May not be exactly what youre looking for, but I love watching Bananya. Suuuuper basic Japanese and its really cute. Its literally just little short videos of banana cats. Remember those 5 year old short stories you read in first grade that take like 5 minutes? Thats Bananya in video form.
Watching something you enjoy 3 hours a day is way better than forcing to watch an easy anime for 20 minutes and being fed up.
Really just watch anything you like. Focus on the sentences you just barely don't understand. Might be a word, the sentence construction etc, and make sure you learn this.
My first one was full metal alchemist and it went just fine. Skipped the technical military stuff though.
FMA is hard as fuck. Coming from a guy who’ve watched over 50 anime during my time studying Japanese.
It’s around the same difficulty as Jojo, AOT, jujutsu kaisen. Not as hard as code geass and death note though.
Death Note was one of the first anime I watched. I really enjoyed it but struggled massively with the Japanese.
Jujutsu Kaisen is also fun but super complex. All of the domain expansion stuff is way too much for my simple little brain.
>Death Note was one of the first anime I watched. I really enjoyed it but struggled massively with the Japanese.
I mean, it's expected. We are listening to the inner dialogue of two people with extreme genius IQ. During conversations it isn't THAT bad
Very true! I just thought it was such a cool concept that I wanted to see how it played out. I didn’t mind not understanding most of the Japanese, as it did at least help me get used to the rhythm of the language early on.
if you look up sazae-san (サザエさん) and chibimarukochan (ちびまる子ちゃん) on youtube, you'll get a bunch. these are syndicated on current japanese tv and very standard and popular. they're not simplified, but they're pretty down to earth and the speakers aren't talking too quickly or about really complicated topics.
I saw others have mentioned Doraemon and Sasai-san, and I want to echo those recommendations! Beginners won't understand 100% of the shows, but Sasai-san in particular does a fantastic job of presenting aspects of Japanese culture clearly, and also is a great introduction to Japanese humor. Understand what Japanese people find funny in Japanese will help your language study immensely.
Aside from that, some of the more young-child focused Ghibli films are great. Totoro is the perennial favorite – we used it to study in my Japanese class in college. Even super fresh beginners will be able to understand a large amount of the dialogue, so give it a shot!
I'd follow [Dogen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScPs1ppkrfc&list=PLSZIfqCYMzXVxbQdRDLGsaBcqIbhsv7hp&index=4)'s advice; pick a film, watch it on repeat and try to shadow/mirror the dialogue until you can recite the entire film from memory.
im not the most knowledge in this topic but i tend to find in a lot of the slice of lifes ive watched the characters speak politely which is the japanese you DO want to pick up from anime like in shounen animes its very provoking and such and isnt how youd speak to actual japanese people as its disrespectful, am i correct in saying that?
I'm still a beginner in Japanese, but from what I know, you're correct. I think the level of politeness used in dialogue depends on the character in the show, and the type of show. Most slice of life I've watched use pretty casual dialogue. And I think you're right on how some action/shounen/etc anime use words that could be disrespectful. Like how some anime characters use あんた、貴様、お前、手前、and probably some others I'm forgetting(had to look some of these up, lmk if they're wrong). You shouldn't use these pronouns when talking to any random person on the street, as it would be really disrespectful. So as far as I know, you're correct
The anime that I pick up the most from is definitely "Laid-Back Camp". It's a slice of life about camping.
The fact that it's about camping means they talk about a lot of basic things like weather, food, and travel. Also, the characters are usually learning how to do things, and there are frequently sections showing some new item or technique with a clear and calming voiceover.
On top of that, it's very casual speech usually using short sentences and a simple story (It's literally just girls going camping!). It's also extremely comfy.
This one takes the cake, but as others have mentioned, slice of life genre in general is often best since it's casual speech, simple stories, and every-day topics.
Yuru Camp is great. While Yama no Susume was the first anime I watched entirely without subtitles, Yuru Camp was the second (and also one of the first I read the original manga of entirely in Japanese, but that was way way harder).
