They may be younger than their contemporaries, but this one collection is shaking up online entertainment in a big way – and speaking to holders, fans and onlookers alike, all are agreed: their potential is gigantic. We are talking about the Azuki NFT collection.
From an explosive debut mint, pangs of controversy, and a shake-up of the anime industry, Azuki‘s journey has been truly one-of-a-kind – but what is the collection all about, what should you know about them, and why should they be on your radar?
Here’s our complete 2025 guide to what the Azuki NFT collection.
What is Azuki NFT collection?
Azuki is a collection of 10,000 manga-esque avatar NFTs, inspired by modern anime and streetwear culture. Each NFT features a unique mix of traits, including hairstyles, clothing, accessories and more.
Created by Chiru Labs – a team of Los Angeles-based artists and developers – the collection was led by a pseudonymous individual known as ZAGABOND. With experience in crypto, technology, and gaming, the team aimed to build an NFT collection that was their unique take on the anime industry.
Owning an Azuki NFT grants holders a numbers of benefits. These include membership to “The Garden” (an online creatives collective), exclusive asset drops, access to unique collaborations, live events and much more.
Chiru Labs have hinted at developing a native token for Azuki, but as of writing, a token has yet to materialize.
What has Azuki accomplished so far?
Azuki’s were minted on January 12, 2022 using a Dutch auction format – where prices start high, but decline over time. Although the initial price was set at 1 ETH, the collection sold out within 3 minutes, raising a staggering 8,700 ETH – worth over $29 million USD at the time.
Following this electric launch, Azuki NFTs saw a surge in secondary market trading, with over $300 million USD in trading volume helping to boost the floor price into double-digit ETH territory.
In April 2022, Azuki introduced Beanz – a 20,000-piece companion collection of NFTs. These were airdropped to existing Azuki holders, who gained access to exclusive Discord channels and future merchandise drops. Beanz have become a popular entry point to the Azuki ecosystem, retaining high trading volumes to this day.
Early 2023 saw the arrival of Hilumia, an online experience of the Azuki universe. Open to the public, but only available for interaction by Azuki and Beanz holders, Hilumia featured games, activities and multimedia content, expanding the growing world of Azuki.
April 2023 saw Azuki announce a partnership with IPX, the company behind the popular Line Friends characters. This led to a collaboration between Beanz and these globally-recognised characters across both official merchandise and real-world events.
During their “Follow The Rabbit” event in June 2023, they announced a second companion collection, titled Azuki Elementals. Although the collection minted out inside 15 minutes on June 27, there was much controversy surrounding the lack of minting limits, and the similarity of the art to the premiere Azuki collection.
Responding to the backlash, Azuki revealed that an anime anthology series was already in production. The official announcement arrived in January 2024, with a follow-up announcement in April that global advertising firm Dentsu had partnered with Azuki on the production of the series, assembling an all-star production team.
The first episode of anime anthology series Enter The Garden, titled The Waiting Man, premiered in late April 2024 to rave reviews, with many astonished at the quality of the show – especially as it was free-to-air on YouTube.
In June 2024, ZAGABOND revealed Azuki’s long-term goal – to create a seismic shift in the anime industry through the creation of anime 2.0, powered by AnimeCoin. This was followed by the reveal of Anime.com in September 2024, revealing the new Azuki mascots, a public waitlist, and the private launch of AnimeChain.
There have been hiccups, however. In May 2022, it came to light that ZAGABOND had been involved in several abandoned NFT projects, such as Tendies, CryptoZunks, and CryptoPhunks. Many feared that Azuki could be an elaborate rug pull too, causing a sharp decline in floor prices – though with an apology from ZAGABOND and through the passing of time, any fears have largely been assuaged.
As referenced, the mint of Azuki Elementals in June 2023 was far from smooth. As there was a lack of any max minting limits, all Elementals were snapped up by Azuki and Beanz holders before public access. The similarity of the art to the OG Azuki’s caused dramatic fall price decreases – although prices did stabilise over the coming months.
What does the future hold for Azuki NFT Collection?
Azuki’s goal is clear – to shake up the existing anime industry, and to enrich the anime fan experience.
As of writing, episode 2 of Enter The Garden is set to debut imminently, and the Azuki brand continues to grow on many fronts – through animation, merchandise, and multiple community initiatives.
Though the exact plans for anime.com, AnimeCoin and AnimeChain have yet to be publicly revealed, there are high hopes that these initiatives will have a long-lasting, meaningful impact – especially given the quality of talent, level of effort, and mainstream backing poured into the likes of Enter The Garden.
ZAGABOND and the wider Chiru Labs team have continued to put their holders – and the wider community – at the heart of Azuki and its endeavours, and they’ve made it clear that they want to take the community-centric approach that’s worked so well for them in web3 into a mainstream setting.
In the space of just two years, what Azuki have achieved in web3 is groundbreaking. What they could achieve in the anime industry could be revolutionary.
Riding crypto waves since 2012, bridging digital and physical worlds through prose.