PROMPT GUIDE

How to Write Niji Journey Prompts (for Anime Art)

Niji Journey is the Midjourney mode tuned for anime and illustration styles. Write the prompt in English in the order character look, action, place, then shading and mood, and use shading and line words to set the art style. This guide collects the words that make images look like anime and how to keep a character consistent.

Last updated: 2026-10-22 approx. 3 min read

日本語版

The short answer

Niji Journey is the Midjourney mode that is good at anime and illustration styles. Write in English in the order look, action, place, then shading and mood, and use shading and line words to set the style. To keep the same character, reuse the exact same appearance sentence every time.

What is Niji Journey? (The anime-focused mode)

Niji Journey is a mode inside Midjourney tuned for anime and illustration styles.

Niji Journey is a Midjourney mode tuned for anime, manga and illustration styles. With the same English prompt, it tends to give bigger eyes and clearer lines and shading than the standard mode, so the result looks more like anime. How you switch to it (a parameter, a dedicated page and so on) and which version is current can change, so check the official docs.

Good for character art, icons and illustrations
You write sentences, so it is easy to start without knowing Danbooru tags
You can change shading, line weight and color mood with words
Fine details (finger shapes, prop placement) can be hard, so start with simple compositions

Step-by-step: writing a Niji Journey prompt

Steps to make one anime character image

Write the character's look (hairstyle, hair color, eye color) in one sentence
Write the outfit with its colors
Add one expression and one action
Add place and time of day (a classroom, the evening and so on)
Add one or two shading or mood words (cel shading, soft pastel colors, etc.)
Set the aspect ratio with --ar and generate
Change only one thing you do not like and generate again

an anime girl with short silver hair and golden eyes, wearing a navy hoodie, cheerful smile, waving one hand, in front of a convenience store at night, neon light, clean cel shading --ar 2:3

a gentle anime illustration of a girl with long pink hair in a white dress, sitting on a bench in a flower garden, spring afternoon, soft pastel colors, delicate lineart --ar 3:4

How do you set shading and line style in Niji Journey?

Write one or two English words describing the shading or lines, such as cel shading, soft pastel colors or watercolor illustration.

What you want	How to say it	Notes
Crisp anime shading	clean cel shading, flat colors	Like a TV anime frame
Soft shading	soft shading, soft pastel colors	For a gentle, airy feel
Watercolor look	watercolor illustration, paper texture	Hand-painted with bleeding colors
Line weight	thick outlines / delicate thin lineart	Thick lines feel lively, thin lines feel delicate
Number of colors	limited color palette	Fewer colors look more unified
Manga look	black and white manga style, screentone	Like a black and white manga panel

Rinka's tips

Use at most one or two style words. Listing many gives a muddy, in-between look
Avoid naming real artists or titles to set a style. Describe the shading and lines in words instead
Color mood comes across well as "season + time of day" (spring afternoon, winter night)

Anime girl illustration with clean cel shading — くっきりしたアニメ塗り

Soft pastel anime illustration of a girl — くっきりしたアニメ塗り

Illustration usage rules

How do you keep the same character in Niji Journey?

Keep the appearance sentence exactly the same every time and change only one of action, place or expression.

When you want many images of the same character, keep the appearance sentence identical and change only the action, place or expression. Writing hair, eye and outfit colors specifically reduces drift. If character references are available, using your favorite image as the reference makes the results even more consistent.

Copy the appearance sentence (hair, eyes, outfit) and use it in the same order every time
Be specific about hairstyle details (twin tails, where the ribbon is)
Change only one of "action", "place" or "expression" per image
Use the result that looks closest to your character as the reference

For character sheets (turnarounds and expression sheets), see Full-Body Standing Art, Turnaround and Character Sheet Prompts (Plus Expression Variants) →

Niji Journey looks 3D or the colors change? (Fixes)

The usual causes are weak style words or vague color descriptions.

Problem	Cause	Fix
It looks 3D	No style word, or realistic words in the prompt	Add anime illustration, cel shading and remove words like realistic
Hair or outfit colors change every time	Vague color descriptions	Write "color + part" for each (silver hair, navy hoodie)
Hands break	Complex hand pose or a held item	Ask less of the hands, or use a pose with hands down
The background is cluttered	Too many place words	Use one place, or simple background
The character is small	Scenery words or a wide ratio	Add upper body or portrait, or use a portrait ratio

Danbooru tags (Stable Diffusion) vs Niji Journey sentences

Stable Diffusion (tags)	Niji Journey (sentence)	Notes
1girl, solo	an anime girl	The number of people becomes the subject
twintails, blue hair	with blue hair in twin tails	Join the look with "with"
school uniform	wearing a school uniform	Join clothing with "wearing"
smile, looking at viewer	smiling at the viewer	Merge expression and gaze into one action
masterpiece, best quality	(often unnecessary)	Quality tags are usually not needed

For parameters such as --ar and --no, see How to Write Midjourney Prompts (Sentences and Parameters) →

For more ways to describe expressions, see Facial Expression Prompt List (Smile, Blush, Crying) →

For names of shading and coloring styles, see Coloring Style Prompts (Anime Coloring, Galge Style, Painterly, Flat Color, Lineart) →

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Niji Journey and Midjourney?

Niji Journey is a mode inside Midjourney tuned for anime and illustration styles. With the same prompt it tends to give more anime-like eyes and shading.

Can I write Niji Journey prompts in other languages?

You can, but English carries detailed instructions better. Think in your own language, then write a short English sentence.

How do I make many images of the same character?

Keep the appearance sentence identical and change only the action or place. If character references are available, using your favorite image as the reference keeps the results consistent.

Do Danbooru tags work in Niji Journey?

Some are understood, but sentences follow your intent better than a list of tags. Try joining tags with "with" and "wearing" to make a sentence.