Kitsun.io - Web & Apps SRS Study Platform

neicul · May 15, 2018, 3:55pm

UPDATE: The long-awaited mobile apps are finally here!

Currently the apps are available for both iOS and Android as open beta releases.

For iOS the beta is available through testflight:

For android it is available in the play store as “early access”:

I hope to release the official versions within 2-3 weeks from now after most of the major bugs found during the beta have been fixed. So if you download these, do keep in mind that it is still rapidly being developed at the moment and some things can bug out.

As for features, I think most of the essential features are in there at the moment, but here is the list of features still coming up:

Coming soon:

Quick Edit card during lessons/reviews
Suggest feedback during lessons/reviews
Edit personal notes/synonyms during lessons/reviews
Push Notifications
Ipad/Tablet versions
Media (audio/picture) upload functionality for cards and deck cover editing

Later on:

Quick study
Cards Management
Custom dictionary card popups
Layout Filtering Settings

Hi everyone!

I’d like to present my project Kitsun.io to you all. Kitsun is an SRS study platform which has been in development for a few years now. The platform launched after having a succesful beta with members from the WK forums

What is it?

My goal with Kitsun.io is to create the ultimate SRS study platform which combines the best features of both Anki and Wanikani and introduces new Kitsun-exclusive features.

For example, setting up Anki can be a real hassle and has to be done on every device that you want to use. With Kitsun you don’t have to set up anything. Just grab a community deck or import a word list and start learning! Since it’s a website, all your data is stored right in the cloud.

Or perhaps creating your own flashcards and decks is more your kinda thing? Kitsun got some convenient tools to make it easier for you, such as a dictionary page where you can search any word or kanji and make a card out of it with a few clicks.

Do you love learning through Video? Subs2Kitsun got you covered! Start creating flashcards from your favorite series and movies in no time.

Do you need help with learning through reading native texts such as books? Kitsun’s reading assistance tool can parse complete books for you and let you see the definitions, kanji information and more with a single click! Generate flashcards with ease while you work your way through your favorite book!

Of course, everything is tweakable as well, you get the freedom of Anki while sticking to the same system that WaniKani provides. This also means that you can create your own styling and templates for cards as well.

TL;DR: Kitsun is a collection of convenient tools inside a clean and flexible SRS study platform where users can easily create decks and flashcards and share them with other learners.

Screenshots

Pricing

Kitsun is a paid platform. Please check the website for the pricing information

Current Roadmap:

~~Audio generation for your cards~~ Done!
~~Assisted Reading Tool for Japanese Texts~~ Done!
Detailed Learning Statistics Page
Kitsun-Exclusive Decks and Content Continuously Being Released!
Chinese & Korean Dictionary Integration (and card generation)
~~Known Words System~~ /WK API integration
~~Korean/Russian inputs for cards~~ Done!
Kitsun Browser Extension
~~Mobile apps~~ Released!
~~Landing Page Redesign~~ Done!
~~Knowledge Base Update and Redesign~~ Done!

Sounds good, how can I start?

You can try for free here!

Need help, have questions or feedback? We have the following options for you to use:

Kitsun Discord
The Den (Kitsun Forums)
This WK thread
Email us at support@kitsun.io

neicul · May 15, 2018, 3:55pm

REMOVED

Please take a look at the guide section on Kitsun for a quickstart

mztik · May 15, 2018, 4:01pm

I’ve signed up. Looking forward to test it out.

Also, thanks for being upfront about this becoming a paid service.

Welteam · May 15, 2018, 4:26pm

I’m not an Anki user so maybe I just missed the info but to me you forgot the most important information : Why your service over Anki?

neicul · May 15, 2018, 4:41pm

Edit: Updated answer since this comment is still being read often.

I think the main reasons why someone would use this over anki are the following:

Modern interface
One of the most common complaints with Anki is that it looks outdated and feels un-intuitive to the average user. Kitsun is web-based and has a modern UI/UX. This also means that your cards can make use of HTML5 and CSS3 features.

Ease of starting
Anki is relatively difficult for users to get used to and it takes quite some effort to start creating cards that have the visual flair that we nowadays expect. In Kitsun there are default templates and layouts which allow the user to instantly start creating their flashcards.

Any deck created also has default settings which make sense (based on WaniKani’s system).

Community Centre
Next to this, the user can just go to the Community Centre page and instantly grab the shared decks that they want, without having to download, import or tweak anything.

