Wakaru shows the Japanese line alongside the English one on Crunchyroll — each word colored to match its translation, one click away from its reading and meaning.
What it does
The Japanese transcript and the English subtitle, together over the video, each with its own size slider. Words glow as they are spoken.
A Japanese word and its English counterpart share a color, so you connect them at a glance. Click any word for its reading and meaning; particles get their grammar explained.
Most Crunchyroll titles ship no Japanese track. Wakaru looks the episode up in the community archive, syncs the timing automatically, and verifies it really is this episode.
Anime subtitles translate loosely. An AI pass links what a dictionary can’t — slang, split phrases, reworded lines — and each episode is aligned once, then shared with everyone.
One tap replays the sentence just spoken — at full speed or slowed to 0.75×. Hover any word to hear it read aloud, exactly as it appears in the subtitle.
Save a word with its sentence and a picture of the scene it came from. Review with built-in flashcards, export to Anki or CSV, and sync across your devices.
Also in the box: furigana over kanji, hover-to-look-up for English words, per-episode timing nudge, and a deep match check that rejects wrong subtitle files before you notice them.
How it works
Add Wakaru to Chrome and sign in with Google. The 7-day trial starts — no card needed.
Open any Crunchyroll episode. Wakaru finds the Japanese subtitles, syncs them, and lays both languages over the video.
Watch normally. Click words you don’t know; save the ones worth keeping.
Review later. Flashcards are built in, or export everything to Anki.
Wakaru works with your own Crunchyroll account — free ad-supported episodes included. It never touches the video itself, only subtitle text.
Pricing
Every plan starts with the same 7-day free trial and includes everything — there are no feature tiers. Full pricing details
Questions
You need a Crunchyroll account, but not necessarily a paid one — Wakaru works on the free ad-supported episodes too. Wakaru is not affiliated with Crunchyroll and doesn’t replace it; it runs on top of your own access.
Almost never. A typical episode offers fifteen subtitle languages and Japanese is not one of them. Wakaru fills that gap from the community subtitle archive, automatically.
No. Wakaru is a paid product with a 7-day free trial — long enough to watch a season’s worth of episodes and decide. The AI that aligns words costs real money per episode, which is what the subscription pays for.
Crunchyroll only, today. Other players are on the roadmap, but we’d rather do one site properly than three sites halfway.
Any. Complete beginners lean on the English line and pick up words by color; intermediate learners can shrink the English and use it only when stuck. Furigana over kanji is a toggle.
Subtitle text — sent to our server for word alignment — plus lookups of the words you click. No analytics, no browsing history, nothing sold. The privacy policy lists every request the extension makes.
If you paid and it isn’t working out, email us within 14 days of your first purchase for a full refund. Details in the terms.
Install, sign in, press play. The first week is free.
Add to Chrome — 7-day free trial