Spring New Anime for the Cryptocurrency Community! The first episode of the anime “Azuki” is now available on YouTube.
Previously popular during the last bull market, the well-known Japanese anime-style NFT “Azuki” is now making its foray into the animation industry after experiencing ups and downs.
The first episode of the anime “Azuki: Enter The Garden” titled “The Waiting Man” was officially released on May 1st on YouTube and the official website. Although it is only about 8 minutes long, the overall animation production is quite impressive. Even if you have never heard of the “Azuki” project, you can still enjoy it directly.
Further Reading:
Azuki Universe Continues to Expand! What’s the Secret Behind Its Blue-Chip Status and Strong Community?
Plot Summary of the First Episode of “Azuki” Anime
Since the first episode of “Azuki: Enter The Garden” does not provide Chinese subtitles (only Japanese audio and English subtitles), “Crypto City” will briefly introduce the plot and summarize the Easter eggs discovered by netizens.
The following content contains spoilers, so it is recommended that capable viewers watch the episode first before reading!
There are two worlds in this world: one is “The Alley,” the world we currently live in, and the other is “The Garden.” However, many people are unaware of the existence of The Garden, and only a few selected individuals can enter it.
On a rainy night, a mysterious man named T.K. (voice actor: Tomokazu Sugita) stands motionless next to a vending machine. After the rain clears, the camera shows us a cyberpunk-like street scene with signs in various languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. In the bustling morning, a worker in a reflective vest approaches the vending machine. After scanning their pupils, the machine automatically recommends an energy drink to replenish their energy.
Curious about the mysterious man next to the vending machine, the worker asks, “What are you doing here?” T.K. only responds, “I’m waiting…”
After a while, the main character HARU (voice actress: Akari Kito) with twin braids appears. She arrives at the vending machine on a skateboard and is about to take out change to buy a drink when the coins accidentally roll into the drain. T.K. uses a mysterious fishing rod to perform a trick, turning the fake frog attached to the fishing rod into a real frog, which retrieves the coins for HARU.
HARU tries to talk to T.K. who helped her, but she doesn’t get a definite response. T.K. still says, “I’m waiting for someone.” Later, to avoid being late, HARU quickly leaves.
After a while, a serious traffic accident occurs on the street near the vending machine. When the police are looking for witnesses, they spot T.K., but he remains tight-lipped when asked for personal information. The police scan T.K.’s face and leave, but the personal information system shows that T.K.’s data cannot be found.
After the police leave, HARU comes back to the vending machine to buy a drink. She complains about being fired by her company again and dislikes the many rules, including having to dress properly, let go of her twin braids, not dyeing her hair, and not riding skateboards, among others. The machine scans HARU’s pupils and recommends the same energy drink as last time, but this time, she angrily says, “Let me at least decide what I want to drink!” and punches the vending machine. Instead of a drink, a red bean (Azuki) falls out.
When T.K. sees the red bean fall, his eyes light up, and he encourages HARU to eat it. HARU hesitates, but then two police officers approach, suspecting T.K.’s mysterious identity and mistakenly believing that HARU is with him. With the police closing in, HARU listens to T.K.’s words and eats the red bean. Afterwards, she undergoes a transformation, her pupils changing from brown to red. T.K. then says he will take her out of this world.
T.K. summons a skateboard using the fishing rod and, together with HARU, they ride the skateboard through the police, causing fire hydrants around them to suddenly burst open, spraying a large amount of water. The two ride the wave and enter another world that resembles a torii gate.
At this point, T.K. tells HARU that this place is another world called “The Garden,” and HARU responds with, “Let’s go!” The story ends here.
From the end credits, it can be seen that the original concept for this episode was by Goro Taniguchi, the director of “One Piece Film: Strong World,” and the script was written by Takuma Kamimoto, the head writer of “Haikyu!!.” Junichi Yamamoto, who was in charge of the opening and ending animation of “Jobless Reincarnation Season 2,” directed this episode.
Easter Eggs in the First Episode of “Azuki” Anime
From the above plot summary, it can be seen that the main focus of the first episode of “Azuki” anime is to showcase the world view, and there isn’t much development in the plot. However, enthusiastic netizens have already discovered some Easter eggs, such as displaying some “Azuki” series NFT images and characters. Additionally, one of the drinks in the vending machine features the logo of “The Espresso Shot” brand. Details like these are waiting to be discovered by members of the “Azuki” community.
In addition to the aforementioned Easter eggs, the appearance of the red bean (Azuki) in the episode not only symbolizes the “Azuki” brand itself but also reminds people of the extended project of “Azuki” called “BEANZ.” Furthermore, the last line of dialogue spoken by the protagonist HARU, “行くぞ！(Let’s go!)” corresponds to the “IKZ” term used in the “Azuki” community.
The Second Episode of “Azuki” Anime is in Production, and the First Episode has been turned into an NFT by the Official Team
On May 1st, the official “Azuki” team revealed that the production of the second episode and subsequent episodes of the anime is underway, but the release date for the second episode has not been disclosed. The official team previously announced that the “Azuki: Enter The Garden” anime series is planned to have a total of three episodes.
Furthermore, the team has turned the content of the first episode as well as the main visual poster into NFTs and listed them on the Zora platform. The minting price for the video NFT is 0.006 ETH, while the minting price for the poster NFT is 0.003 ETH. Currently, both have been minted by over a thousand users.
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