Instant updates
Another benefit from this is that whenever the creator wants to update their shared decks, they can just do so by clicking the update button. This action will instantly update the deck for all current and future users with the changes that the creator made in the original deck which was used for publishing. No need to re-download anything.

Cloud Storage
Everything is stored in online databases and servers right under your own account. Meaning you won’t need to sync or download anything.

Same Experience Everywhere
Kitsun is a progressive web app, meaning that it should provide the same experience on every type of device that supports websites (excluding some small browser limitations).

Gamification
Gamification definitely helps users with studying if done right. It boosts their studying behavior and helps build a habit. Taking a note from Wanikani, Kitsun incorporates a similar system.

Community Forums
To help build a community, Kitsun also has forums available. We have threads for every Community Deck so that users can discuss the deck or provide feedback to the creators. Another use for the forums is voting on new features and requesting features.

Instant Cards from Dictionaries
This one is hot off the press, having the flow of:

Encounter vocab in wild -> search it in Kitsun (with the Jisho.org API) -> instantly add it as a flashcard to learn

is something Anki does not offer or needs time/skills to set up.

Collaboration (coming soon)
Ever wanted to create a deck with multiple people (e.g. a layout designer, a content creator, a quality checker etc)? This will soon be possible on Kitsun.

Example use-case:
On the WaniKani forums users often form bookclubs. The users can make a shared deck on which they can all collaborate to insert unknown vocab. That way other bookclub members can use the deck to pre-learn or retain the vocab they encounter while reading a certain book.

raegefilth · May 15, 2018, 4:50pm

Definitely going to check it out!

The name confuses me though since I’m also using a website called kitsu.io that’s like an anime/manga database similiar to MyAnimeList.

neicul · May 15, 2018, 4:53pm

Hahaha I did notice that website but was already set on naming it like this. But look at it from the bright side, now you just have to type N to switch

Kumirei · May 15, 2018, 4:58pm

Is Anki → Kitsun import a planned feature?

DawnTheFawn · May 15, 2018, 5:01pm

It seems it already is a feature

greywillfade · May 15, 2018, 5:01pm

I’ve been using other people’s Anki decks, but actually started my own this morning and wow is it hard going. There’s definitely a gap in the market for a product with better UX, so I’ll look forward to playing with this later tonight. Good luck with it!

Kumirei · May 15, 2018, 5:03pm

Oops I’m happy with Anki, so I just skimmed the OP.

A follow-up then: is everything imported? Item statistics, media, card layout, scheduling?

VegasVed · May 15, 2018, 5:04pm

Imma get on this asap

viet · May 15, 2018, 5:04pm

Is this language/topic agnostic? Or is this specifically for Japanese? Would like to try this for my language learning flow

Radish8 · May 15, 2018, 5:08pm

Will there be any way for cards to have three ‘sides’, as it were? If I’m learning vocabulary, I think I’d like to be able to test English > Japanese, Japanese > Meaning, Japanese > Reading. Would I just have to create separate cards to test for each of these things?

Also a very small note that the text on the black bars in the shots of the ‘review’ layout that you included looks super dark.

neicul · May 15, 2018, 5:11pm

Currently everything (including media being uploaded to the kitsun servers) except progress and the stats (from progress) is imported. I will take another look to see if I can import progress as well.

It can be used for anything you can learn with flashcards. Seeing your comment makes me realize I kinda put it in the wrong forum category

Borx · May 15, 2018, 5:13pm

Would you like it moved? Regulars can do that for you.

neicul · May 15, 2018, 5:14pm

Hmm, I think that currently the easiest way for this is to create a card with a layout for “English > Japanese” and then save the card two more times with other layouts selected for the other two. Making it just a few button presses of work

Edit:
@Radish8 (In case you didn’t see the edit)
I’ll note it down as a feature request to select multiple layouts so it automatically makes a new card per layout, seems pretty handy!

viet · May 15, 2018, 5:14pm

Awesome. I was going to create my own mini WK version for my Vietnamese vocab learning. But if this is a way better substitute than Anki, then this will save me time.

I haven’t seen the features list yet. Any plans for a CSV or JSON import?

Radish8 · May 15, 2018, 5:17pm

Cool, that’s totally fine - just wanted to understand how it works. So you can’t flip cards, as it were? There’s always a question side and an answer side?

Edit: @neicul thanks for the tag! Definitely gonna check this out.

samfruc · May 15, 2018, 5:20pm

It would be awesome if you could make it to work offline too, like Google docs are. There are places where it’s hard to have a good internet access, so being able to work it offline too would be great.