ANANTA customization: the Captain’s looks, outfits, cars and homes

ANANTA lets you choose a male or female Captain with basic options for looks and physique, change outfits, buy, tune and repaint cars and renovate the characters’ homes, according to NetEase and producer Ash. Press reports from the demos describe only outfits: at Tokyo Game Show 2025, shops on the map sold clothes, and changing them called a car carrying the wardrobe (fact in the registry).

What you will pay for is covered in Is ANANTA free?, the vehicles in ANANTA vehicles and the gender choice in our article on the female Captain.

Can you create your own Captain?

Partly. Producer Ash told Famitsu in September 2025 that a female protagonist will be selectable at launch; the Tokyo Game Show trailer and demo used only the male Captain to keep the presentation consistent. At Gamescom 2026 Tian Yu of the development team told GAME Watch that the female Captain is still being polished, and Link and Rain told Pocket Tactics that the game has both (fact in the registry).

Beyond gender, little has been promised. Asked by AUTOMATON in September 2026 about the hero’s looks and base, a NetEase representative promised basic customization of looks and physique and asked players to wait for announcements on the rest (fact in the registry). Neither demo let you pick a gender: Famitsu couldn’t choose one in Tokyo, and at Gamescom 2026 the developers told Famitsu that both versions will be properly selectable, since the player becomes the protagonist, and that the Captain is still getting adjustments, including design changes.

Our assessment: “basic” options for a hero with a fixed story role suggest a few presets for face and body rather than a detailed editor, but NetEase hasn’t shown it. A name choice hasn’t been announced either; the subtitles of the 2025 videos call the Captain Chenxiu (open question). What is known sits in the database entry on the Captain’s gender and looks.

Outfits: shops, a menu and a wardrobe on wheels

Clothes are the only customization the press reports describe. In the Tokyo Game Show 2025 demo:

• Famitsu chose the outfit change command in the menu, and a car loaded with clothes pulled up nearby; you pick from the outfits the character owns.
• A building marked with a clothes icon on the map was a shop selling dozens of items, Famitsu writes. AUTOMATON found a clothing shop near a cinema and could pick a character’s clothes piece by piece, which the writer found unusual for a free-to-play game where you switch characters.
• IGN Japan lists going to a clothing store to change clothes among the things to do in the demo.
• Famitsu’s interviewer noticed that many items in the fashion shops cost in-game currency rather than real money; producer Ash answered that there will be more at launch than in the demo.

The shopping scene of the 2025 gameplay trailer (4:18) shows the same system: after a car showroom, a girl walks into a FLEXLETIC sportswear store, a menu of jackets, trousers, shoes and hats with prices opens, and she tries on a black T-shirt (fact in the registry). The store and other in-world companies are covered in ANANTA brands and companies. NetEase’s 2026 press release lists clothing stores among the places to visit, and Game Informer names them among Chongxiao’s destinations.

In the same trailer the Captain changes clothes from scene to scene: a dark suit with a blue tie at the start, a striped shirt over a white T-shirt in the fog (2:42) and blue overalls while swinging between skyscrapers (6:15). In the Launch Date Trailer the Captain takes a selfie in a red shirt (2:42). Our assessment: the overalls look like a window cleaner’s disguise for that mission; whether the other looks are player choices or story costumes, NetEase hasn’t said.

Two pre-registration rewards are clothing items: 10 Clothing Dye and a Character Outfit (fact in the registry). The dye suggests that clothes can be recolored, but NetEase hasn’t explained how it works or which outfit the reward is; the milestones are in ANANTA pre-registration rewards.

More is promised for launch. At Gamescom 2026 the developers told Famitsu that the 2025 demo showed only part of the customization, and that launch will bring more varied content, followed by updates (fact in the registry).

Which cosmetics cost real money?

Famitsu reported in 2025 that paid content is mainly cosmetic: outfits, vehicles and homes (fact in the registry). How that works without character gacha is in Is ANANTA free?. The developers have added detail since:

• Producer Ash told Famitsu that paid items will be more distinctive or special, but you can enjoy customization fully without paying. Ash told Denfaminicogamer that home renovation and car purchases are mostly paid with in-game currency, while special items such as limited-time event outfits are sold for money.
• At Gamescom 2026 Tian Yu told GAME Watch that money will come from skins and cosmetics, bought the way you buy clothes in real life when something good happens, and that they don’t affect progress or fairness. The team told AXYO that its monetization won’t influence stats or how the story evolves.
• A NetEase representative told AUTOMATON that cosmetic items have to be paid for: if you like a character a lot, it is natural to want to buy them a dress or an outfit.
• PlayStation.com says cosmetic items for character customization and further personalisation options are in-game purchases at additional cost.

