There are 2 ways to generate anime with Midjourney: with Niji Mode or with the standard Midjourney model.
Niji V5 (the latest version of Niji Mode) is Midjourney's anime-specific model. It's built on an entirely new architecture from the standard Midjourney models, and is better at generating named anime characters. Niji V4 was released in Dec 2023, and Niji V5 was released on April 1,2023.
Midjourney's V5 Model was released in March 2023. The image quality is incredible, and it is much better at anime the previous numbered models (V4, V3 etc). Here's a more general V5 guide.
This prompt guide will be divided into 2 sections: one for Niji Mode and one for Midjourney V5.
Download Free Midjourney V4 Prompt Book
General Tips
Use stylize & go lower
The default Niji & Midjourney styles are gorgeous. The problem is they're also quite generic.
Use the stylize command to get more interesting variations (--stylize or --s).
The range is --s 0 to --s 1000. The default value is 100.
You'll actually get more varied, more interesting results if you lower the stylize number. Try adding --s 90 to your prompts, or go even lower than that.
Use 'quality tags'
| Quality related | Details related | Lighting related | Camera related |
|---|---|---|---|
| masterpiece best quality high quality | detailed intricately detailed finely detailed hyper detailed | cinematic lighting golden hour lighting silhouette lighting backlit | depth of field shot with Canon EOS lens 135mm f1.8 portrait of [x] |
You can use quite of few of these but no need to go overboard, they do have diminishing returns. Notice the subtle quality enhancements when you use quality tags:
Character Generation
Which characters can I generate?
All AI anime models (NAI Diffusion, Anything etc) use Danbooru images for a lot of their training data, so Danbooru’s character tag counts are a a good way to check whether or not Niji can generate the character.
Here are some pages that feature Danbooru tag counts:
(any Danbooru tags are effective for prompting, not just character tags.
As (very rough) benchmarks for Niji V5, if a Danbooru tag has:
- Over 10k images: Perfect character no matter what
- Over 1k images: Accurate, and even more accurate if you mention the series name as well
- 500-1k images: Partially accurate, hit-or-miss depending on character
- Less than 500 images: Tough luck
These benchmarks aren’t definititve: many characters are completely omitted from the training data regardless of their Danbooru popularity.
Niji V5 Prompts
Artistic Mediums
90s anime still, asuka langley soryu wearing a red, neon genesis evangelion, watercolor illustration --ar 2:3 --niji 5
oil painting 90s anime, asuka langley soryu wearing a red plugsuit, neon genesis evangelion --ar 2:3
rough pencil sketch of asuka langley soryu --ar 2:3 
masterpiece, best quality, faded pastel illustration of asuka langley soryu --ar 2:3Midjourney V5
To set V5 as the default, you can type /settings and then click on Midjourney Version 5. You check check out our list of cool V5 prompts here.
The scene should be in spring, sunny and breezy. The sky is blue, the flowers are blooming, and the grass is green. A man in a white shirt was standing in the flower field, holding a resume in his hand, with a confident and excited expression on his face. Both the foreground and the background are large expanses of flowers in many colors. The sun shines on him, creating a warm and bright atmosphere, and at the same time showing his expectation and courage for the future. The whole image should be full of vigor and vitality, making people feel the beauty and hope of spring. flat illustration style, simple colors, textured, board drawing, procreate, Karolis Strautniekas, Mads Berg, Pixiv --ar 2:3 --q 2 --s 250
In the center of a huge cloud swirl there is an anime beautiful girl in jk uniform and miniskirt, midscape, Son of Weather, Shinkai Makoto style, daub oil painting texture and Chinese painting style mix, braids, bangs, acrylic thick paint, intricate details, art oil painting, anime characters, comic style, Pixar style, abstract, flat, two-dimensional, Particle crushing effect, simple painting style --ar 2:3 --uplight --q 2
Spring, two children, playing, sea of flowers, blue sky, advanced sense of color scheme, national trendy illustration, 8k, rich details, super wide angle, natural lighting, minimalism --s 400 --ar 2:3
青空 アニメ 天気 きらきら
beautiful young anime girl sitting in a fairy fountain reading a book of incantations, while her wishes and dreams float like flower blossoms around her, 16k, --ar 5:7 --q 2 --s 250The creative potential of Midjourney is immense; when applied to anime, it allows fans and artists alike to explore and expand on the worlds they already love.