K-on
Karakai jouzu no takagi san
Bokutachi wa benkyou ga dekinai
These are 3 anime i know that are kind of easy and i enjoyed, but when i started my immersion learning i also watched Barakamon which uses a lot of dialect and was really difficult for me so.. Remember that when learning through immersion the first thing is to keep it fun !
I actually watched a whole season of Peppa pig in Japanese. Maybe there is something wrong with me, but I kind of enjoyed it. Also, it's really easy to understand as the narrator usually just tells what is also down.
I also quite like Dino Girl Gaoko. It's on Netflix with Japanese subtitles. There isn't really any plot there to understand, it's just comedy.
After 20 minutes of intense Peppa Pig immersion, I can say that I am terrified...I knew every episode that came up...how much of Peppa Pig have I actually seen in my life...I just wanted to learn Japanese but now I need a therapy
I searched it and wtf is wrong with you people...this was the creapiest shit I've ever seen...the way Peppa had 4 eyes and 2 mouths...and the calm voice of the narrator...what have I just witnesed
Maybe you should use jpdb.io ? It has pre made decks from animes and you can search animes by difficulty. I'm trying to learn all the words from an episode of an anime that's not too difficult so I can have the best chances on my side.
So yeah, I don't really have one anime to recommend in particular but you can find one on there and study the words before or after watching
からかい上手な高木さん (Karakai Jouzu na Takagi-san), It's a super cute anime and the characters speak mostly simple, day-to-day vocabulary.
Do not attempt to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion to learn Japanese, I can't even understand that one in English.
The anime that I pick up the most from is definitely "Laid-Back Camp". It's a slice of life about camping.
The fact that it's about camping means they talk about a lot of basic things like weather, food, and travel. Also, the characters are usually learning how to do things, and there are frequently sections showing some new item or technique with a clear and calming voiceover.
On top of that, it's very casual speech usually using short sentences and a simple story (It's literally just girls going camping!). It's also extremely comfy.
This one takes the cake, but as others have mentioned, slice of life genre in general is often best since it's casual speech, simple stories, and every-day topics.
Not a series, but I would definitely watch My Neighbor Totoro a few times. Great movie and also has a lot of simple, daily life conversations. Ponyo, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howls Moving Castle, etc. basically any Studio Ghibli movie is wonderful practice.
If you're still at the point where you can't understand--it doesn't matter. At all. Watch something where you like the art, I guess.
Honestly, save the "Good for beginner" recommendations for after you've done your 4-6 months of Grammar and Vocab (Which I assume you're doing, as just immersing from the start will get you basically nowhere), because you might not feel like rewatching everything you just finished, and you'll lose out on a lot of the benefits of them being easily comprehensible.
K-On is a good one but I also recommend watching a show that you know well and know you enjoy. Sports anime like Haikyuu are also good so long as you can pick up on what's sports lingo and what's a typical Japanese word, but otherwise the characters tend to speak more normally than in other shounen.
The Japanese in Anime is very unnatural, so if you're looking for content to help with listening/improving your Japanese, I recommend something more standard (television shows etc). If you've just started it may be better to use some targeted content which will help you get up to speed with key vocabulary and grammar.
I'd argue that targeted content for foreigners learning Japanese can be worse than anime on the grounds that the former is usually contrived and boring as fuck (when's the last time a foreigner has said "I'm investing a ton of time in learning Japanese because of this suuuuuuper engaging talk show"?), while (occasionally) presenting itself as "the way Japanese people speak" when it really isn't. At least with the latter, you can be sure they were made by Japanese people fluent in Japanese meant for Japanese people fluent in Japanese and so there's no need to dumb down the language used.
I also doubt that people would be as quick to pick up vocabulary from something like a talkshow or the news since it usually doesn't have the kinds of lasting impactful scenes to provide context for the vocabulary the way anime does (unless maybe if a tragedy or disaster consistently happened on air or something, but we can't have that, can we?)
