All ANANTA characters: the six playable heroes and the faces of the city

The official ANANTA site presents six playable characters: the Captain, Shi Ye, Taffy, Richie, Wei Yinglong and Seymour (fact in the registry). You don’t buy them: every playable character is unlocked by playing, and more will arrive with free story updates (no character gacha).

Who are the playable characters?

The Captain

The Captain is the main character and the new captain of the ACD, a task force against Chaos that is falling apart (fact in the registry). The Captain comes from Chongxiao and arrives in Nova City at the start of the story. In the official description of the 2025 gameplay video, the newcomer’s employer goes under after the first day on the job, and a fight with a Chaos that jams city traffic turns the Captain into an internet star overnight.

Game Informer, summing up NetEase’s Gamescom 2026 materials, names two goals: rebuild the ACD and find the Captain’s missing father (fact in the registry). The public press release and the official site don’t mention the father, so the registry labels this claim as coming from a reliable source rather than as official.

Shi Ye

Shi Ye is the Captain’s childhood friend, who always pulls a new gadget out of her pocket. Her line on the official site: she brings the money, the Captain brings the muscle. On the site her section is paired with Mingpu District in Lingyun. Pocket Tactics notes that she joined the cast later than the others and features heavily in the Gamescom 2026 trailer; one official image shows her riding a motorbike through the air next to the Captain.

Taffy

Taffy is a courier with long rabbit ears and the ACD’s other agent. She joined expecting good pay, short hours and a short commute, and ended up delivering bizarre cargo on hot days. She co-founded the Yeet Squad and is counting on perks once the crew reaches a million fans. Producer Ash Qi told GamesRadar in 2023 that her hammer works as a weapon and as a ride.

Richie

Richie is an officer of the NCCA, Nova City’s police, and works with the ACD. She catches criminals on duty and takes side jobs after hours. The official bio advises suspects to come along peacefully rather than test her fists, and notes that she always eats the most in the NCCA canteen. In the Tokyo Game Show 2025 demo the playable officer could check any citizen for open warrants, GamesRadar reports.

Wei Yinglong

Wei Yinglong introduces herself as Lingyun’s 21st Director and runs the temple in Longqi Village, a tea village in Chongxiao. Her main job, the bio says, is stopping her sister from causing trouble all over town. In the Chinese version of the bio she also protects the Chaos living at the temple. NetEase hasn’t explained what her title means for the story.

Seymour

Seymour is a masked hacker who lives in an RV. Anyone with a phone signal is within his reach if they interest him or have done something awful. He rarely leaves the RV because people keep asking where he bought his mask, and he reminds everyone to change their passwords every six months. The official gallery shows his room full of monitors, with a cat on the desk.

How do you unlock characters?

There is no gacha. Famitsu reported in September 2025 that every playable character can be obtained in the game, and producer Ash Qi says new characters will arrive with free story updates as the main story grows. NetEase lists the roles you can play as NCCA officer, hacker, delivery rider and content creator, and you switch between recruited agents (switching characters). Ash told GamesRadar that a character you leave keeps living their own life.

All six playable characters, their roles and how we will rank them after launch are in the ANANTA tier list.

How ANANTA makes money instead is covered in our monetization article.

Can you choose the Captain’s gender and name?

Not confirmed. NetEase’s English texts call the Captain “he”. Wikipedia and Icy Veins say the player picks the gender, and an older trailer featured a female hero, but NetEase hasn’t confirmed a choice (open question).

Update, October 28: the team confirmed at Gamescom 2026 that a female Captain will be available at launch (details).

Residents of the city

The official site also names non-playable characters in its district sections:

• Victor: a mustached Downtown resident in a superhero costume who promises to be your biggest fan.
• Frank Forker: a Downtown hot dog seller with rhyming slogans.
• Tie Shan: a martial artist from Longqi Village with an iron-ball head, shown sparring with the Captain.
• Arms: a Veluxity Zone fixer who says his own hands are not for sale, until he hears the price.
• Broadcast Goose: a goose at Weilan Lake that shouts supermarket ads.

According to NetEase’s Gamescom 2026 materials, more than 100 residents with their own stories can be recruited (fact in the registry).

Characters who left the site

Alan, Bansy, Mechanika and Dila had profiles on the site in the Project Mugen days. Pocket Tactics reports they were removed in the September 23, 2025 update (outdated in the registry). NetEase hasn’t said whether they will return. To test what you remember about the cast, try our ANANTA quiz or find out which ACD member you are.