Sony has launched the Anime Art Festival, a Web3 initiative focused on bringing anime content and fandom into blockchain-based platforms. The festival’s first Web3 collectible release features Solo Leveling Unlimited, a digital collectible based on the globally popular anime Solo Leveling, available through Sony’s proprietary Layer-2 blockchain Soneium.
Developed in collaboration with San FranTokyo’s Anime ID and powered by Animoca Brands’ AIR Kit, the project introduces a decentralized identity and reputation system aimed at anime fans. Through Anime ID, users can mint collectibles, earn digital badges, and build onchain reputations tied to their engagement. The platform also hints at future utilities linked to participation and status.
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Additional fan-oriented features have also been rolled out. Users can connect their MyAnimeList (MAL) accounts to the platform, allowing Anime ID to incorporate manga and anime viewing histories into the experience. There are also giveaways for platform members, currently featuring anime figures from Chainsaw Man, Solo Leveling, and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. Other community engagement activities include promoting the MyAnimeList international writing contest.
On March 26, 2025, MEDIA DO announced it would transfer all its shares in MyAnimeList to Gaudiy Inc., a Tokyo-based Web3 startup specializing in fan community platforms built on blockchain and generative AI technologies. Gaudiy has already previously collaborated with companies such as Sony Music Entertainment and Bandai Namco.
The launch follows another major blockchain-based anime release involving Sony: the first officially licensed NFT drop for The Seven Deadly Sins: Cursed by Light. That project, a collaboration between entertainment firm YOAKE and OpenSea, was also built on the Soneium network. Although Sony is not the direct issuer of these assets, its role in both projects via Sony Block Solutions Labs and strategic partnerships signals an increasingly active involvement in merging anime IPs with the blockchain infrastructure.
Soneium has seen significant recent growth, with a 135.2% increase in total value locked (TVL) last month, reaching $101 million. This places it ahead of platforms such as Polygon, Aptos, and TON in the same period.
Sony’s broader interest in anime and digital media also includes the recent 10% stake acquisition in KADOKAWA CORPORATION, one of Japan’s largest publishers of manga, anime, and light novels. This, combined with its recent blockchain initiatives, clearly positions the company at the intersection of traditional anime production and the emerging decentralized platforms.
While Solo Leveling is the first title featured in the Anime Art Festival, both Sony and its partners have indicated that additional anime IPs are expected to follow, making this part of a longer-term strategy to reshape how fans engage with content digitally.
The Solo Leveling Unlimited digital collectible is available now via the Anime ID website.
Source: Press Release
Featured image: © DUBU(REDICE STUDIO), Chugong, h-goon 2018 / D&C MEDIA
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