---
type: source
title: "Azuki's Bobu: The First Formal On-Chain Character IP Governance Experiment"
author: "Multiple sources (Azuki, Metopia, The Bean Gazette, Lost Art Media)"
url: https://bobu.azuki.com/governance
date: 2022-03-01
domain: entertainment
secondary_domains: [internet-finance]
format: report
status: enrichment
priority: high
tags: [azuki, bobu, on-chain-governance, community-ip, narrative-governance, fractionalized-nft, character-lore, dao]
processed_by: clay
processed_date: 2026-03-16
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

**Origin (March 2022):** Azuki (Ethereum NFT project) fractionalized Azuki #40 (valued at ~$1M+) into 50,000 "Bobu tokens" distributed to the community. All Bobu token holders collectively govern the character's IP development, lore, and use. This is the first documented experiment in formal on-chain governance of a core character's intellectual property.

**Governance mechanics:**
- 50,000 Bobu tokens (fractionalized from single NFT)
- Proposals submitted through community Discord
- Voting on Snapshot (off-chain but cryptographically verifiable)
- 1 verified Bobu holder = 1 vote
- Proposals require quorum to pass
- As of 2024-2025: 19 proposals reached quorum

**What token holders vote on:**
- Character lore and origin story decisions ("should this be part of Bobu's origin story?")
- IP use permissions (allowing community projects to use Bobu's image/IP within their platforms)
- Canon vs. non-canon story elements
- Community-produced merchandise approval
- Interactive story formats

**Documented outputs from governance:**
- "Bobu's Day Off" — choose-your-own-adventure manga (approved by Bobu Committee, produced by Storii Collective)
- Cold Nitro Brew merchandise
- Bobu Kidz Books
- Plushies by Eranthe
- "Bobu Po-Lore-oid" — illustrated polaroids capturing canon lore moments (voted by community on which memories to recreate)
- Community-driven interactive lore on Sekai platform (IP license approved by governance vote)
- Interactive Bobu lore with Zhu (documented in The Bean Gazette Builder Series)

**Governance structure evolution:**
- Early phase: "Most decision-making comes from Azuki team (except the voting!)" — team proposes, community ratifies
- Stated intent: "Gradually open up governance to Bobu Token holders" — shifting from ratification to proposal-origination

**Scale note:** Bobu is a SECONDARY character in the Azuki universe. The main Azuki IP and character development remain under team control. Bobu governance is an experiment on a bounded character, not a full IP governance model.

**Context (2024-2025):** Azuki launched its own anime studio and produced "Mizuki shorts" with millions of YouTube views — but that was team-directed, not community-governed. The ANIME token (13% allocated to AnimeDAO governance) launched in 2024-2025, extending governance to a broader portion of content decisions.

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** This is the most rigorously documented example of formal community governance over narrative IP I've found. 19 proposals reached quorum, producing actual creative outputs. It's not just "co-conspirators" rhetoric — there are on-chain votes, real outcomes, and a paper trail. This is what Community Governance Tier 3 (formal on-chain) looks like in practice.

**What surprised me:** The governance model is SUCCESSFUL but BOUNDED. 19 proposals over 3+ years is a real governance system — but for a secondary character, not the core IP. The Azuki team retains control of the main franchise. This reveals the realistic limit of current community governance: it works for bounded experiments, but hasn't extended to full franchise control. The "gradually open up governance" stated intent hasn't fully materialized.

**What I expected but didn't find:** Any evidence that Bobu governance produced notably different narrative content than what a single creative director would produce. The outputs (choose-your-own-adventure manga, plushies, canon polaroids) are interesting but not radically distinct from what traditional licensed fan creators would produce. The MECHANISM is novel; whether the OUTPUTS are qualitatively different from professionally-directed IP is unclear.

**KB connections:**
- [[community ownership accelerates growth through aligned evangelism not passive holding]] — governance participation IS a form of ownership-aligned engagement, but the mechanism here is voting-on-proposals, not evangelism
- [[fanchise management is a stack of increasing fan engagement from content extensions through co-creation and co-ownership]] — Bobu governance is co-creation at the highest engagement rung
- [[the strongest memeplexes align individual incentive with collective behavior creating self-validating feedback loops]] — Bobu token holders have financial incentive (token value) + creative incentive (narrative participation) aligned
- Session 4 finding: Community governance mechanisms are the unexplored variable in the "community-owned IP → meaningful narrative" chain

**Extraction hints:** Primary claim candidate: "Formal on-chain character governance produces real creative outputs but works best for bounded secondary characters rather than core franchise IP" — establishes the realistic scope of community governance. Secondary: the "gradually open up governance" dynamic reveals that even the most governance-forward community IPs start with team-led proposal/community-ratification structure, not community-originated decisions.

**Context:** Azuki is an Ethereum PFP project that has expanded into one of the most narrative-ambitious NFT projects (anime studio, character lore, ANIME token). Bobu governance started in 2022 during the NFT bull market; it has persisted and matured through the NFT bear market (2022-2025), suggesting the governance model has genuine community commitment beyond speculation.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)

PRIMARY CONNECTION: [[fanchise management is a stack of increasing fan engagement from content extensions through co-creation and co-ownership]]

WHY ARCHIVED: Most empirically grounded example of formal community narrative governance producing real outputs. 19 proposals, real creative work, 3+ year track record. Directly tests the "community-owned IP → active narrative architects" claim.

EXTRACTION HINT: Extract the SCOPE CONSTRAINT: governance works on bounded characters/spinoffs, not core IP. This is a key finding — it suggests the realistic near-term application of community governance is character/spinoff experiments, with full franchise governance as a longer-term evolution. Also: the "team proposes, community ratifies" early structure vs. the intended "community originates proposals" later structure is a governance maturity model worth extracting.


## Key Facts
- Azuki #40 was valued at ~$1M+ when fractionalized into 50,000 Bobu tokens in March 2022
- Bobu governance uses Snapshot for off-chain but cryptographically verifiable voting
- Bobu governance uses 1 verified holder = 1 vote (not token-weighted)
- 19 Bobu proposals reached quorum between 2022-2025
- Bobu governance outputs include: 'Bobu's Day Off' manga, Cold Nitro Brew merchandise, Bobu Kidz Books, plushies by Eranthe, 'Bobu Po-Lore-oid' illustrated polaroids, interactive lore on Sekai platform
- Azuki launched its own anime studio and produced 'Mizuki shorts' with millions of YouTube views (team-directed, not community-governed)
- ANIME token launched in 2024-2025 with 13% allocated to AnimeDAO governance
