Project PXN Ghost Division NFTs Draw Flak for Anime Resemblance

Over the weekend, Phantom Network NFT aka Project PXN NFT was revealed. Highly anticipated as the next Azuki – both in terms of its Japanese inspired art style and its community support – Project PXN’s potential was certainly encouraging.

However, the project’s reveal was marred by criticism that the NFTs bared too much resemblance to their Anime inspirations.

The community higlighted Projext PXN NFTs that looked suspiciously like characters from animes including Demon Slayer, One Piece, One Punch Man and video game protagonists from Overwatch and Genshin Impact.

Rei, the art director of the project, responded to the backlash in a blog post. “As a space, we all seem to be largely fine with derivative collections of other NFT projects and even paying homage to things in pop culture that had a large influence on our lives. There are plenty of occasions where various elements of culture are brought into a collection.”

“PXN has a very strong core collection, which has a ridiculous amount of crazy and original pieces. These original pieces are what define and showcase our DNA. Frankly speaking, the anime pieces were never a huge selling point.”

The project is actively taking measures to address the criticism according to Rei: “We will be pushing out blank images to act as placeholders for some of the NFTs in question. These are Legendaries and Epics in the collection that we deem as problematic pieces that are in the strike zone. Probably around 15–20 pieces stand out to me at this point. Anyone that is affected will have 10e compensated when their NFT is re-rolled into another Epic or Legendary PXN original.”

Since its reveal on Saturday, the floor price of the project’s NFTs has fallen from highs of 4.78 ETH to as low as 1.65 ETH.