Popular anime franchise Ghost in the Shell will be launched as NFT collection on Oct. 31

Animoca Brands Japan is set to launch a collection of non-fungible tokens inspired by the popular Japanese cyberpunk series Ghost in the Shell. The tokens will be launched on the Ethereum network starting October 31.

According to an Oct. 25 press release, the Ghost in the Shell collection will consist of 500 unique NFTs featuring characters from the 1995 anime film adaptation based on Masamune Shirow’s 1989 manga series.

The Ghost in the Shell NFT collection will launch on Animoca Brands Japan’s NFT trading platform, SORAH. Sales will start on October 31st at 12:00 JST. The platform uses a lottery sales-based model and a first-come, first-served sales model using the Allowed List, also known as priority purchasing rights.

NFTs will be created using the ERC-721 NFT standard of the Ethereum(ETH) protocol and will be sold at the current price equal to ETH 0.018 per token or $45.16 per token. The Ghost in the Shell pack will be the first installment of Animoca’s NFT series “AnimeTraits”, in which it plans to collaborate with more fan-favorite anime and manga series to create future NFT collections.

“AnimeTraits allows you to decorate your PFPs with pieces of Japanese anime characters. It will be available at SORAH on October 31st. Don’t miss it!” wrote Animoca in an X post announcing the upcoming launch.

The X post includes a video of an iconic scene from the 1995 film adaptation in which main character Major Motoko Kusanagi falls off a building. The scene then cuts to show a three-eyed pink mascot from the Mocaverse, an older Animoca Brands membership NFT collection consisting of 8888 unique characters.

The company will also offer customization options to Mocaverse owners as well as those who own the CoolCats and San FranTokyo collections. In November 2023, Animoca announced a partnership with CoolCats Group and San FranTokyo.

According to the information in the company statement, users will also be able to purchase the changed costume images as products from the AnimeTraits website.

First serialized in 1989, Ghost in the Shell is a Japanese cyberpunk manga series written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. The manga was later adapted into several anime adaptations, including the most famous 1995 film adaptation directed by Mamoru Oshii.

The movie takes place in 2029 in a fictional place called New Port City. The main character is a cyborg public security agent named Motoko Kusanagi who wants to go after a mysterious hacker known as the Puppet Master. The film incorporates many philosophical themes centering on self-identity in a technologically advanced world.

On May 25, it was announced that a new anime television series adaptation of Ghost in the Shell was in the works. Japanese animation studio Science Saru is slated to produce, and the anime series is expected to premiere in 2026.