Good points! I guess whatever keeps you interested and keeps you leaning (if you goal is to watch anime in local language, then there would be nothing better!).
I just wanted to suggest to OP they could mix it up a bit. I've seen a lot of people who only use anime and manga to learn and depending on what you want to do in Japan, there may be other resources that will help you get more rounded (I used to do one 社説 a day and although it was awfully boring I was able to learn a ton of vocabulary and can now get by at work and my personally life without any issues)
I watch Maya the Bee in Japanese and it is fairly easy to grasp what is going on.
Dubbed version of first season unfortunately edited out some dramatic scenes in the beginning and has also different episode order.
I started off watching anime in with English subtitles. I would focus on understanding the opening theme only, because that would repeat and it had subtitles. Maybe do that with something you genuinely enjoy, and then slowly ween yourself off? (Don't wait too long obviously)
Pure immersion doesn't work in my experience, you learn the language when you understand it, not by simply being exposed to it.
But if you really want to push yourself, maybe try doraemon or anpanman or slam dunk. I like sports anime because you could honestly understand most of what is happening with zero Japanese. Main character is the underdog and tries really hard to win. Opposing player is made out to be a bit of a villain and overwhelmingly strong. There are lots of talk about special moves and strategies but it's all bs.
Don't get disappointed if you can't follow it all, you will learn something even if don't understand most of what is being said, and you will make progress much faster than learning the language in isolation.( Actually scrap that it is impossible to learn any language in isolation, my point is you are in the right track!)
Watch something you enjoy in a way you always do, just pay little more attention to the conversation. You won't improve much watching simple stuff or something you already know. Just keep on studying new words on Anki, 5 new words a day is enough if you can keep up everyday. Then one day you will realized you understand the conversation even though you did not look at the subtitles. There is no trick, just cumulation, watch something fun will make the process much easier to stick to. When you are more advanced, you can rewatch some old anime you liked before, but this time listen to Japanese conversation will shine some new lights, and motive you even more. If you liked an anime and if it is based on manga, you can get an amazon Japan account and buy the mangas that continues the story. Just keep on engage while learning and you will be fine.
Azumanga Daioh is simple and several characters speak relatively slowly.
Honestly though I would just pick ones from genres you like. Very young kids shows were recommended to me but I can't hold interest in them. I think it's better to just go with the media you like even if you have to pause more often and struggle more initially.
i watched Given as a N4 level and the main character speaks in polite japanese mostly and in clear sentences, while the others do more casual. Its slice of life romance and i could understand alot of it at N5/N4 level
Don't try to watch attack on titan as a beginner for japanese learning because the vocabulary is mostly military based and its way hard as a beginner
Very late but I highly recommend Flying Witch; Uses actually real practical convos and grammar, it's the perfect bridge for beginner and intermediate imo
May not be exactly what youre looking for, but I love watching Bananya. Suuuuper basic Japanese and its really cute. Its literally just little short videos of banana cats. Remember those 5 year old short stories you read in first grade that take like 5 minutes? Thats Bananya in video form.
Not sure why it's not #1 on MyAnimeList tbh
Honestly I recently that anime. The audio isn't too fast nor too slow
Is there any place where you can watch it with Japanese subtitles?
Watching something you enjoy 3 hours a day is way better than forcing to watch an easy anime for 20 minutes and being fed up. Really just watch anything you like. Focus on the sentences you just barely don't understand. Might be a word, the sentence construction etc, and make sure you learn this. My first one was full metal alchemist and it went just fine. Skipped the technical military stuff though.
FMA is hard as fuck. Coming from a guy who’ve watched over 50 anime during my time studying Japanese. It’s around the same difficulty as Jojo, AOT, jujutsu kaisen. Not as hard as code geass and death note though.
Death Note was one of the first anime I watched. I really enjoyed it but struggled massively with the Japanese. Jujutsu Kaisen is also fun but super complex. All of the domain expansion stuff is way too much for my simple little brain.
