Hot take: You can learn Japanese from anime, and that’s totally okay (ft 25 words from one punch man)

Most advice says “don’t learn Japanese from anime.” And if you just repeat 必殺技 attacks and villain speeches yeah that's correct. You should talk like that in the real world.

But that doesn't mean you still can't use anime to supplement your japanese study

Find an anime you enjoy. Pull the transcript Highlight real repeatable vocab (not goofy catchphrases, but words you’ll actually meet again in news, conversations, or work.) and add them into your spaced repetition software of choice.

Review the flashcards. Rewatch the episode. Notice the words pop up. Repete.

Anyways I pulled 25 vocab words from One Punch Man episode 1 for y'all. Its all legit words that show up outside anime too.

Job / life vocab

無職 = unemployed (俺はサラリーマンじゃなくて無職)

就職活動 = job hunting (今 就職活動中だ)

面接 = interview (今日も面接だったが 落とされた)

落とされる = to be rejected

落ちこぼれ = dropout / failure

Society / feelings

社会 = society (社会に何ら影響を与えていない)

影響 = influence (影響を与えていない)

悩み = worry / trouble (悩みを抱えている)

感情 = emotions (感情が薄れていく)

恐怖 = fear

緊張 = tension

喜び = joy

怒り = anger

虚しい = empty, meaningless (虚しい…)

自己満足 = self-satisfaction (自己満足ができればそれでいい)

News-style / serious words

災害レベル = disaster level

被害 = damage / harm

規模 = scale / scope

拡大 = expansion

判別 = to judge / distinguish

協会 = association

Descriptive / expressive

渦巻く = to swirl (感情が渦巻いていた)

手応え = sense of response / resistance (手応えのありそうな怪人)

That’s 25+ words from a single episode. Add them into SRS and suddenly you’re reviewing “interview,” “declining birthrate,” “society,” and “influence” instead of “the duck is red.”

anime isn’t useless. I mean thats still up for debate…but you can still mine it for nuggets.

Anyways, hope that's useful for someone.

by CourseSpare7641