Prices haven’t been announced, and NetEase hasn’t said what the paid random items declared on the App Store and Google Play are (open question).

Cars: buy, tune and paint

Producer Ash told Famitsu in September 2025 that you first buy a car with a design you like, then modify parts such as the tires and engine and repaint it however you want, all the way to itasha, a car covered in anime art (fact in the registry). Famitsu’s interviewer couldn’t check vehicle customization in detail in the Tokyo Game Show 2025 demo; Famitsu’s demo report says you could summon a car the character owned and borrow other people’s cars.

The Car Paint Selector, the pre-registration reward for a social media follower goal, is named more plainly in other languages: the official site calls it 痛车涂装自选包 in Chinese and 痛車塗装セレクトパック in Japanese, an itasha paint pack you choose from. The shopping scene in the gameplay trailer opens in a car showroom (4:18).

Asked by AXYO about officially licensed cars, the team said only that, like the rest of the game, its vehicles draw on the developers’ daily life in Hangzhou and Shanghai. Every vehicle and what is known about driving are in ANANTA vehicles and on the vehicles page in our database.

Homes and renovation

Every character has a home of their own, producer Ash told Famitsu in 2025, and the team wants to give players a fair amount of freedom to renovate it (fact in the registry). Home customization wasn’t in the Tokyo Game Show 2025 demo, and at Gamescom 2026 Famitsu’s interviewer noted that no customization was playable at all. Ash told Denfaminicogamer that renovation, like buying cars, is mostly paid with in-game currency.

The homes are already on screen. In the 2025 gameplay trailer the Captain watches Taffy kick high in the kitchen at home (0:33), and in the Tokyo demo Famitsu sometimes found Taffy at home after switching to her. IGN Japan’s interviewer listed furniture among the expected paid items; Ash answered only that monetization details would be decided later.

How you get a home, whether you can buy another one and what can be changed inside, NetEase hasn’t shown. The quotes are collected in the homes and renovation entry of our database.

Can you customize your fighting style or weapons?

Nothing is confirmed. When AUTOMATON asked how the Captain’s fighting style can be customized, NetEase asked players to wait for later announcements. NetEase’s 2026 press release talks about combining martial arts techniques with the environment to develop a personal combat style, and the 2025 release says that besides their own gear, players can take enemies’ weapons to try other styles.

In the Tokyo demo Famitsu opened a weapon wheel with guns and batons but couldn’t tell how they are obtained. Wccftech reports from NetEase’s Gamescom 2026 briefing that hidden masters among the citizens teach new abilities and give weapons (fact in the registry). How each hero fights is in how combat works in ANANTA.

Phone, selfies and photo mode

The phone is part of everyday play, but no source we read mentions a photo mode or ways to decorate the phone. GamesRadar+ could take selfies on the phone in the Tokyo Game Show 2025 free roam, Dengeki Online found apps from utilities to social media for messaging, taking photos and answering work email, and at Gamescom 2026 passersby kept trying to get into the Denfaminicogamer writer’s selfies. Selfies with citizens also bring fame; how that works is in ANANTA fame and followers and on the phone page.

One pre-registration reward is a Profile Card; its Chinese name, 个人空间名片, means a name card for a personal page. Where that card appears, NetEase hasn’t said.

What NetEase hasn’t said

• How detailed the Captain editor is: face, hair, body, voice.
• Whether you can name the Captain or change the gender later.
• Whether other characters’ looks can change beyond their outfits.
• How many outfits there are, how the dye works and whether clothes are shared between characters.
• Prices for outfits, cars and homes, and what the paid random items are.
• Which car parts besides the tires, engine and paint can be changed, and whether there are real car brands.
• How you get a home, how furniture works and whether friends can visit in multiplayer.
• How fighting style customization works.
• Whether there is a photo mode.

ANANTA launches on January 15, 2027 on PC, PS5, iOS and Android (fact in the registry).