# Hibiki Reader: A reading app for Japanese learners with original graded stories, full EPUB support and word tracking **URL:** \ **Category:** Resources\ **Created:** [May 28, 2026, 8:51am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/hibiki-reader-a-reading-app-for-japanese-learners-with-original-graded-stories-full-epub-support-and-word-tracking/74525 "2026-05-28T08:51:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sundayRoast](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/sundayroast/32/630373_2.png) [@sundayRoast](https://community.wanikani.com/u/sundayRoast)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 8:51am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/hibiki-reader-a-reading-app-for-japanese-learners-with-original-graded-stories-full-epub-support-and-word-tracking/74525/1 "2026-05-28T08:51:44Z")
![hibikiLogo](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/original/4X/1/d/d/1dd6703970130c4681d053c815741bfeb568bb8a.png) Hi everyone, It’s been a while since I’ve been here, but I wanted to come back to my learning roots and tell you guys about a project I’ve been working on for a while now. I started learning Japanese to be able to read books and manga in their original language, something WaniKani helped me with tremendously. But when it was time for me to start reading native material, I struggled a tremendous amount to get over the gap between learning material and native content. So I have had this idea for a while now, about the type of reading companion I wish I had, and also want to use going forward. That idea snowballed and ended up being something a lot larger than I had originally imagined. The result is _Hibiki Reader_. > **[Hibiki Reader](https://www.hibikireader.com/#home)** > > A Japanese reading companion for learners — instant word lookups, built-in SRS, original graded stories, and support for your own books. ## A few things that I think make it pretty great: **Smart automatic word highlighting.** Words are automatically colour-coded by your comprehension. New words in blue, previously seen words in green, known words fade into the page. What’s cool is, Hibiki handles this automatically. After you’ve encountered a word three times without looking it up, Hibiki marks it as known and the highlight disappears. If you look it up again later, it goes back to being highlighted. You can also manually mark any word as ‘learning’, which gives it a yellow highlight, displays furigana next to it, and adds it to your SRS queue. ![reader](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/original/4X/2/6/c/26c22b8bf614a93539de2c3cf53ef4b47aefd81b.gif) **Our own graded stories.** I really wanted more interesting reading material when I was starting out. The team at Hibiki are creative people at heart. While we love making the app itself, writing stories is something we have a deep passion for. So we write and publish stories aimed at young adults and above, each graded to a specific level. Hazuki, our head writer, is a native speaker and oversees the language, and I, Martin, proofread from a learner perspective to make sure the level of each story feels right. And while we use AI to help build the app, _we use no AI to generate our original stories._ **Bring your own books.** ePUB import works for any novel, light novel, or graded reader. Full dictionary, highlighting, and furigana all work on your own imported material. You can also import your own dictionaries if you want to try monolingual reading or look up definitions in a language other than English. **Learning-aware furigana.** Furigana where you need it. It only shows up on words you’re still learning, and quietly disappears once a word is known. If you want you can display it for all words as well. **Quickly review your reading.** When I was learning to read Japanese I wanted to keep reading, that’s where the enjoyment is and where the learning happens. So after each reading session, instead of leaving your book to review flashcards, Hibiki will summarise what you have read and learned, and offer a quick flashcard review of the words you looked up during that session. Read, review, read, repeat. The Hibiki way! ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/original/4X/5/8/7/587384c5c2ab210352c4b086a4a2ba5e7914c894.png) **SRS flashcards, built-in.** There is a full spaced repetition flashcard system built into Hibiki Reader, which can be turned on or off depending on how you prefer to study. Results from your reviews trickle down into the smart highlighting. Words learned through flashcards are reflected the next time you open your book. ![image(1)](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/original/4X/8/b/5/8b5ba8957611771449285bda4fafd730c305050e.png) **Our own Hibiki notes.** Some things a dictionary can’t really explain. When you spot a pink marker on a phrase or word, that’s a Hibiki note from us: a cultural reference, an idiom, a grammar point, or just something we found fascinating about the language. Notes are tied to the phrase, not the page, so they follow you across every story and every book. Hopefully this can create some nice little surprises. Like finding notes in the margins of an old book in a library. ![image(2)](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/original/4X/d/9/8/d9827dab5576e2ce1aace1653d477e77ec615fdc.png) **A leveling system.** We have 60 levels at Hibiki (much like WaniKani). To advance, you need to pass both a comprehension gate (vocab + grammar + kanji coverage) and a reading volume gate. Common language, grammar and kanji take you through the early levels, and the more you read and the more advanced language you encounter, the higher the level you can attain. Your reading comprehension is, of course, subjective. But we believe we have found a way to make that growth feel real and earned. ![image(3)](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/original/4X/3/3/0/3300043794d75d3083d456127ce0e40d0d50c989.png) **Clean and stress-free.** _“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”_ This is really what we tried to strive for with Hibiki. A reader that stays out of your way, removing as many hurdles as possible so you can just sit and read while still gaining a lot of the amazing benefits technology can offer. Just out of sight. ## Quick note on the team We are a small but _mighty_ team currently making Hibiki Reader — just two of us, me (Martin) and my partner and head writer Hazuki, who is a native speaker. (Our dog Shark is a crucial part of the team, but offers help in ways other than programming or writing.) 🦈 This is a passion project. We really are making the reading app we want to use every day, so we would love to hear what you think! ## When will it be ready to test? _Hibiki Reader is ready to try out now!_ Happy reading! _— The Hibiki Reader Team 👦👧🏻🦈_ **[\>\> Check it out here \<\<](https://www.hibikireader.com)** ---
