Japanese anime is very popular around the world. So popular that many people decide to learn Japanese because of their love for their favorite anime shows.

But one problem with learning Japanese through anime is the kind of Japanese you’ll absorb this way. The characters in anime live in their own universe, where everyone tends to use slang, casual language, informal pronouns and even made-up words. It’s very easy to spot people who learned Japanese exclusively through anime – you’ll see 20-year-old boys talking like 10-year-old kawaii girls, or 20-year-old girls talking like yakuza, for example! Needless to say, native Japanese speakers may not take them seriously!

Despite this, it can actually be useful to incorporate anime into your language learning routine.

Anime has a lot to offer to Japanese students on every level:

1. It helps you practice your listening skills. Listening skill are of course closely related to pronunciation.

2. It gives you more than just a glimpse into Japanese culture and modern day pop-culture.
Cultural references are absolutely vital to learning any new language, and anime is deeply rooted in Japanese culture. People will throw anime references into their casual, polite and even business conversations.

3. Just as importantly, catching up on your favorite shows is a great and fun way to take a break from your ordinary language learning routine.

Anime is a great learning tool because it’s fun and there is a lot of it. In fact, there’s anime for everyone: romance, action, adventure, horror, comedy, sports, historical – basically in any genre you can think of.

As long as you don’t lose sight of your ultimate Japanese language goal – to speak fluently and properly in any situation – anime definitely has a place in your language learning routine.

We’ve listed some fun anime series you can get into and improve your Japanese. We tried to pick easy to understand shows that use everyday language. Hopefully these will give you some good jumping off points. But remember: this is just a partial list, and there really is an anime for everyone. If you don’t like the series we listed below, you can easily find a different one!