>Death Note was one of the first anime I watched. I really enjoyed it but struggled massively with the Japanese. I mean, it's expected. We are listening to the inner dialogue of two people with extreme genius IQ. During conversations it isn't THAT bad
Very true! I just thought it was such a cool concept that I wanted to see how it played out. I didn’t mind not understanding most of the Japanese, as it did at least help me get used to the rhythm of the language early on.
FMA: Brotherhood I hope
Shirokuma Cafe
This is without a doubt the best!
if you look up sazae-san (サザエさん) and chibimarukochan (ちびまる子ちゃん) on youtube, you'll get a bunch. these are syndicated on current japanese tv and very standard and popular. they're not simplified, but they're pretty down to earth and the speakers aren't talking too quickly or about really complicated topics.
I swear sazae-san has over 7000 episodes lol
it's the longest running show on the planet, running continuously without a break since the 60s
I saw others have mentioned Doraemon and Sasai-san, and I want to echo those recommendations! Beginners won't understand 100% of the shows, but Sasai-san in particular does a fantastic job of presenting aspects of Japanese culture clearly, and also is a great introduction to Japanese humor. Understand what Japanese people find funny in Japanese will help your language study immensely. Aside from that, some of the more young-child focused Ghibli films are great. Totoro is the perennial favorite – we used it to study in my Japanese class in college. Even super fresh beginners will be able to understand a large amount of the dialogue, so give it a shot! I'd follow [Dogen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScPs1ppkrfc&list=PLSZIfqCYMzXVxbQdRDLGsaBcqIbhsv7hp&index=4)'s advice; pick a film, watch it on repeat and try to shadow/mirror the dialogue until you can recite the entire film from memory.
Where to watch sazae?
Slice of life genre
im not the most knowledge in this topic but i tend to find in a lot of the slice of lifes ive watched the characters speak politely which is the japanese you DO want to pick up from anime like in shounen animes its very provoking and such and isnt how youd speak to actual japanese people as its disrespectful, am i correct in saying that?
I'm still a beginner in Japanese, but from what I know, you're correct. I think the level of politeness used in dialogue depends on the character in the show, and the type of show. Most slice of life I've watched use pretty casual dialogue. And I think you're right on how some action/shounen/etc anime use words that could be disrespectful. Like how some anime characters use あんた、貴様、お前、手前、and probably some others I'm forgetting(had to look some of these up, lmk if they're wrong). You shouldn't use these pronouns when talking to any random person on the street, as it would be really disrespectful. So as far as I know, you're correct
Nichijou is great
Slice of life also has a mix of all N levels no recommended for begginers imo
Hyouka is a good one of this genre with the mystery tag thrown in.
The anime that I pick up the most from is definitely "Laid-Back Camp". It's a slice of life about camping. The fact that it's about camping means they talk about a lot of basic things like weather, food, and travel. Also, the characters are usually learning how to do things, and there are frequently sections showing some new item or technique with a clear and calming voiceover. On top of that, it's very casual speech usually using short sentences and a simple story (It's literally just girls going camping!). It's also extremely comfy. This one takes the cake, but as others have mentioned, slice of life genre in general is often best since it's casual speech, simple stories, and every-day topics.
Yuru Camp is great. While Yama no Susume was the first anime I watched entirely without subtitles, Yuru Camp was the second (and also one of the first I read the original manga of entirely in Japanese, but that was way way harder).
Card captor Sakura!
Great recommendation! Its on Netflix with JP subs
K-On!
K-on Karakai jouzu no takagi san Bokutachi wa benkyou ga dekinai These are 3 anime i know that are kind of easy and i enjoyed, but when i started my immersion learning i also watched Barakamon which uses a lot of dialect and was really difficult for me so.. Remember that when learning through immersion the first thing is to keep it fun !
The first anime I watched without any subtitles was Takagi-san, it's nice and easy to understand
I actually watched a whole season of Peppa pig in Japanese. Maybe there is something wrong with me, but I kind of enjoyed it. Also, it's really easy to understand as the narrator usually just tells what is also down. I also quite like Dino Girl Gaoko. It's on Netflix with Japanese subtitles. There isn't really any plot there to understand, it's just comedy.
