What Are San FranTokyo and Weebox?

TL;DR
Weebox is a virtual store within the San FranTokyo ecosystem, and the entire project is focused on digital and physical collectibles, with a strong focus on anime, manga, figurines, and Japanese pop culture. Backed by Animoca Brands, and developed by an experienced team, the project has already launched its Genesis Pass NFTs, and will soon release a PFP collection called Visions.

Are we gearing up for a new crypto bull run? And in that case, what happens to NFTs? There are some OG collections due a comeback but we should also be looking for new projects that are gearing up, and so high on our list of great-looking prospects let’s put San FranTokyo and Weebox.

Actually, Weebox is a key part of the wider San FranTokyo project, so let’s jump in and take a look at what’s being built, what’s coming soon, and how it might all perform.

What Is San FranTokyo?

Back in June this year, a Medium post went out from Weebox (following an earlier, initial announcement in Discord) announcing the arrival of SFT Studios, which was constructing a project called San FranTokyo.

So, we’ve got three key parts there:

• SFT Studios: A Web3 studio aiming to build brands and products, and especially focused on anime, manga, and pop culture.
• San FranTokyo: The playground that contains everything else in the project, it’s the virtual environment where it all happens. As the name suggests, it’s intended to combine the tech innovation of San Francisco and the pop culture of Tokyo.
• Weebox: A shop housed within San FranTokyo which specializes in high quality, licensed collectibles, both physical and digital, taking in partnerships with major brands from the worlds of anime, manga and figurines. The store is staffed by a helpful character called Chiyo the Shopkeeper.

The project is working with KLKTN, a digital collectibles platform, is backed by Web3 stalwarts Animoca Brands and Dapper Labs, along with Hong Kong investment company BlackPine, and Japanese tech platform Beenos, and is tied in with Animoca’s creator/investor community, Mocaverse.

The Team

The SFT/Weebox team includes CEO Daisuke Iwase, who is also the founder of KLKTN and the CEO at Animoca Japan, Jeff Miyahara, a highly accomplished music producer, Fabiano Soriani, who was involved in creating CryptoKitties at Dapper Labs, and Benny Giang, a founding member of Dapper Labs and former product lead at NBA Top Shot.

The project is co-founded by DT and Yeong, who are pseudonymous, but active in promotion and making connections. Also involved is the artist Vexa, who is connected with eGirl Capital, and CTO Fabien Allanic, an experienced web engineer.

San FranTokyo Genesis Pass

August saw the launch of the project’s first NFTs: 2,000 San FranTokyo Genesis Passes, which were available for free to those selected from a community application process that had around 13,000 applicants. These reached over 100 ETH in trading volume on secondary within 24 hours of minting, and they currently have a floor price around 0.2 ETH.

Passes are due to reveal in November, when they’ll show one of three rarity tiers, affecting utility within the ecosystem. Pass holders are expected to receive NFTs from an upcoming PFP collection called Visions (more on that below), and have advance access to look inside the Weebox store, which contains the Drop Machine and the Gacha Machine, both of which will be used for releasing collectibles.

It looks like Genesis Passes will also provide future access to drops, collectibles, and other experiences. 

What’s Coming Next?

The big event coming up soon in San FranTokyo is the launch of Visions. This is a collection of PFPs which will function as generative characters within the San FranTokyo environment. The target mint date is December 2023, but the supply, price and other details are yet to be announced.

It currently appears that holders of Genesis Pass NFTs will receive a free Visions PFP mint, along with access to a discounted paid mint.

Also, there’s a new San FranTokyo Twitter/X space called CULTUR3, which is to discuss anime, gaming and pop culture, particularly as it relates to Web3.

From there, the plan is for the ongoing release of licensed digital and physical collectibles, and the creation of a like-minded San FranTokyo community, while there is also mention of music and entertainment, and IRL events.

When it comes to collectibles, the biggest official tie-in so far is with Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, and a partnership with Japan’s iconic Young Magazine (which has serialized world famous titles including Ghost in the Shell and Akira) was recently announced.

Pros and Cons of San FranTokyo and Weebox

There’s lots to recommend about San FranTokyo and Weebox, but also a few points of possible concern, so let’s go through the good points and the drawbacks.

Pros

• Anime and manga make up a hugely popular niche that has always had a collector mindset, and so ties in naturally with the idea of digital collectibles.
• The project is being constructed by a very professional, experienced team, with solid backing from Animoca Brands and others.
• The website comes across as well-constructed, fresh and immediately attractive, especially if–like its target users–you’re into anime.
• The timing looks good, as crypto as a whole appears to be shifting into a more bullish period.

Cons

•  Within NFTs, PFPs have been hardest hit by bear market conditions, which raises questions around the Visions launch.
• There are already many anime-focused NFT projects, some upper tier–such as Azuki and The Captainz–while others have lost ground or fallen short of expectations–for example, Renga and Ether.

Everything is speculative when it comes to NFTs, but there’s a lot of potential around the crossover between physical and digital collectibles, and the San FranTokyo and Weebox project looks like a solid contender to make moves in this area, particularly as it has big name partnerships and backing, and is focused on anime culture, which is a hugely popular niche.