I spent one Sunday afternoon making an anime trailer using AI tools. No camera. No filming. No editing experience worth mentioning. By 8 PM, I had 30 seconds of something that — when I posted it in a Demon Slayer Discord — three people asked which fan studio had made it.

That felt good enough to write about.

Here's the thing about AI-generated anime trailers: they don't look like AI made them. They look like someone spent time. Like someone understood visual composition and pacing and music. The AI handles the generation — but the decisions are still yours. Which shots. Which moments. Which music. The AI is just the paintbrush.

This is the full thing I did, in the order I did it. Including what went wrong.

What I Did Before Touching Any Tool

I watched the Demon Slayer S2 trailer six times before I opened a single tool.

Before I touched Veo or Suno, I sat down and watched the official Demon Slayer Season 2 trailer on loop. Not for entertainment — I was trying to figure out what was actually happening in it. Not the story. The structure. The cuts. When the music dropped. When the screen went quiet.

Here's what I noticed: every anime trailer is basically the same 30-second formula, just dressed differently. It opens on one single cinematic shot — a landscape, a character standing still, something that sets the mood without giving anything away. Then it cuts fast. Three or four short shots, each one barely two seconds, timed so each cut lands on a beat. By the time you blink, you're already ten seconds in and your heart is going faster than it was.

Then it slows down. There's always one moment in the middle where something emotional happens — a character's face, a line of dialogue, a reaction shot that tells you the stakes just got real. This is the part that makes you feel something instead of just react to something.

Then it builds to a crescendo. Title graphic appears exactly on the beat drop. Black screen. Done.

Once I understood this, I realised I wasn't making something from scratch. I was filling a template with AI-generated material. The structure already existed — I just had to give it my own visuals, my own music, and my own anime. That made the whole thing way less intimidating.

The Tools You'll Use (All Free or Cheap)

Total cost: Zero if you use free tiers. About $10 if you splurge on MidJourney for one month.

The Workflow — Start to Finish (4-6 Hours)

What This Actually Produces

Where to post it: YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram Reels, anime Reddit, Twitter.

A 30-second video that opens with cinematic establishing shot → has 4-5 quick cuts timed to music → stops for an emotional moment → crescendos on a title graphic → ends black or with studio logo.

It doesn't look like AI. It looks intentional. Professional. Like someone understood pacing and visual composition.

The workaround: Frame shots so strength is on wide angles and mood, not precise character details. A swordsman from behind walking toward a demon silhouette beats a close-up of the face (which might look slightly off).

Three Anime That Work Best

Make This Your First One

• Pick: Jujutsu Kaisen or Demon Slayer (dark, cinematic, action-heavy)
• Concept: 30 seconds of main character's resolve moment
• Time: 4 hours (one afternoon)
• Goal: 100+ views and 2-3 comments asking "where's this from?"

Once you've made one, the second takes 2.5 hours. By the third, you're at 2 hours. After 5 trailers, you'll have something worth showing people.