Niji V4 Prompts
To set V4 as the default, you can type /settings and then click on Niji Mode V4.
Transparent Vinyl Clothing
As it turns out, rainbow refractions on transparent clothing is something Niji Mode is amazing at. Try these phrases:
- transparent color vinyl
- transparent PVC
- iridescent opaque thin film RGB
- reflective clothing
- chromatic aberration
- holographic
- prismatic
You can use them all at once, however this creates an overwhelming result. We recommend you pick and use 2-3 that you like the best.
girl, anime, looking at viewer, bubbles, highly detailed, reflective transparent iridescent opaque jacket, long transparent iridescent RGB hair –ar 3:2
girl, anime, looking at viewer with a cigarette in her mouth, highly detailed, reflections transparent iridescent opaque jacket, long transparent iridescent RGB hair –ar 3:2
pixiv, hyper detailed, harajuku fasion, futuristic fashion, anime girl, headphone, colorful reflective fabric inner, transparent PVC jacket, backpack --ar 2:3
transparent color PVC clothing, transparent color vinyl clothing, prismatic, holographic, chromatic aberration, fashion illustration, masterpiece, girl with harajuku fashion, looking at viewer, 8k, ultra detailed, pixiv
masterpiece, 1girl, on train, masterpiece, anime, sadboi, aesthetic, transparent color vinyl jacket, highly detailed, reflections, transparent iridescent opaque rgb girl, chromatic aberration jacketRetro Anime Styles
A painstaking amount of attention went into the style and art direction of 80s and 90s anime. Try the following designers and directors:
- Yoshiyuki Sadamoto - Founder of Gainax (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
- Hayao Miyazaki - Founder of Studio Ghibli (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away)
- Toshihiro Kawamoto - Founder of Bones (Cowboy Bebop)
- Yoshiaki Kawajiri - Director of Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
- Tsukasa Hojo - Creator of City Hunter
- Naoko Takeuchi - Creator of Sailor Moon
You can also add:
- 1970s anime 1980s anime, 1990s anime
- retro anime
- retro anime screencap
80s anime still, office girl at desk, muted pastel colors, Yoshiaki Yoshiaki Kawajiri --ar 3:2
80s anime still, man and woman having coffee at a coffeeshop, retro fashion, muted pastel colors, by Tsukasa Hojo and Toshihiro Kawamoto --ar 3:2
80s anime still, delinquent fixing a motorbike, retro fashion, muted retro colors, CRT tv display, by Yoshiaki Kawajiri and Tsukasa Hojo and Toshihiro Kawamoto --ar 3:2
80s anime still, girl fixing a mech, retro fashion, muted retro colors, style of Dragons Heaven --ar 3:2Character Design & Concept Sheets
These help designers keep characters consistent across different poses, angles and expressions. Try beginning your prompts with:
- expression sheet
- character design sheet
- character turnaround sheet
- dress-up sheet / fashion sheet
- items sheet / accessories
- character pose sheet
- concept art sheet
Mix and match any of the above.
