Sentence mining from anime: the terms and tools for beginners
The terms
What is sentence mining?
Sentence mining means collecting lines from shows, books or games, each with one word you don't know yet. You put each line on a flashcard, usually in Anki, with its audio and the meaning of the new word. Anki is a flashcard app, free on computers and Android. It decides when you review each card. Each time you remember a card, it waits longer before showing it to you again.
Tatsumoto Ren, who now runs the AJATT site, calls it "extracting sentences that contain unknown words" from what you watch, read or listen to.
What is i+1?
An i+1 line is one where you know everything except one new thing. The i is what you already know. The +1 is the one new word or grammar point. Some people write n+1.
What is AJATT?
AJATT stands for All Japanese All The Time. It's a self-study method that Khatzumoto started in 2006. You fill your day with Japanese you enjoy, mostly shows and books. You review whole sentences in Anki instead of word lists. Tatsumoto took over the method when Khatzumoto retired in 2023.
The AJATT advice is to make your own cards. Tatsumoto writes that finding your own sentences "is much more fun than learning from a premade deck".
What is subs2srs?
subs2srs is a free desktop program, first written by Christopher Brochtrup. It turns a video and its subtitle file into Anki cards. For every subtitle line it cuts an audio clip and a screenshot, then gives you a file to import into Anki. Picking the lines worth keeping is up to you. The Ajatt-Tools group keeps a newer version for Linux.
The usual order: a starter deck, then mining
Mining works when you already know most of the words in a line. With one new word, you can work out its meaning from the rest of the line. With four, you spend the time looking words up.
The sentence mining guide on the AJATT site recommends learning basic grammar and vocabulary first. Its author started mining after learning about 1,000 words.
Japanese like a breeze (JLab) hosts a large folder of subs2srs decks made by its community. JLab's guide says decks like these are for after you know about 1,000 words. You go through each deck and delete every card with more than one word you don't know.
Starter decks
The first three are free Anki decks on AnkiWeb.
- Kaishi 1.5k: a beginner deck of about 1,500 words, made by donkuri.
- Ankidrone Foundation: the AJATT site's starter deck. It has the 1,000 most common words in everyday conversation, in an order where each card adds roughly one new thing. You need to know kana first.
- JLab's beginner course: lines from anime and Japanese TV dramas, with each show's own audio and a screenshot. It follows Tae Kim's grammar guide and starts from zero. Its AnkiWeb page says each card introduces at most one new word or grammar point. JLab describes it as a starter deck with 2,100 cards.
- learnfromx (this site): a beginner course in the browser, made from the lines of an anime you pick. Hunter x Hunter (2011) is the first one available. It starts from zero and teaches the show's most common words and grammar. Each line has at most one word you haven't learned yet (i+1).
Mining tools
- Yomitan: a free pop-up dictionary for Chrome, Firefox and Edge. It shows a word's dictionary entry on the page and can make an Anki card from it.
- asbplayer: a free video player in the browser, with a Chrome extension. It makes an Anki card from a subtitle line, with its audio and a screenshot.
- mpvacious: a free script for the mpv video player that does the same, on Linux, Windows and macOS.
- subs2srs: makes cards from a whole episode at once (see above).
- Migaku: a paid Chrome extension with phone apps and its own review system. It starts at $10 a month.
Yomitan, asbplayer and mpvacious send cards to Anki through the AnkiConnect add-on.
Finding lines and words
- Immersion Kit: a search over 500,000 anime lines, each with audio and a picture.
- jpdb: a dictionary and review website with ready-made word decks for 1,399 anime. It has its own review system and can import from Anki.
Tool details as listed on each tool's website, 6 November 2026.