Azuki and Big Eyes: Anime-zing Prospect for NFT Collectors

by James · November 5, 2022

If you hit the music player button on Azuki’s website, you’ll be greeted with the blaring horns of Lupe Fiasco’s skate anthem ‘Kick, Push’. Azuki proudly displays his influences in hip-hop, skate culture and anime, striking a powerfully resonant chord with the niche of people at the center of these overlapping interests. Big Eyes (BIG) similarly has similar strong influences from anime, but focuses on pure kawaii, eye-poppingly cute designs. Azuki and Big Eyes (BIG) are two NFT projects that have fantastic prospects for NFT collectors who are fans of anime and Japanese culture.

Table of Contents

I’m On The Beanz For Real

Azuki is an incredibly innovative Ethereum-based Profile Picture (PFP) NFT project. Azuki means little bean in Japanese, and they call their extremely stylish anime PFPs Azukis, and super cute, chibi miniature bean characters Beanz. Azuki wears his anime, streetwear, hip-hop and skate culture influences boldly on his sleeve, and it’s one of the most unique and culturally lost creative NFT projects out there right now. It is very reminiscent of the anime Samurai Champloo by combining elements of Japanese culture with street culture and hip-hop.

Big Anime eyes

Big Eyes (BIG) is a new meme coin project gaining more and more momentum, with over $9 million raised in the pre-sale. The current main focus of Big Eyes is the Big Eyes token (BIG), of which 5% of all BIG tokens will be donated to charities running ocean conservation projects. But further down the line, Big Eyes has plans to launch his own NFT project. Similar to the Bored Ape Yacht Club, these NFTs would act as entrances to exclusive community events.

Community focused

Building a strong community is at the core of Azuki and Big Eyes. Big Eyes has a community focus built into the DNA of its token – 90% of tokens are available to the public at launch, and 5% will go to charities. The other 5% will be used for marketing to ensure the community continues to build and grow stronger over time.

Unique aesthetics

The team behind Big Eyes did not try to copy the designs of a certain Japanese dog breed for the design of the mascot, nor did they try to assimilate into the ranks of apathetic monkeys. Instead, they chose a cute cat with an anime aesthetic! Cats have always been a cornerstone of Internet culture, so it only makes sense to pursue this different path for a meme coin while the rest of the crypto pack chases Elon Musk’s army of Shibas. Similarly, Azuki chose to boldly use Anime-inspired PFPs, unlike the countless chimp clones that flooded the market after Bored Ape Yacht Club’s roaring success.

Although Big Eyes and Azuki both share anime aesthetics, they both have distinct styles of anime aesthetics. Azuki uses the more traditional, cool anime style, with many characters reminiscent of those from Cowboy Bebop, Naruto, and Samurai Champloo. The Beanz characters provide a great contrast to these cool characters, with goofy, cute and chubby aesthetics to provide a counterbalance. Big Eyes has a cute anime aesthetic, not unlike many Pokemon designs. Both projects are entering unmanned anime niches in the NFT market, and they are doing so with great success.

To conclude

Azuki and Big Eyes are both projects you don’t want to miss. Both pay homage to anime and Japanese culture in a unique way and are wonderful ways to engage with ever-growing communities. Azuki’s NFTs are incredibly stylish PFPs that show your interests and tastes to the world. Big Eyes’ NFTs will launch later, but if Big Eyes’ current progress is anything to go by, it will be nothing but smooth sailing at OpenSea.