logo
Is this AI video generator the future of anime? Definitely not

Is this AI video generator the future of anime? Definitely not

Digital Trends10-05-2025

Table of Contents
Table of Contents Is there a place for AI tools in the anime industry? How do the generated animations look? Should you use Animon.ai?
Japan has been fairly quiet during the AI boom so far, but now — just after the whole ChatGPTxGhibli trend — Japanese company Animon has come out with an AI video generator specifically for anime.
The free-to-use tool takes still images of anime, cartoon, or CG art and creates five-second-long animations based on the prompt you enter. The company claims it will help both professional and amateur animators speed up the creative process — essentially requiring only one hand-drawn frame per five seconds of video instead of hundreds.
Recommended Videos
Is there a place for AI tools in the anime industry?
Quick confession here — I happen to be a total anime nerd. I've watched hundreds of shows, I visit Japan nearly every year, I've worked there, and I speak Japanese. I'm no expert on the animation process, but I know what good animation looks like and what bad animation looks like.
Even without AI getting involved, there are already a lot of ways to cut corners with animation in the anime industry. A lot of the work now gets outsourced to Korean animation studios, and the time and money going into it keep going down.
When a studio doesn't invest enough in its animation, it affects the shows in two main ways: there's a lot less movement, and there's a noticeable drop in art quality. The character designs might look beautiful on the promotional posters, but the versions drawn from frame to frame don't have the same level of detail or the right proportions, and in some cases, they even look straight-up derpy.
I have an unfortunate example of this from a show I like (a popular volleyball anime called Haikyuu). Earlier episodes were animated really nicely, but for whatever reason, the quality plummeted during one of the later seasons. Here's an image comparing a shot of the protagonist from an episode in season one to an episode in season four.
To be clear, some shows still look great — but low-quality animation can pop up just about anywhere, and it can definitely be bad enough to drive away viewers like me.
With the bar sinking so low, you might think AI video generation tools actually have a chance in this industry. However, judging by the content I got from Animon.ai, I'm afraid that doesn't appear to be the case.
How do the generated animations look?
The tool does work in that it takes the image you give it and makes it move for five seconds, but that's about all you can guarantee will happen. For my first experiment, I gave it a still of Jet Black from Cowboy Bebop about to drink from a whiskey glass.
My prompt was simply 'The pictured character takes a drink from the glass of whiskey he is holding.' The video I got in return has a few things wrong with it.
Firstly, Jet Black does not drink the whiskey. He appears to be talking, and he lifts the glass closer to his face, but I don't see anything that looks like actual drinking. The whiskey inside the glass appears to be very busy, however — the glass both fills up and drains despite the lack of drinking that appears to be going on. If you want to see Jet drink for real, it's right here on YouTube.
The AI model also struggles with Jet's scar. The bottom end of it sort of disappears, and when he opens his eyes, the scar is going straight over his eyeball. Because I grabbed the still from a video on Crunchyroll's YouTube channel, it has CR's logo in the top right. In the AI video, however, the text appears to have morphed into 'Crunchyolo' instead.
Next, I tried feeding it a still of Maomao's dance scene from The Apothecary Diaries, and I got a really weird result. Unlike the trippy, mushy, morphing movements of the 2D Jet video, the AI gave me what looked like a 3D model.
Animon.ai is meant to work with CG art as well, so I suppose it makes sense that it can generate 3D models, but I was pretty surprised. While The Apothecary Diaries makes use of 3D models a lot for buildings and backgrounds, the character was definitely drawn in the shot I used.
Either way, the generated videos seem significantly more stable when 3D models are involved. Movement looks less sloshy, and the model keeps the size and shape of the character more consistent. I still wouldn't want to see it in a show as is, but it's undoubtedly a step up from the 2D-style content it gave me.
However, Animon.ai's sales pitch is all about helping animators save time by drawing fewer frames — and this is irrelevant when it comes to 3D animation. It's already quick and inexpensive compared to 2D, and it doesn't make much sense to create a 3D model and then use an AI video generator to haphazardly animate it rather than using animation software.
Should you use Animon.ai?
If you don't know anything about animation and you want a quick GIF or a video for personal purposes, this tool will probably work just fine (or give you a good laugh if not). However, it's hard to imagine any amateur or professional animators seeing real value in this.
If you want to see what the tool is capable of, the Animon YouTube channel posted a music video that appears to be almost 100% AI-generated — it definitely looks that way, at least.
Overall, I think there are two main reasons AI video generators aren't ready for any real work. One is that movement looks too bad, and the other is the lack of control you have over the result. It's the same as any other generative AI tool, really — they're just not consistent and responsive enough to be reliable. We will likely get there one day, and it's still fun to mess around with early versions of the technology, but don't let the salespeople fool you — none of these tools are ready for commercial use yet.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Disney Bringing Back Classic Series After Nearly 20 Years
Disney Bringing Back Classic Series After Nearly 20 Years

