YOAKE entertainment has partnered with OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace, to launch the official NFT collection “YOAKE & The Seven Deadly Sins Anime Series” based on The Seven Deadly Sins (original story by Nakaba Suzuki), which has been serialized for about 8 years in Weekly Shonen Magazine (Kodansha). The global rollout will begin on March 25 with Soneium, a blockchain developed by Sony Block Solutions Labs Pte. Ltd., a joint venture between Sony Group Inc. and Startale Group Pte.

■Partnership Background and Objectives

Japanese manga and anime have become a global cultural phenomenon and are consistently ranked as the top category on Netflix and other major video streaming platforms. The size of the global animation market was valued at approximately $30 billion as of 2023 (*1), with Japanese anime playing a major role in this market.
Because of this, YOAKE entertainment, through its partnership with OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace, will launch a new initiative to share the value and appeal of entertainment content, including various IPs from Japan, with fans around the world.
In addition, by using the Soneium blockchain (*2) as our technological foundation, our products will be under high security and will comply with international standards. We are proud to have created a new environment for the global dissemination of Japan’s world-class content.

*1 Source: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/anime-market
*2 About the Soneium blockchain
An Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain developed by Sony Block Solutions Labs Pte. Ltd., a joint venture between Sony Group Inc. and Startale Group Pte. Ltd., of which Sota Watanabe, a Web3 entrepreneur and a member of our board, is CEO.

■Overview of The Seven Deadly Sins NFT Collection

Our first project with OpenSea will be the official NFT collection “YOAKE & The Seven Deadly Sins Anime Series,” inspired by the hit anime series The Seven Deadly Sins (original story by Nakaba Suzuki, Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine), which will be available for fans around the world.

The Seven Deadly Sins is a fantasy series that has been serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine and has evolved into a multifaceted piece of media, boasting worldwide popularity. The original manga has been translated and released in more than 18 countries around the world, and the total number of copies sold in the series, including the sequel Four Knights of the Apocalypse, has exceeded 55 million. The anime adaptation is available in approximately 190 countries via Netflix and has become a global phenomenon, ranking No. 1 in viewership of Netflix original anime in 125 countries worldwide in 2020.

This NFT is a digitized version of a scene from The Seven Deadly Sins: Cursed by Light, which is watchable in over 125 countries around the world. The scene featuring the hero Meliodas (the leader of the Seven Deadly Sins) and his brother Zeldris drinking in the sun will be offered as official digital art for one of Japan’s leading anime IPs.

■Representative Comments

YOAKE entertainment CBO Sota Moriyama
“We are focused on bringing Japanese entertainment to fans around the world. Now, we are pleased to reveal an official NFT project for the internationally popular series The Seven Deadly Sins. Starting with this series, we will continue to develop more global content and build a platform to connect fans and creators.”

OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer
“We are proud to be working with the team at YOAKE to share this piece of the popular series The Seven Deadly Sins directly with fans.”

■Future Prospects

YOAKE entertainment’s core business is the global dissemination of popular entertainment content originating from Japan, and this alliance is one of its efforts to further strengthen and expand this vision. We will continue to build a platform that connects fans and creators around the world through the creation of new entertainment experiences using Web3 technology. In addition, we plan to leverage Sony Group’s advanced technology platform, Soneium, to create a more attractive fan experience that is both safe and convenient.