Akihabara Area Tourism Organization (AKIBA), Animoca Brands Japan and NFT platform MADworld.io have announced the upcoming pre-mint of the Project ATOM Genesis NFT collection on April 7.
The collection will feature 150 unique NFT artworks inspired by the Astro Boy manga series, officially bringing Astro Boy to the world of Web3 on his birthday.
Animoca Brands Japan is a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, a global Web3 company that has developed multiple Astro Boy games — Tezuka World: Astro Crunch, Astro Boy Zap!, Astro Boy Dash, Astro Boy Flight and Astro Boy Siege: Alien Attack.
The company is dedicated to supporting the global Web3 strategies of Japanese intellectual properties and content holders. It also aims to connect Japanese IPs with international fans through a unique ecosystem of full-stack Web3 services, including the upcoming Astro Boy NFT line.
The project involves 40 talented Japanese artists from AKIBA EDEN, the creator community of AKIBA, under the license of Tezuka Productions.
Project ATOM Genesis will reveal its details in multiple phases over the next three months via MADWorld.io’s pre-mint page.
The Association of Japanese Animations has also prepared Open Post, a marketplace for official animations, merchandise and other derivatives of Astro Boy, including this NFT collection.
Astro Boy’s timeless legacy
The story of Mighty Atom — known as Astro Boy in English translation — dates back to 1952. It revolves around Doctor Tenma, who created an android boy named Atom while grieving for his deceased son.
However, he realized the android could not replace his son and sent Astro to the circus, where Professor Ochanomizu found him. Later, he adopted Astro and trained him to help those in need.
The manga series became a massive hit in Japan, with multiple side stories published in magazines and newspapers. The animation series laid the groundwork for the stereotypical “anime” style often associated with the genre.
While Astro Boy achieved great success in the 1960s through the 1980s, the anime’s third version was released in 2003 with a more modern, drama-series-styled layout. Studios outside of Japan also released multiple movie spin-offs, tie-in video games and the full anime.
In 2009, Imagi Animation Studios released a CGI-animated version of the story, with a dubbed version available in the U.S. featuring Nicolas Cage as the voice of Dr. Tenma.
Anime, manga in Web3
Astro Boy joins the growing trend of manga artists and anime studios embracing NFTs to introduce and market their works in the world of Web3.
In November last year, renowned horror manga artist Junji Ito launched an NFT series based on his best-selling story, Tomie.
In a recent collaboration, blockchain game developer double jump.tokyo partnered with TSUBASA Co., Ltd to release the Ball is Our Friend Project, an NFT collection based on the popular manga Captain Tsubasa. Pro Japanese soccer player Shinji Kagawa — regarded by some as “one of the best Japanese players of all time” — officially supports the project as an ambassador.
The most recent news came from Square Enix. In celebration of the game’s anniversary, the studio launched a set of collectible NFT trading cards based on Final Fantasy VII. The pack is available for purchase for just around $3.30.
