I won’t generalize the community by saying “everyone does it,” but chances are if you enjoy a lot of anime, you’ve had a thought that maybe you should learn Japanese. Alternatively, maybe you just enjoy the country or the language, but want to augment your knowledge through enjoying a few anime series. Anime can be both a good way to expand your Japanese vocabulary, and also a terrible way. Not every series is so great for practicing as it can be filled with slang and otherwise made up words that are useful only to the plot.
Whether you want to achieve the ultimate weeb dream of leaving subtitles behind or just want to improve and practice your Japanese, here are a few series that can help.
One note is that you may want to check out Animelon to help you learn Japanese via anime. It allows you to click on subtitles, which pause the video, to learn their meaning as well as have the hiragana/katakana/kanji for the word above it. (It’s not affiliated with this site and ran solely by donations, I just thought it was super neat. It is like FluentU, but you don’t need to pay.)
Best Anime To Practice Your Japanese With
Beginner Level Anime For Learning Japanese
The general rule, not just with learning Japanese, but any language, is to start with children’s shows. There are plenty of children’s anime out there, even on Crunchyroll. Yet, they can get a little, well, boring after awhile. These are a step above children’s anime, but are still very accessible.
Polar Bear Cafe
A particularly slow-paced comedy anime about a polar bear that owns a cafe by the zoo. It’s not rapid-fire dialogue and its is pretty situational so even if you are unfamiliar with the words, you can likely help glean the meaning from the situation. The only thing that might trip you up is that the show is particularly fond of puns, but then again so is much of the Japanese language itself.
Studio Ghibli Movies
While not an anime series, Ghibli movies can be a step up from regular children’s anime with the same simplicity and entertaining at the same time. Interestingly enough, there are actually very few nonsensical words in many of these movies, but a lot of dialogue that can help you learn language for everyday situations (even if they are whimsically used in the movies).
My Roommate is a Cat
A popular beginner recommendation is the cat anime Chi’s Sweet Home. My Roommate is a Cat is a step above that and more of a mature anime about a guy and a cat living together. It is a little lighter on the dialogue and it comes at a pretty even pace that allows for plenty of comprehension time.
Kimi ni Todoke
Romance anime and slice of life anime are usually good bets for practicing your Japanese with anime. Kimi ni Todoke I find particularly accessible to lower level learners because the dialogue moves so slow. The main character has trouble expressing herself, and as such, her words come out and a very slow pace. It can be a show used to expand your vocabulary if your listening comprehension isn’t so great yet. Just watch out for her two female friends, they can use some pretty rude language.
Skilled Teaser Takagi-san
As it is about two people teasing, or attempting, to tease each other, there is a lot of daily life language going on. Furthermore, because the characters are in middle school, the dialogue isn’t very complex either. Many of the exchanges are silly and not overly complex that can help you get down composition and key vocabulary. It’s also quite cute, and that never hurts.
Sweetness and Lightning
This is a food anime, but not of an intricate sort that Food Wars is. It goes through the recipes, and the conversation is at a basic level. Furthermore, as one character is a very small child, much of the dialogue is very accessible for a beginning learner.
Fruits Basket
While it has its supernatural touches, much of the problems in Fruits Basket are people problems that are talked out. The biggest reason I recommend this series in particular is because Tohru, the main character, is displayed as a very humble character, and thus uses polite Japanese keigo even when talking to people she is very close to. For new learners, this will be what you are used to. Furthermore, a lot of people often fault learning Japanese from anime specifically because it doesn’t teach polite Japanese. This one can help you be familiar with both as there are also some rough talkers like Kyo.
Intermediate Level Anime For Learning Japanese
If you are at an intermediate level, then you really have your pick of the litter. By this point, you should be able to pick out some slang and nonsensical words and realize they aren’t for non-weeb conversations. These are a few recommendations to help you build vocabulary and comprehension further.
Servant X Service
This can be a good show for those that are maybe early intermediate level. It uses polite keigo as it follows characters that work in a government office. This can help expand your vocabulary if you are interested in using your Japanese in a more professional/business situation. Obviously if that is your goal, then you really want to take anime Japanese with a grain of salt, though.
Hyouka
This series is a mystery series, which means it may have some terms that you are not familiar with as they investigate. However, it is big on exposition and has quite a hefty amount of dialogue. Unlike other dialogue-laden series like Bakemonogatari, for example, it is less supernatural and less fast-paced.
Blend S
This is a series about girls that work in a theme cafe. As a comedy slice of life primarily in a cafe, there is a lot of useful vocabulary, but the most interesting bit is the manager. Dino, the manager of the cafe, is Italian, and his accent reflects as such. It can help you zero in on pronunciation that doesn’t sound correct, as most of his isn’t compared to other characters. This can also be a helpful series to beginners purely because Maika’s more formal language is likely going to be more familiar to the ears.
Nichijou
If you are looking to improve your listening comprehension, Nichijou can help a lot. It is a fast-paced absurdist comedy, so there is a lot of randomness to it. Not made up words, just random situations that seem to come up out of nowhere. It is a pretty good challenge to see how much you understand.
Mushishi
This series is almost exclusively just talking, ponderously, about spiritual events. As the mushi spirits can cause a variety of different phenomenon in this episodic series, there are a lot of new words to be learned. This can be a bit of an overwhelming vocabulary for lower level learners, but great for intermediate learns that want something nice and chill to build out their knowledge.
Love Hina
If you are looking to some exposure to the Kansai dialect, Love Hina can be a good start. Mitsune and Kaolla Su (as a running gag) speak with the Kansai accent and use some of the dialect. Otherwise, the show is pretty standard. It’s not recommended for beginners purely because of the Kansai characters. However, if you getting started with dialects, it is interesting to listen to the difference. If you are looking for something even more immersive in Kansai, you can try Lovely Complex that takes place in the region and uses mostly Kansai voice actors.
Anime to Avoid When Learning Japanese
While there is nothing wrong with learning it, some anime series tend to use rougher language that thugs would use. It is not something you want to learn and then use all the time. Some examples of this include:
- Great Teacher Onizuka
- Lupin III
- Gangsta
A number of shounen battle anime can be guilty of this as well, though not enough to tell you to avoid them completely. Just be sure to check not only the meaning of the word, but the situations one would use it in before busting that bad boy out in conversation.
On a different note, unless you are of an advanced level, or have a particular interest in it, then it is best to avoid more scientific anime series. It can make the language complex and can fill your vocabulary with words you probably won’t use often. Examples include:
- Cells at Work
- Steins;Gate
- Ghost Hound
- Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai (A lot of quantum physics for a romance anime)
Finally, while there is a time for them, the faster the dialogue flows in an anime can make things needlessly difficult. Unless you are really dedicating yourself on intense listening comprehension, avoid shows like:
- FLCL
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
- Tatami Galaxy
Are you learning Japanese and have a few anime recommendations for fellow learners? Let fans know in the comments section below.