Screen Geek

time19 minutes ago

  • Screen Geek

Disney Bringing Back Classic Series After Nearly 20 Years

Disney's unique catalogue of films and shows have become nostalgic for numerous generations. As such, it's no surprise that the studio tends to rejuvenate their countless IPs every so often. Now, after nearly 20 years, it looks like Disney is bringing back a classic series for a new premiere on the Disney Channel. With physical releases and streaming services including Disney's own Disney Plus, it's nice to know that the company still makes an event out of their Disney Channel television network. And, for this particular series which one aired regularly on the channel, it's nice to see it make a comeback. Of course, there's a perfectly good reason this series is being brought back after so long. Specifically, it's to tie in with a new release that's doing quite well in theaters at this moment in time. Disney definitely knows what they're doing in that regard. The aforementioned theatrical film is none other than Lilo & Stitch , with the Disney Channel series being Lilo & Stitch: The Series , the original animated show that follows the events of the first Lilo & Stitch movie. Now that the live-action adaptation has become a hit in theaters, the Disney Channel is once again airing Lilo & Stitch: The Series for the first time in nearly 20 years, a brilliant marketing move as Lilo & Stitch merch continues to fly off the shelves. As you can see in the schedule shared below via Instagram featuring the classic Disney Channel series and various other shows coming to the network: Lilo & Stitch is currently playing in theaters. In addition, fans will now be able to spend the summer enjoying Lilo & Stitch : The Series on the Disney Channel, where it will begin airing on June 26. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional Lilo & Stitch news and any additional Disney updates as we have them. It's great to see this franchise once again having its moment in the spotlight, especially after having quite the hiatus in North America the last two decades.

OpenAI Launches Improved Version of Latest Reasoning Model. Here's What It's Best For
OpenAI Launches Improved Version of Latest Reasoning Model. Here's What It's Best For

CNET

time26 minutes ago

  • CNET

OpenAI Launches Improved Version of Latest Reasoning Model. Here's What It's Best For

OpenAI this week announced an improved version of its o3 generative AI reasoning model, saying it performed better on benchmarks and is designed to spend more time thinking on difficult problems. The new model, called o3-pro, is now available for Pro and Team users in ChatGPT and API users, and will come to Enterprise and Edu users next week. In its release notes, OpenAI said the model is similar to o1-pro, which users favored for its math, science and coding skills. It incorporates improvements from the newer o3 model, which can search the web and use more reasoning skills. "Because o3-pro has access to tools, responses typically take longer than o1-pro to complete," the company said. "We recommend using it for challenging questions where reliability matters more than speed, and waiting a few minutes is worth the tradeoff." Kevin Weil, OpenAI's chief product officer, posted on X that the company is also dropping the price of o3 in the API by 80%, and that rate limits for o3 will be doubled for Plus users. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) OpenAI continues to build on its latest rounds of updates to its large language models, which rolled out in April. CEO Sam Altman has teased the larger release of an "open-weights" model, a kind of middle ground between open- and closed-source models that provides more insight into how the models work. He doubled down on that teasing this week, posting on X that it would be exptected later in the summer, but not in June. "[O]ur research team did something unexpected and quite amazing and we think it will be very very worth the wait, but needs a bit longer," he said.