80s anime still, girl fixing a mech, retro fashion, muted retro colors, style of Dragons Heaven --ar 3:2
character design sheet, magical girl blue hair --ar 3:2
character turnaround sheet, magical girl --ar 3:2
character dress-up sheet, magical girl --ar 3:2Gorgeous Anime Backgrounds
Here are some directors to try for backgrounds:
- Makoto Shinkai, The Garden of Words
- Taiyo Matsumoto, Tekkonkinkreet
- Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira
relaxing cafe in Tokyo, style of Makoto Shinkai The Garden of Words, aesthetically pleasing, muted color scheme --ar 3:2empty classroom, style of Makoto Shinkai The Garden of Words, aesthetically pleasing, muted color scheme --ar 3:2
aerial shot of city, anime background, style of Makoto Shinkai The Garden of Words --ar 3:2
anime background, busy downtown street, style of tekkonkinkreet --ar 3:2
outside of a boxing gym at night, style of Katsuhiro Otomo Akira film, aesthetically pleasing --ar 3:2Figurines & Toys
Hyper realistic photographs of toys! Using the base prompt: "figurine of...", you can try modifying with:
- In class display case
- made of plastic
- made of polyester putty
- studio lighting
- with box
- funkopop
toy figurine of saber from fate/stay night --ar 2:3
figurine of iron man, highly detailed, made of matte clay, deep shadows, studio lighting --ar 2:3Img2img Prompts
Here's one of the coolest things you can do: use an image in your prompt AKA imgiImg.
If you like the design, composition, theme, pose, or colors of an existing illustration, use it as part of your prompt and watch Niji Journey magically take the most appealing elements and apply them to a new image.
Here's an example:
I love the colors and style of this image, and want to create a similar image, say, with Rei from Neon Genesis Evangelion. This is what it looks like:
[LINK TO ORIGINAL IMAGE] Rei from Evangelion --ar 3:2Some more examples:
[LINK TO ORIGINAL IMAGE] Zero Two from Darling in the Franxx --ar 3:2
[LINK TO ORIGINAL IMAGE] Killua from Hunter X Hunter --ar 3:2To do img2img, paste the image link as the first part of the prompt.
If you only have the image locally, you need to send the original image to the Niji Journey bot. Then right click the image > "Copy Link". Paste this link as the first part of your prompt.
Img2img is one of Niji's best features. It's also very underused. I suggest Pinterest if you're looking for images to use.
Turning Real Life into Anime
We're using img2img just liike before.
You can choose how far you want the new image to be from the original using the prompt.
gold color theme, masterpiece, stylish anime girl with long blonde hair, facing the camera, detailed pupils, depth of field --ar 3:2
fashion illustration, male anime protagonist, detailed facial features, aesthetically pleasing, featured on pixiv, newtype magazine cover, newtype, detailed character, poster art, simple background --ar 2:3Turning Real Life into Manga
Same as above, but turning things into manga-style instead of anime.
We're going to be using prompt weights here. If you add "::-1" after certain words, the generator will try to avoid those elements. Here we negative prompt "photograph" to get the generated image further away from realistic photography.
panel from manga::3 protagonist in manga::1 photograph::-0.2
panel from manga::3 protagonist in manga::1 photograph::-0.2 --ar 3:2Rough Sketches
Raw and evocative rouch sketches:
Gainax, Hideaki Anno's rough sketch style, mecha battle, gloomy atmosphere, psychological conflict, interchangeable subject, close-up on face, tears streaming down the cheeks, the mecha's eyes glowing red in the background. --q 2 --niji
Gainax, Hideaki Anno's rough sketch style, mecha battle, gloomy atmosphere, psychological conflict, image foreground is a field of daisy flowers, close-up on face, tears streaming down the cheeks, the mecha's eyes glowing red in the background. --ar 2:1 --q 2 --nijiRemoving and adding some of these keywords can help reduce or increase the effect!
- Gainax
- Hideaki Anno's rough sketch style
- mecha battle
- gloomy atmosphere, psychological conflict
Gainax, Hideaki Anno's rough sketch style, sunny day, bright atmosphere, psychological conflict, image foreground is a field of daisy flowers, close-up on face, tears streaming down the cheeks. --ar 2:1 --q 2 --nijiThe creative potential of Midjourney is immense; when applied to anime, it allows fans and artists alike to explore and expand on the worlds they already love.
FAQ
What is the default stylize value for --s?
The default stylize value is 100.
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