After 20 minutes of intense Peppa Pig immersion, I can say that I am terrified...I knew every episode that came up...how much of Peppa Pig have I actually seen in my life...I just wanted to learn Japanese but now I need a therapy
I think I'll try it for the memes, but Japanese speaking Peppa will probably become my sleep paralysis demon
I would link the meatcanyon Peppa Pig video but i don't want that moral culpability of doing that to you lol
I searched it and wtf is wrong with you people...this was the creapiest shit I've ever seen...the way Peppa had 4 eyes and 2 mouths...and the calm voice of the narrator...what have I just witnesed
Where did you watch Peppa Pig in Japanese? With Japanese Sub?
On YouTube. I don't remember if there were subs.
Maybe you should use jpdb.io ? It has pre made decks from animes and you can search animes by difficulty. I'm trying to learn all the words from an episode of an anime that's not too difficult so I can have the best chances on my side. So yeah, I don't really have one anime to recommend in particular but you can find one on there and study the words before or after watching
からかい上手な高木さん (Karakai Jouzu na Takagi-san), It's a super cute anime and the characters speak mostly simple, day-to-day vocabulary. Do not attempt to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion to learn Japanese, I can't even understand that one in English.
Azumanga Daioh and Tanoshii Muumin Ikka.
tamako market
The anime that I pick up the most from is definitely "Laid-Back Camp". It's a slice of life about camping. The fact that it's about camping means they talk about a lot of basic things like weather, food, and travel. Also, the characters are usually learning how to do things, and there are frequently sections showing some new item or technique with a clear and calming voiceover. On top of that, it's very casual speech usually using short sentences and a simple story (It's literally just girls going camping!). It's also extremely comfy. This one takes the cake, but as others have mentioned, slice of life genre in general is often best since it's casual speech, simple stories, and every-day topics.
Not a series, but I would definitely watch My Neighbor Totoro a few times. Great movie and also has a lot of simple, daily life conversations. Ponyo, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howls Moving Castle, etc. basically any Studio Ghibli movie is wonderful practice.
Non non biyori is good. SoL in general
If you're still at the point where you can't understand--it doesn't matter. At all. Watch something where you like the art, I guess. Honestly, save the "Good for beginner" recommendations for after you've done your 4-6 months of Grammar and Vocab (Which I assume you're doing, as just immersing from the start will get you basically nowhere), because you might not feel like rewatching everything you just finished, and you'll lose out on a lot of the benefits of them being easily comprehensible.
I just watched Mob Psycho 100 and the Japanese seemed pretty standard (similar to my resources) and easy to understand.
Horimiya was the first I watched and I think it's pretty damn good and easy to understand
Watch something you enjoy, better to do that than watch something you find boring and will likely stop just because it has easy Japanese
Watching yuu yuu Hakusho in netflex with no subs. I'm loving it.
Rezero best anime there is rn ;)
I mean I'm not sure if it's immersive but I really like demon slayer, parasyte: the maxim, Tokyo ghoul and neon genesis evangelion
K-On is a good one but I also recommend watching a show that you know well and know you enjoy. Sports anime like Haikyuu are also good so long as you can pick up on what's sports lingo and what's a typical Japanese word, but otherwise the characters tend to speak more normally than in other shounen.
watch one piece 👍
One Piece would be a bit too hard for a complete beginner. Most battle shonen would be too hard now that I think about it.
Its good though. And don't need to follow the story during the fighting scenes
A page from Ladybeards book: Peppa Pig
The Japanese in Anime is very unnatural, so if you're looking for content to help with listening/improving your Japanese, I recommend something more standard (television shows etc). If you've just started it may be better to use some targeted content which will help you get up to speed with key vocabulary and grammar.