Applied Optoelectronics Announces First Volume Shipment of Data Center Transceivers to Recently Engaged Major Hyperscale Customer
Applied Optoelectronics Announces First Volume Shipment of Data Center Transceivers to Recently Engaged Major Hyperscale Customer

Yahoo

time31 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Applied Optoelectronics Announces First Volume Shipment of Data Center Transceivers to Recently Engaged Major Hyperscale Customer

SUGAR LAND, Texas, June 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. ('AOI') (Nasdaq: AAOI), a leading provider of fiber-optic access network products for the internet datacenter, cable broadband, telecom and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) markets, today announced the first volume shipment of high-speed data center transceivers to a recently re-engaged major hyperscale data center customer. This milestone is the first volume shipment of these advanced high-speed data center transceivers to this customer, and the first shipment of significant quantity to this customer in several years. 'Throughout the year, we have been expecting growth in data center transceiver sales, particularly in the second half of the year,' commented Dr. Thompson Lin, AOI's Founder, Chairman, and CEO. 'This first volume shipment to this customer represents a significant milestone on a journey to what we continue to expect to be significant business opportunities with this newly re-engaged customer. As we execute on our previously-announced US-based capacity expansion plan, we continue to expect shipments to this customer and other customers to increase in line with our previous commentary of a second-half ramp.' For more information about AOI's industry-leading line of advanced optical transceivers for AI-focused data centers, please refer to the information on AOI's website at About Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (AOI) is a leading developer and manufacturer of advanced optical products, including components, modules and equipment. AOI's products are the building blocks for broadband fiber access networks around the world, where they are used in the internet datacenter, CATV broadband, telecom and FTTH markets. AOI supplies optical networking lasers, components and equipment to tier-1 customers in all four of these markets. In addition to its corporate headquarters, wafer fab and advanced engineering and production facilities in Sugar Land, TX, AOI has engineering and manufacturing facilities in Taipei, Taiwan and Ningbo, China. For additional information, visit Forward-Looking InformationThis press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "believe," "may," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "should," "could," "would," "target," "seek," "aim," "predicts," "think," "objectives," "optimistic," "new," "goal," "strategy," "potential," "is likely," "will," "expect," "plan," "project," "permit" or by other similar expressions that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes. These statements include management's beliefs and expectations related to our outlook for the second quarter of 2025 and the remainder of 2025. Such forward-looking statements reflect the views of management at the time such statements are made. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions and current expectations, which could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: reduction in the size or quantity of customer orders; change in demand for the company's products due to industry conditions; changes in manufacturing operations; volatility in manufacturing costs; delays in shipments of products; disruptions in the supply chain; change in the rate of design wins or the rate of customer acceptance of new products; the company's reliance on a small number of customers for a substantial portion of its revenues; potential pricing pressure; a decline in demand for our customers' products or their rate of deployment of their products; general conditions in the internet datacenter, cable television (CATV) broadband, telecom, or fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) markets; changes in the world economy (particularly in the United States and China); changes in the regulation and taxation of international trade, including the imposition of tariffs; changes in currency exchange rates; the negative effects of seasonality; and other risks and uncertainties described more fully in the company's documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2025. More information about these and other risks that may impact the company's business are set forth in the "Risk Factors" section of the company's quarterly and annual reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon information available to us as of the date hereof, and qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this press release to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in the company's expectations. Investor Relations Contact: The Blueshirt Group, Investor Relations Lindsay Savarese +1-212-331-8417ir@ in to access your portfolio

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store