Weebox, a newly founded digital collectible brand, just unveiled plans for an anime-themed figurine and digital collectibles store and metaverse experience called ‘San FranTokyo.‘
The virtual world is being billed as a place where the innovative spirit of Silicon Valley meets everything that’s “dope straight out of Japan.” The launch comes in partnership with Animoca Brands Japan — a leader in digital entertainment, blockchain technology, and gamification.
San FranTokyo will be a virtual landscape for subcultures to thrive, and for the new brand to share digital creations, experiences, projects, and collaborations. Weebox.io will be the official figurine and collectible store of the virtual city where users can trade NFTs and other digital goods.
The announcement came with a detailed road map. Using Weebox’s affiliations with the world’s best manga publishers, anime studios, and figurine manufacturers, and its extensive ownership of IP entities in Japan, its first path of business is to launch figurines and collectibles of officially licensed IP from popular Web2 and Web3 anime shows.
There will also be a free ‘San FranTokyo Genesis‘ NFT mint scheduled for August, with 2,000 Ethereum-based NFTs available. Fans can apply through an application process for an allowlist spot or by engaging with the Weebox community.
The roadmap also mentions music and entertainment, official collaborations for physicals and apparel, and IRL events. Weebox seeks to build a global brand that redefines how anime, manga, and pop culture fans around the world experience collecting digital and physical items.
Daisuke Iwase is currently serving as the CEO of both Weebox and Animoca Brands Japan, where he has experience creating NFT projects focused on popular manga, anime, K-Pop, and J-Pop themes. Fabiano Soriani, an NFT industry veteran who’s worked at Dapper Labs and served as the Lead Blockchain Engineer behind CryptoKitties, is also on the team as the Chief Technology Officer. Other investors includes Beenos, BlackPine, and Dapper Labs.
Animoca Brands Continues to Build its Brand
Fans of anime, manga, and Korean and Japanese pop-culture around the world should be excited for the arrival of Weebox and San FranTokyo. But another project backed by Animoca Brands is no surprise. Despite the deep dip in the NFT market, the blockchain-based gaming company has been putting in work. And we’ve been here to cover it. Here are the two most recent stories about Animoca Brands in Web3.
First, in December 2022, Animoca Brands announced a $2 billion metaverse business fund. The ‘Animoca Capital‘ fund will be focused on digital property rights, and Web3 businesses and startups around the world are eligible to receive funding. The firm is aimed at advancing interoperability in digital worlds to counter the threat of centralized metaverses.
Next, in November 2022, TinyTap, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, auctioned six “publisher“ NFTs on OpenSea that sold for a total of 139 ETH, or about $228,000. The NFTs were created by six teachers who created TinyTap educational courses that were then sold as digital assets. The move was TinyTaps first venture into Web3.
When Animoca Brands is in Web3 news, its usually for something big. And its latest partnership with Weebox is no exception. At Rarity Sniper, we’ll be on the lookout for any updates on San FranTokyo and Weebox in the months to come.