Google finally started rolling out Video Overviews in NotebookLM a few months ago, making it even easier to turn your notes and research projects into digestible and engaging content. Now, though, it looks like the company is taking giving Video Overviews a stylish upgrade by introducing a series of new styles, including an Anime style.
Google shared news of the update — which has Nano Banana running in the background to make these new styles possible — this week. For anyone that hasn’t kept up with Google’s AI releases, Nano Banana revolutionized Gemini’s image generation potential just a few short weeks ago, even seeing a release in Photoshop. Now, Google has brought the technology to NotebookLM to help breathe some new life into Video Overviews.
And breathe new life it can. The new styles can be applied at any point when creating a new Video Overview, and Google says that they are just one more way for NotebookLM to help you “understand any sources you upload.”
How to use NotebookLM’s new Video Overview styles
If you haven’t toyed around with NoteBookLM’s Video Overviews, then you’re missing out. You can get started at any point by heading to NoteBookLM’s website and logging into your Google account. If you have a Gemini subscription, then you’ll be able to use more of the AI notebook app’s features. Additionally, there’s also an app for both iOS and Android devices.
To create a Video Overview using one of the new styles, the first step is to upload a series of sources — or at least one — and then find the Video Overviews prompt on the right side of the site (inside the Studio tab). Don’t just tap Video Overview, though, as that will create one without letting you choose a style. Instead, click the little pencil icon in the top-right corner of the prompt button, then scroll through the visual styles and select the one you want. In addition to Anime, the new styles include Watercolor, Papercraft, Whiteboard, Retro Print, and Heritage.
You can also add additional instructions for what you want the Video Overview to focus on, which can be handy for focusing on specific parts of a dense source. This update also follows a change to NotebookLM, which saw the app hide two of its best prompts.
