1st PLACE has expanded their NFT pursuits outside of the ARIA characters and into their stake on Kagerou Project, specifically on Sidu (しづ)’s art.
It is really clear to me that this is a financial pursuit on 1st PLACE's end and not an expression of love for the community or artwork. It is also unclear to me how much money, if any, Shidu is making off of the actual exchange of the NFT, because Shidu isn't the distributor and only 1st PLACE's corporate account is present in the Discord server. She was probably commissioned, and then 1st PLACE is reselling the NFT itself.
Since I was a kid I've tried to grasp every side of the internet and its many communities by lurking and learning about them. And I have to say, I have not seen a single NFT-related community where the people involved were not primarily composed of "NFT people"-- people present because of the NFT itself, not any surrounding element. That's what people mean when they say "NFT grift". There is no substance, there is no excitement. The goal is to make money.
This sentiment is a different in Japanese communities surrounding the intent, but in Japanese communities, there is also far less knowledge about what NFTs actually are.