AnimationController would also have been appropriate but it’s been deprecated should be used for animating non-Humanoid models. Animator AnimationController should be used when you want to work with non-Humanoid model animations. Animator mainly is for animation playback control and replication. Animator is used for both, so you’re actually looking to use an AnimationController.
An update some time ago deprecated Humanoid animation functions as well as AnimationController and you’re encouraged, for newer projects, to directly access or create an Animator object. You can also manage the Animator object yourself if you want to control animation playback replication.