So what you’re saying is Anki is hard to get used to, which is frustrating. I very much agree.
It doesn’t change the fact that, in terms of variety of usage and customizability, there’s no better alternative.
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I disliked anki too until recently. I just got a new
laptop and was moving around my files when I came across my folder of unused anki decks. So, I figured, why not reinstall anki just in case.
I discovered there was a specific feature of the windows 10 “‘app’” version, made for fancy fancy touchscreen laptops where you can write your answer directly on the screen. This was all I needed to like it, apparently—the ability to just write my answer out. Now I just use it for leeches and stroke order for kanji, but I’m using it daily so there’s that.
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The funny thing about complaining about how tough it is to use Anki is that Anki is light-years easier than what came before. I spent years with supermemo. Many things worked with non-intuitive keyboard shortcuts. The statistics were overkill, if you just wanted to learn things.
The first time I downloaded Anki and a few decks for Genki I was totally disappointed. The interface looked flat, the deck’s cards were very unapealing and the whole experience was bad.
Months later I found a reference for the Core10k deck with images and audio sentences. Seeing those cards really changed my conception about the possibilities that the app had.
Since then I supended all the cards on that deck and created my own vocab deck , so bassically I borrow the cards from the 10k deck and add it to my deck, if it’s not there then I create one using a similar template.
The good thing it’s that I add cards of only vocab I run into (bia Genki, JPod101, WK, books, shows, etc) and then use Core10k as a reference to get a quiality card given I already have context of the actual word.
Nowdays I’m doing this wich It’s mainly possible 'cause of the great customization potential that Anki has.
So I’m a big fan of Anki, I know can cause a very bad first impression but I see it as a tremendous tool for the long run.
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Your link made me so curious that I reinstalled Anki and imported the deck… It’s… incredible, thanks so much. 
Will be using this every day going forward!
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I don’t have a maingu account, so I can’t see what you linked. Do you happen to have a screenshot of it maybe? 
Sorry, I put the link to that specific reply (I’ve no relation with that proyect by the way), I meant the original post.
Anyway here’s a screenshot (thought the same it’s possible with Anki)
Wich it’s basically what you get using Subs2SRS to export video clips of phrases or words and the respective jap/eng subtitle. This site goes the extra mile, and you can cursor over the word to get the definition right there.
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I use AnkiApp (in the Mac App store, which has a much nicer interface than Anki) but for German, and I make my own deck. At present I have 3,500+ cards, with text-to-speech so I can practice my listening. I used to use it for French as well. I personally love it for German as I know all my vocab is in one place, I am only learning what needs to be learnt (like WaniKani), and although it can be a bit time consuming, I like making and having my own cards with sentences I’ve found or pictures for words.
I do have a deck for Japanese, but I find I don’t add to it as much (German is my focus at the moment). I have katakana and hiragana cards (How do you say [character]) and some kanji, but only for nouns that are easy to find an image for (red, police, etc).
I think the customisability of Anki is its real strength - you learn what you want, and have control over the quality of your own decks. I avoid the pre-made decks because I just like to make my own cards and build my own associations with words, and it’s 100% how I learn my German vocab and I add to it all the time.
Probably not helpful, but basically, it works for me because I build the decks myself. And I find seeing the decks growing in size really motivating!
Each to their own, though. 
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Thank you! Cool!
It doesn’t change the fact that, in terms of variety of usage and customizability, there’s no better alternative.
While this is true, variety of usage and customisation is not at all what im looking for. Its why I use wanikani since, afterall, you could just do wanikani in anki
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I couldn’t stand Anki’s layout at first, and just gave up on it. It’s not very user friendly to beginners. I’ve recently decided to give it another go since hitting level 4 here. Right now I’m trying to focus solely on vocab decks until I get further in Genki to use sentence decks, and it’s starting to feel more like I’m on WaniKani.
I’d say the most important thing is to be consistent with forming habits to review your decks the same way you do on WaniKani. If at any time you feel that the timers provided are too long, you can reset individual cards or the whole deck. It took me WAY too long to find out how to do this, but here’s a video tutorial:
Here’s the two decks I am currently studying, both of which are great for beginners to Japanese vocabulary:
WaniKani Radicals/Kanji/Vocab (this deck is missing cards for level 50+)
I also have a second deck for WaniKani which is quite popular with users here, but I’ve found the sentence cards go WAY over my head at my current level. So I’ll be waiting to use this one:
It may be tempting to download lots and lots of decks, but I’d say studying between 2-5 is ideal depending on your workload and schedule. Just make sure you are consistent with coming back to study every day!
It’s actually the reason I’m learning so much vocab.
I really, really dislike other decks though. So I just make my own!
Every time I run into a new word, I add it to my personal Anki deck with as much explanation and example sentences I can get for it. And then after that I passively learn it. Through this I learn every word I’ve come in contact with, and it’d really expanded my comprehension and vocab.
I’m almost at 4000 cards now in my deck (front and back). It helps me with recalling from English and recalling from Japanese, I recommend this way of using Anki. I sometimes add grammar points too and I can use Anki anywhere (since I use the Android app and it’s offline) so it’s the perfect study tool for me.
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I’m really design-focused. That’s probably the main reason I dislike Anki. I just find the interface ugly, unintuitive, and therefore unappealing. I’ve given it a try a few times with various decks, but try as I may, I just don’t get it. I have the same problem by the way with Bunpro. I just don’t get it in the same way I immediately understood Wanikani.
Sigh, I know I should be more patient… Same reason why I never understood or bothered with Flickr, Facebook, Twitter…
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I really want WK to be able to import user specified cards and add to its SRS system. WK has ruined me on any other SRS system and is worth every penny of the lifetime price.
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I’ve just watched your video on Card Style formating in Anki 
Finally I’m able to format my cards the way I wanted!! I unsterstand what all that style code means!! (it feels like understanding a whole bunch of kanjis all at once 
)
Thanks !!!
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Glad it helped! 
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Do some forum searches. You might find answers. 
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I’m with you! That’s all my Anki decks were trying to achieve. It would be awesome if we could somehow use the WK backend for our personal study!
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This is super helpful, thanks so much Compa!
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