There might be a bit of confusion as to what you can use anime character creator. Why? Because there is a difference in what anime actually means. On one hand, in Japanese where the term originates from, and on the other, elsewhere in the world. Simply put, anime in Japanese means any type of animation, cartoon. Elsewhere, particularly in the US, anime signifies only the type of animation that originated in Japan.

As those more familiar with Japanese animation explain, for decades, anime was produced by and for Japan. It started out as “a local product, with a distinct look-and-feel to not just the artwork but the storytelling, the themes, and the concepts. Over the last forty years, it has become an international phenomenon, attracting millions of fans and has translations into many languages.”

According to Statista, a survey held in the United States in January 2020 found that opinions on anime movies varied significantly across age groups, with 27 percent of adults aged 18 to 29 years old saying that they had a very favorable impression of anime films. This was double the share of adults between 30 and 44 years and nine times the share of those aged between 55 and 64 years old who said the same. Older generations were less likely to be anime fans and many had not heard of it, especially those aged 55 or above.

To that figure,Animemotivation.com adds that way back in 2018 sites like crunchy roll.com and kiss anime.ru had monthly visits of 71 and over 162 million visitors respectively.

Then, it is no surprise that the number of sites offering anime character creators and 3d anime character creator is multiplying by the day. But what do such creators do? Also, what would be the benefits of their use?

This post has been updated in September 2021. 

What do anime character creators actually do?

According to Comicverse.com, during the process of making anime films/videos, there is a specific role for the character designer. “This is the animator responsible for the designs of each character.”

“ The character designer either refines an existing character to be suitable for animation or must envision a character from scratch. They create the look and feel of a character, and make sure the characters look at home or at odds, depending on the goal, in their environment. Character designers are so important that they often double as the chief animation director for the series.”

Since the anime characters have gained so much popularity around the world. Anime characters have now found use in everything that has a connection to the huge fan base. It could be, logos, animated video ads, anime-based video games, or anything that would make a connection with original anime films/series.

So, we can define anime character creators as mostly an online source tool that allows the user to generate anime characters based on their inputs. The advantage of these creators is that as TopTen.ai, explains, “they are convenient and easy to access since you don’t have to spend time installing any software or extension.”

As Dailydot.com, points out, sites like Tumblr and Instagram are full of anime memes. Other sites like MakeGirlsMoe “let fans generate their own personalized anime identity from scratch. Anime characters are popular options for Halloween costumes, regardless of age, and anime remains one of the biggest drivers of the cosplay community, thriving at conventions worldwide.”

“The genre finds ways to bleed into everyday life in the music, video games, and big-budget Hollywood movies people consume day to day” (above). Anime-based characters seem to be quite popular with hip-hop artists and their fans.

anime characters creator

Reviews of some of the character creators

TopTen.ai (above) points to year another fact connected with anime characters. They can be “the subject of pages and pages of online forums debating their pros and cons. There are also a lot of cosplay activities for these fans to play the part of their beloved anime characters.”

So this site, and Techwayz.com have compiled two of the more comprehensive lists of online anime character creators.

  • Toongineer Cartoonizer – This tool allows you to generate anime pictures from your selfie. Based on the input of your image, this anime character creator can transform your selfie into an anime or cartoon as if it came out from Pixar. Different from other tools in this list, Toongineer Cartoonizer lets you convert almost any real-world images into anime-style pictures.
  • Waifu Labs – ” Waifu ” refers to a fictional girl or woman (usually in Anime, Manga, or video games) that you have an attraction to, and you would even marry. Waifu Labs is a waifu generator that lets you customize waifu styles and download waifus online for free.
  • Crypko Free Avatar Maker – Crypko is able to automatically generate anime faces with professional-level quality. It is actually a commercial version of MakeGirlsMoe. It is the same team that develops Crypko.
  • MakeGirlsMoe – MakeGirlsMoe was developed by a collaborative team from Fudan University, Carnegie Mellon University, Tongji University, and Stony Brook University. This anime girl creator can produce high-quality anime character drawings without almost any help from humans.
  • Avachara – This online product can create an anime avatar character. You don’t need to upload any image. Just create your own anime character from scratch. After you choose a gender, you are allowed to add details to your avatar, from facial features to dressing up. You can also add some items to your avatar.

More online anime character creators

  • CustomeAnime – This tool has a drag and drag-based interface that makes it possible to add all sorts of customization to any part of the character’s body. With this utility, you can make your anime hold toys, tablets, smartphones, guitars, and pet animals as well. You can also add a speech bubble vector or tattoos to your character.
  • Kongregate – This free online tool can be used to customize a male or a female anime character. It allows you to change the clothes, hairstyles, skin color of the cartoon. Kongregate can be used to add face wear, headwear, and other cool accessories to your anime to make it look more convincing than other characters. Users can arm the character with a broad range of weapons.
  • Rinamaru Avatar Creator – Offers similar features and customization as Kongregate. To work offline, you can download a flash file to your computer. You’ll have to use the print screen functionality of your Windows PC to save your creation.
  • Synfig Studio – This free software for MAC and Windows computers. It has powerful utilities to create cool 2D animations, bitmaps, and vectors. Synfig Studio has been built with HDRI technology, hence the vectors, frames, and image layers generated with it are of high quality.
  • Blender – The blender software, can be used to visually stunning art. It comes with effects that make photos look realistic. You can use the blender to edit video files as well. It can be installed on PC or laptops with any modern Linux distros, MAC, and Windows OS.

So, the variety and quality of anime character creators is out there. The question that remains is what to use them for, and why.

But what about their usefulness?

Obviously, the audience that watches anime and uses all products like video games that are related to the anime is out there. The existence of such a number of anime character creators that the abbreviated list above, only proves that fact. But what purpose can these character creators serve?

First of all, the anime variety is much wider than some in the public perceive it. As LiveAbout.com (above) points out, because all things anime tend to be lumped together, “it’s tempting to think of anime as a genre. It isn’t, at least no more than the animation itself is a genre, but rather a description of how the material is produced. Anime shows, like books or movies, fall into any number of existing genres: comedy, drama, sci-fi, action-adventure, horror, and so on.”

But what can be the use of anime character creators for business? On one hand, some of the online character creators, have limitations of use for commercial purposes. Yet, such anime character creators can serve as a very solid base for drafts of sorts. In combination with free animation software, you can get a good idea of how a certain anime-based video or video ad might look like before it goes into production. Based on it you may decide whether to use special animation tools like rotoscoping.

Also, when creating anime-oriented products anime character creators can give you a very good idea how the final logo or another design might look like when completely finished.

Where do the benefits end?

Of course, when using tools like anime character creator you may hit a jackpot right away and come up with a design solution that will exactly fit into, say, your next anime-based ad campaign.

But, as is usually the case, more often than not, the character design you come up with such creators can only serve as a good, sometimes very good base. A draft of a finished product.

But, to get something as precise and as perfectly done as possible as an anime video game, or a set of sticker tattoos you would need to enlist the help of a professional. In most cases, those professional designers, animators, or, say, video producers came from the ranks of freelancers.

And that is where BunnyStudio can be of full assistance. We offer a varied range of talented and experienced professionals in various range of fields.

All of which can assist you in creating anime-based products. They can be designers, video, or post-production professionals. They will probably be able to help with the use of any of the anime character creators mentioned. Or, you may leave the process of creating drafts completely to them.