Gemini Nano banana app can turn your photos into anime characters, scenes and manga— Google explains how

Google’s twin app has suit the a la mode(p) playground for gum anime enthusiasts and digital creators. In a young X thread posted on October 10, 2025, the official Google Gemini account revealed how users are using its AI model, particularly the Nano Banana tool, to craft anime-inspired worlds, characters, and illustrations that look straight out of a manga panel.

“Anime world-building, made simple,” the company wrote. “See how people are using Gemini to create custom anime-inspired lore, new characters, and unique backdrops inspired by your favourite manga 🧵,” tweeted the Google account.

In a subsequent thread, Google outlined four distinct ways users are putting the AI model to work:

To highlight real-world examples, Google retweeted posts from creators who used Gemini Nano Banana for their projects.

How to design anime worlds and characters

Gemini’s Nano Banana tool allows creators to generate highly stylised visuals using simple text prompts. One of the most detailed examples came from GeminiOptimusAI, who demonstrated how a single prompt could produce a cohesive four-panel anime composition:

“#Gemini ♊#nanobanana 🍌
#GoogleAI ✨ #prompt 👇👇

Top Right: A woman, close-up, short brown hair, gazing into the distance, seaside, yellow jacket, anime style.
Top Left: Sailboat, at sea, waves, blue sky, close-up, anime style.
Bottom Left: A woman, sitting on a rock, looking out at mountains and the sea, from behind, yellow dress, Japanese anime style.
Bottom Right: Two people, standing on a cliff at the mountain top, looking out at a fjord and mountains, anime style.”

The result? A storyboard-like visual that could easily serve as concept art for an animated film. It’s a clear sign that AI art generation is evolving beyond static portraits — now capable of capturing mood, perspective, and continuity in a single creative flow.

How to transform food photos into illustrated recipe pages

Not all users are limiting themselves to characters and landscapes. Kris Kashtanova, another X creator, used Gemini Nano Banana in tandem with Adobe Firefly to transform a photo of ramen into a vintage recipe illustration:

“Turn your food photos into a vintage recipe illustration with Nano Banana + Adobe Firefly.

Prompt: Turn this ramen into a cute recipe page with illustrations in the style of a vintage cookbook that was hand-drawn... [using] textured shading, warm pastel colours, and fine, ink-like outlines.”

The result mimics the nostalgic feel of hand-drawn cookbooks, combining AI precision with human warmth. It is a blend of culinary art and visual storytelling that hints at how AI could redefine personal blogging, recipe sharing, or even restaurant branding.

How to make Kawaii overlays and handwritten aesthetics

User Konmari took a different approach, using Gemini’s automatic kawaii edit feature. The AI adds playful, hand-drawn overlays that match the emotion or energy of the uploaded photo.

“Automatically applies a handwritten paint effect to an uploaded image,” the prompt explained. “The AI analyses the image’s subject and mood to determine the style, colour, and content of the handwritten elements.”

From heart doodles to pastel brushstrokes, the feature allows users to achieve the cute, imperfect aesthetic that’s become a hallmark of Japanese pop culture.

How to make vegetables and items into anime Characters

Perhaps the most imaginative use came from a user who challenged Gemini to turn vegetables into life-sized anime-style characters. The detailed prompt specified every component — from pumpkin heads to carrot arms, while insisting on photorealistic rendering rather than cartoonish art:

“Photorealistic food photography of a full-body vegetable arrangement, replicating the exact pose and composition of the reference illustration... Background: greengrocer’s stall with wooden crates and baskets of produce. Lighting: soft natural daylight, high fidelity, visible water droplets on surfaces.”

The result looked like a surreal blend of art installation and fantasy concept photography, a visual pun brought to life through high-resolution AI generation.

Gemini’s Expanding Creative Frontier

By retweeting these community creations, Google seems to be positioning Gemini not just as an AI assistant, but as a co-creator, a tool that helps users turn ideas into fully formed visual narratives.

The Nano Banana model in particular has attracted attention for its nuanced image interpretation, blending artistic sensitivity with control. It is not just about prompts, it is about imagination meeting computation.

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