**Author:** ![vigna](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/vigna/32/811299_2.png) [@vigna](https://community.wanikani.com/u/vigna)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 9:18am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/hibiki-reader-a-reading-app-for-japanese-learners-with-original-graded-stories-full-epub-support-and-word-tracking/74525/2 "2026-05-28T09:18:29Z")
looks good ---
**Author:** ![sundayRoast](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/sundayroast/32/630373_2.png) [@sundayRoast](https://community.wanikani.com/u/sundayRoast)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 10:51am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/hibiki-reader-a-reading-app-for-japanese-learners-with-original-graded-stories-full-epub-support-and-word-tracking/74525/3 "2026-05-28T10:51:31Z")
Thank you! Excited to share more as we move towards the launch in August 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![taiyousea](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/taiyousea/32/821286_2.png) [@taiyousea](https://community.wanikani.com/u/taiyousea)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 2:07am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/hibiki-reader-a-reading-app-for-japanese-learners-with-original-graded-stories-full-epub-support-and-word-tracking/74525/4 "2026-05-30T02:07:28Z")
It looks like Hibiki will be able to cover a lot of ground in assisting with reading! Beautiful app design. My two main questions are about book tracking, since I have a lot of epubs and I read them all differently: - Does Hibiki support switching between both vertical and horizontal text? While novels are nearly always vertical-style, JLPT text is generally horizontal and it would be a great help to be able to switch between the two as needed - Is there character or page tracking? I see a percentage tracker in the previews, but character tracking in particular is extremely helpful for those of us keeping tabs on speed or converting to page placement. I look forward to hearing more! ---
**Author:** ![sundayRoast](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/sundayroast/32/630373_2.png) [@sundayRoast](https://community.wanikani.com/u/sundayRoast)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2026, 6:15am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/hibiki-reader-a-reading-app-for-japanese-learners-with-original-graded-stories-full-epub-support-and-word-tracking/74525/5 "2026-05-31T06:15:32Z")
Hey! Thanks for showing interest in Hibiki, we certainly hope we can help people with their reading 🙂 To answer your questions: 1. Yes, we support switching between horizontal and vertical text direction. You set your preference in the settings page and the app will format your texts accordingly. 👍 2. We currently track words read per day and words read in total (in addition to words learnt/learning/studying). You can also review your reading history with a heatmap on your profile page. A reading speed tracker is on the way, but requires a bit more work to be at the quality we want it to be. Hope Hibiki can do justice to your epub library! 🦈 ---
**Author:** ![fdlbt](https://cdck-file-uploads-global.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wanikanicommunity/original/3X/f/d/fd4c154120954695f788402f3bcf4e616499bc2d.png) [@fdlbt](https://community.wanikani.com/u/fdlbt)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 1:32pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/hibiki-reader-a-reading-app-for-japanese-learners-with-original-graded-stories-full-epub-support-and-word-tracking/74525/6 "2026-07-01T13:32:20Z")
Nice idea. Do you plan on providing the option of displaying furigana based on WaniKani progress via the WK API key? Would I also be able to import plain text via the clipboard? ---
**Author:** ![inisfail](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/inisfail/32/798633_2.png) [@inisfail](https://community.wanikani.com/u/inisfail)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 2:48pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/hibiki-reader-a-reading-app-for-japanese-learners-with-original-graded-stories-full-epub-support-and-word-tracking/74525/7 "2026-07-01T14:48:16Z")
Will there be any optimization for use on android-based e-ink readers (eg. Boox)? ---
**Author:** ![sundayRoast](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/sundayroast/32/630373_2.png) [@sundayRoast](https://community.wanikani.com/u/sundayRoast)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 6:39pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/hibiki-reader-a-reading-app-for-japanese-learners-with-original-graded-stories-full-epub-support-and-word-tracking/74525/8 "2026-07-06T18:39:49Z")
> [@fdlbt](#): > > Nice idea. Do you plan on providing the option of displaying furigana based on WaniKani progress via the WK API key? > > Would I also be able to import plain text via the clipboard? Thank you! Yes, WK level import is planned for a future version of the app, we are currently prioritising our original stories at the moment but will return to developing features for the app once we are live. Thanks for showing interest! > [@inisfail](#): > > Will there be any optimization for use on android-based e-ink readers (eg. Boox)? We haven’t checked any specific cases yet for e-ink readers but could be something we look into in the future, I’m a big e-reader user myself so this use case sounds quite interesting. But at launch we plan on having the iOS app ready shortly followed by the android app. ---
**Author:** ![sundayRoast](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/sundayroast/32/630373_2.png) [@sundayRoast](https://community.wanikani.com/u/sundayRoast)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2026, 5:53am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/hibiki-reader-a-reading-app-for-japanese-learners-with-original-graded-stories-full-epub-support-and-word-tracking/74525/9 "2026-09-07T05:53:02Z")
Hey everyone, we got some awesome feedback since we launched a week or so ago so wanted to share the new features that were added in the latest patch for Hibiki Reader v1.0.25: 1. **Bookmarking feature added!** One feature request that stood out was the need to be able to add a bookmark wherever you are in your reading. This has now been added, when you click a word click ‘Add bookmark‘ and a blue bookmark will be added above the current row. The next time you open your book you will automatically be redirected to that spot to continue your reading. 2. **Font size saved between sessions** A small but nice quality of life feature, your preferred font size is now saved across all reading material. 3. **Table of contents added for e-Pubs** A handy button has been added to the top of the reader toolbar that will display the table of contents of the book your reading for easier navigation. 4. **Plans page** A new page has been added to the top of the navigation bar that outlines the difference in both our Free and Pro plan Until next time, happy reading! Martin