparing Azuki to luxury brands misses the point. Luxury brands sell desirable physical products repeatedly. NFTs are a niche market. > Azuki’s mission is to build a durable entertainment and IP company, all while optimising for short term, sustainably. > Community initiatives still matter, but resources have to be allocated based on current priorities. Z is active in every single Azuki GC for ~5 years now. > Collector focused initiatives aren’t being ignored forever, but right now manga and TCG take precedence. > Z openly acknowledges areas where Azuki is lacking and is comfortable making those tradeoffs because lacking areas will be also be developed in time. Per the priority. > Feedback is welcomed, but not every request can be executed immediately. (I feel @BobuBeanFarmer RFPs can come in here) > The long term vision is a decentralized brand that can survive beyond any NFT market cycles. > Success looks like people falling in love with the story and universe first, then discovering the NFTs and community later. The biggest takeaway for me: Z no longer thinks like the founder of a crypto project. He thinks like the founder of an IP company. Whether you agree with every decision or not, the vision is coherent, the priorities are clear and they’re building for a prosperous future. I know, I sometimes even I wish Azuki was operating with infinite resources, outside capital and unsustainable marketing budgets because they put out such great work. Part of me also wants to see that work come out everyday like light speed haha. But it’s not sustainable. Reality is Azuki is 100% community funded with no outside capital, has serious industry merit and is deeply product focussed with growing verticals TCG, Upcoming Manga, Studio Azuki and Anime.com. Pretty much ahead of 99.9% of the brands in terms of broader visibility, sustainable capital allocation via products, collabs and approach. and that is a very special thing in a space where initiatives die out daily. I know we will see Azuki on top again soon. Matter of time. TLDR: IKZ. TTP.

These small Azuki collector infra requests can be built via @BobuBeanFarmer. Community identifies problems Bobu Treasury funds RFPs Builders submit proposals Winning teams ship against clear milestones Sales bots and other community utilities can be shipped relatively quickly.. This creates a scalable way to build further on the collector infra, while giving builders in the Garden opportunities to contribute to Azuki and earn in the process. Great idea by @dgtlemissions and a solid follow through to my last post. If you have ideas for Azuki community tooling or infra you’d like to see built, drop ideas below!

I resonate with this take as both a collector and web3 native. I think Thor is highlighting something important: in this industry, holders don’t just want value creation. They want visibility, responsiveness and evidence that collecting remains a priority. It’s an easy fix imho At the same time, it’s worth acknowledging that very few crypto projects have built sustainable business models. 99.9% projects either disappear, survive on perpetual fundraising or burn through venture capital trying to market their way to relevance. What Azuki appears to be doing is allocating the majority of its resources toward building products and businesses that can stand on their own merits. This is EV. @AzukiTCG and @animecom, and other initiatives with the potential to generate durable value beyond any NFT market cycle. Proof is in the pudding here: both initiatives are booming in their own right. TCG preorders did 1M , few new TCG games can boast that. Similarly, Anime.com is growing its audience month on month, shipping new features and building on the gaps that persists in the 33B dollar anime market. Whether people agree with the strategy or not, there is a deep logic to it. That doesn’t invalidate the criticism. A functioning sales bot, better collector infrastructure, OTC services for grails and stronger support for the collecting side of the ecosystem are not unreasonable asks. In fact, they’re probably some of the highest ROI improvements the team could make for holder sentiment and market health. The recurring criticism of Azuki has rarely been about a lack of ambition or product quality. If anything, it’s been about responsiveness. From my perspective, that points less to neglect and more to a bandwidth and capital allocation decision. The reality is that infrastructure for collectors can be built relatively quickly. Building sustainable revenue streams and category defining products is much harder. If the latter succeeds, holders ultimately benefit far more than they would from short term optics. Considering Azuki has zero VCs and are 100% community funded. Every ticket gains more value, be it NFTs or first edition cards as the brand grows. To add some context, I don’t think rewarding collectors has ever been Azuki’s problem. The Garden has a long track record of putting the community first. Between the $ANIME airdrop, First Edition TCG access and numerous other initiatives over the years, collectors have generated millions in value simply by participating. The criticism here is less about rewards and more about resource allocation. It’s about investing more into community facing infrastructure: additional community managers, better collector support, functional sales bots, OTC pathways for grails, stronger communication loops and the countless small things that make collectors feel seen and supported. The feedback in this post is fair because building the future and taking care of collectors shouldn’t be mutually exclusive goals. That said, I also know this team has consistently looked for ways to do both. My read is that much of this comes down to bandwidth and prioritization rather than intent. As the business side of the ecosystem matures and revenue expands, I would expect holder feedback to translate into more visible action. The foundation for a collector first culture already exists. The opportunity is to reinforce it with better infrastructure and execution. I can only imagine how strong Azuki would be when they activate this kinda approach. Azuki NFTs are extremely underrated at the moment given the track record of this team. Good time to study and lock in. ⛩️

Quick @azuki eco update: a lot of dope activations across multiple verticals. Looking forward to tuning in for the Discord Stages on June 17 and seeing what drops. Say what you want, but these mfs simply do not stop shipping dope shit. Love to see it. IKZ.

Super Rare ★

Azuki keeps shipping across every vertical, no matter the market cycle. Up, down, sideways. Whatever the case. At some point, you just have to respect it. Few.

beanz moving

It’s beanz day!

the only anime I’d recommend watching dubbed

The anime profile picture thesis remains undefeated.

The Power of Azuki IP

Cute NFTs