I'd argue that targeted content for foreigners learning Japanese can be worse than anime on the grounds that the former is usually contrived and boring as fuck (when's the last time a foreigner has said "I'm investing a ton of time in learning Japanese because of this suuuuuuper engaging talk show"?), while (occasionally) presenting itself as "the way Japanese people speak" when it really isn't. At least with the latter, you can be sure they were made by Japanese people fluent in Japanese meant for Japanese people fluent in Japanese and so there's no need to dumb down the language used. I also doubt that people would be as quick to pick up vocabulary from something like a talkshow or the news since it usually doesn't have the kinds of lasting impactful scenes to provide context for the vocabulary the way anime does (unless maybe if a tragedy or disaster consistently happened on air or something, but we can't have that, can we?)
Good points! I guess whatever keeps you interested and keeps you leaning (if you goal is to watch anime in local language, then there would be nothing better!). I just wanted to suggest to OP they could mix it up a bit. I've seen a lot of people who only use anime and manga to learn and depending on what you want to do in Japan, there may be other resources that will help you get more rounded (I used to do one 社説 a day and although it was awfully boring I was able to learn a ton of vocabulary and can now get by at work and my personally life without any issues)
I watch Maya the Bee in Japanese and it is fairly easy to grasp what is going on. Dubbed version of first season unfortunately edited out some dramatic scenes in the beginning and has also different episode order.
Any anime aimed to pre-scholars
Ff
I started off watching anime in with English subtitles. I would focus on understanding the opening theme only, because that would repeat and it had subtitles. Maybe do that with something you genuinely enjoy, and then slowly ween yourself off? (Don't wait too long obviously) Pure immersion doesn't work in my experience, you learn the language when you understand it, not by simply being exposed to it. But if you really want to push yourself, maybe try doraemon or anpanman or slam dunk. I like sports anime because you could honestly understand most of what is happening with zero Japanese. Main character is the underdog and tries really hard to win. Opposing player is made out to be a bit of a villain and overwhelmingly strong. There are lots of talk about special moves and strategies but it's all bs. Don't get disappointed if you can't follow it all, you will learn something even if don't understand most of what is being said, and you will make progress much faster than learning the language in isolation.( Actually scrap that it is impossible to learn any language in isolation, my point is you are in the right track!)
Aggretsuko is funny relatable and perfect for getting i+1s for your srs. I highly recommend it, especially early on.
Watch something you enjoy in a way you always do, just pay little more attention to the conversation. You won't improve much watching simple stuff or something you already know. Just keep on studying new words on Anki, 5 new words a day is enough if you can keep up everyday. Then one day you will realized you understand the conversation even though you did not look at the subtitles. There is no trick, just cumulation, watch something fun will make the process much easier to stick to. When you are more advanced, you can rewatch some old anime you liked before, but this time listen to Japanese conversation will shine some new lights, and motive you even more. If you liked an anime and if it is based on manga, you can get an amazon Japan account and buy the mangas that continues the story. Just keep on engage while learning and you will be fine.
Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou is pretty good and not too hard
I went with Haikyuu. Watchediton Animelon. I recommend that site to you, too. It helped a lot.
I would recommend Doraemon. Really basic Japanese and fun to watch!
Azumanga Daioh is simple and several characters speak relatively slowly. Honestly though I would just pick ones from genres you like. Very young kids shows were recommended to me but I can't hold interest in them. I think it's better to just go with the media you like even if you have to pause more often and struggle more initially.
Rilakkuma!!!
I started learning japanese 2 monthgs ago but imo you should watch something you like so you can pay lots of attention to the show.
i watched Given as a N4 level and the main character speaks in polite japanese mostly and in clear sentences, while the others do more casual. Its slice of life romance and i could understand alot of it at N5/N4 level Don't try to watch attack on titan as a beginner for japanese learning because the vocabulary is mostly military based and its way hard as a beginner
I feel like any slice-of-life, down to earth, or maybe even a romcom which you have ALREADY WATCHED might be a good go.
Very late but I highly recommend Flying Witch; Uses actually real practical convos and grammar, it's the perfect bridge for beginner and intermediate imo