There are a bunch of websites for Japanese subtitles, most of which are dedicated to anime but there are also sites for dramas and films as well.
I’ve organized these sites by their content type to make it easier if you’re trying to find subtitles from a specific show.
If you’re trying to learn Japanese then I’d recommend checking out my guide on using Japanese subtitles, and the original show that you are watching, to learn Japanese incredibly quickly.
Anime Subtitle Sites
Kitsunekko
Kitsunekko is a brilliant and simple site that I’ve used a lot over the years. There are a wide range of subtitles for most shows and you’ll find that new shows that have just come out get added within a couple of weeks.
This is my personal go to when I’m looking for subtitles in Japanese and is probably the best site on this post for finding anime subtitles.
Itazuraneko
I’ve only recently heard about itazuraneko but the site has a wide selection of subtitles. They have a massive library of subtitles from a bunch of different resources all hosted on mega for easy downloads.
Their anime section is vast and they also have a large section for subtitles for shows on Netflix as well.
My github repo
A while ago I decided to save a lot of the subs I had stored on my PC to my github to save space on my hard drive. I wasn’t planning on doing anything with it besides storing all these files but people have added to it since and if you’re looking to bulk download a bunch of subtitles then this is a good choice to start from.
Most of these subtitles are from the other sites mentioned in this post so it’s only really useful for bulk downloading.
The only issue with this is that I haven’t added to it for a few years so the other sites in this post are likely going to be more useful if you’re searching for current shows.
Film & Drama Subtitle Sites
jpsubbers.xyz
If you’re looking for subtitles for Japanese dramas then this site is likely going to be your go to. Subtitles are frequently added to this massive library and are organized by the shows release date.
Itazuraneko
As mentioned above, itazuraneko also has a bunch of subtitles for Netflix shows which includes a lot of films and dramas so if you’re looking for a specific show then it will likely be in their library of subs.
My github repo
As mentioned above in the anime section, I created a github repo to save a bunch of subtitles that I had stored on my hard drive, all from different sources.
There are a lot of anime subtitles in this repo but there’s also a large amount of drama and film subtitles from Netflix and other sources.
They are unorganized so you will need to search through the repo if you’re looking for a specific show.
d-addicts
The forum for d-addicts has a lot of people requesting and submitting subtitles for a bunch of dramas. If you’re really stuck trying to find subtitles for a show then search it up in the forums and you might get lucky.
opensubtitles.org
I find that for opensubtitles that most of the subs on this site are for western films which can be useful but it’s much harder to find subtitles for original Japanese dramas or films on here.
Watching Anime & JDrama with Japanese Subtitles
Animelon
There are a few different ways of doing this, the easiest is to use Animelon for Anime.
This is a streaming service that allows you to watch Anime with Japanese subtitles, but it doesn’t just stop there.
The subtitles are also available in hiragana and katakana form which is awesome for beginners as it means that they can look up harder kanji using the hiragana or katakana subtitles.
There are of course options for romaji and English but if you’re trying to learn Japanese then I would recommend ignoring these options.
Netflix
Over the past 6 years of learning Japanese, Netflix has been a massive staple in my listening and reading practice.
It has a massive library of dramas and anime that come with subtitles. You can gain access to even more content by using a VPN like Private Internet Access to change your location to Japan.
You can also download subtitle files from shows as you are watching them using a Google Chrome plugin called Subadub.
With Netflix you can search for shows that have specific language audio and subtitles which is huge for language learners.
To do this simply scroll down to the bottom of the main Netflix homepage until you see the following options and then click the “Audio and Subtitles” link:
From here we can search for titles that use Japanese audio or Japanese subtitles. I tend to search for subtitles as it’s likely that if a show has Japanese subtitles then it will usually have Japanese audio as well.
Then if you are using Subadub you can download the subtitles for the title that you are watching so you can study with it using something like Anki or Subs2SRS.
If you know of anymore websites that host Japanese subtitles on them then please let me know so I can add them to this post!
I hope you found this post helpful!
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ByMatthew Hawkins27/07/2021Massive thanks to Harry and everyone else supporting me on Patreon. You guys are awesome! 🙂Follow me on TwitterSupport me on PatreonHere are some of my favorite tools and sites for learning Japanese
Thank you for reading this blog post, which I hope you found useful for learning Japanese. Here are some of the most useful websites that I’ve found for finding Japanese content to use for immersion as well as some really useful learning tools to help you through your Japanese studies. Some of these are affiliate links which just means that if you decide to use these sites by clicking the following links, then I will earn a commission. But honestly speaking, these are the sites that I use and recommend language learners, even my friends, to use anyway.
Anki Tools: To get started, I really like Migaku for Anki. By itself, Anki is already a super useful tool for language learners but Migaku allows for integration with websites like YouTube and Netflix, allowing it’s users to create flashcards from the shows and videos that they are watching, as they are watching them. If you use my link you can get an extra month for free.
Speaking Practice: For this I absolutely love iTalki. There are thousands of Japanese teachers on the platform that are available at all times of the day to have conversations with you, in Japanese. Some teachers take a more traditional approach while others are just there to chat, these are the ones I would recommend if you are looking to improve your conversational Japanese. Lessons start from just $5 and there’s no long term commitment, I highly recommend them.
Immersion: I’ve used a lot of different earphones / headphones over the years but by far the one that has come out on top is the NENRENT S570. This is a singular in-ear earphone that matches your skin tone to keep it discrete, meaning you can listen to the language you are learning while at work, or school. For a full list of tools and gadgets I recommend for maximizing your immersion time, check out this blog post.
