Satori Reader

If you’re serious about learning Japanese, this is a must have. It isn’t free, but for the relatively low price of only 10$ a month, it isn’t even a question. The amount of care and detail put in to the stories is truly remarkable. You can click every word to get an explanation and you can make flash cards with the tap of a button. Every episode has several notes explaining tricky grammar, word usage, cultural notes etc. There are stories ranging from easy to hard difficulties, and there are other types of articles such as news. The free version lets you read the first 2 episodes of every story, so you can try it out to see if you like it.

Hi Brian and cohorts! I have taken a long break from Satori (I kid of finished at the time) but kept my membership because of my admiration for your enterprise and because I knew new stories were coming. I have a technical point to make. I have looked at lots of youtubes and I am used to toggling the lesson on and off when I need time. I find it clunky to get to a new episode and then have to scroll to the bottom to start. (I don't want it to give me the nonstop version offered at the top. Maybe later, or in the car.) Then, if I want to stop, I have to stroll to the bottom of the episode then back up to look at the sentence then back down to start again. Then it starts before I can stroll back up the page and find my place. I seem to remember this function being more accessible before? I usually listen a couple of times before I look at the text, but when I go back for analysis I don't want to fuss with stop and start. At the end of my analysis I want to listen again with no gray spots at all in the flow of words. Anyway, congrats on staying with it. That's why I've stayed with all of you!

I cannot believe how good this app is. I speak and read Japanese at a junior high level and have been looking for an app to help improve my reading skills. This app does it all. Reading, kanji, listening, etc. I cannot recommend this app high enough!

This app is incredible. I’m currently studying for the N1 and have been using this app on and off since I first started getting really serious about studying Japanese at N4 level. Every time I come back to it I’m genuinely amazed. It truly is a labor of love, not only translating every word and sentence and voicing every story, but throwing in really in-depth explanations of words, phrases, and culture that would captivate any linguistics nerd. And on top of that, the support is top-notch: the couple of times I’ve been confused with some aspect of the app, I’ve sent an email to support and gotten a VERY quick response. It’s really worth the price for the subscription. I LOVE this app. Thank you so much for helping me improve my Japanese reading comprehension!

If you are serious about improving your Japanese comprehension and reading ability, this is the best app for you. I’ve been using this app for years now and nothing compares. It’s simplicity and ease of use I believe are what make it incredible.

I don’t often write reviews, but I really wanted to express my love for this app! I’ve been using this app for years now since I believe reading helps improve language proficiency, and let me tell you, my Japanese has improved tremendously since using this app. I would not be nearly as proficient today if I hadn’t used this app. The stories are compelling, with easy to understand grammar explanations and pretty good translations for vocabulary and sentences. Everything is explained thoroughly and if you need extra help with a word, you can save it to study later. I mostly use this app for reading practice and I’m always excited for new chapters every week. They have easier stories for people with a more basic understanding of Japanese, and they have more advanced stories too, including news related stories with higher level vocab and grammar. You can choose to listen to the audio of each sentence (or chapter) for listening practice as well. I have absolutely no critique for the app as I love it so much, and I hope more stories are released in the future! I don’t know what my life would be like without this app. Thanks for everything :)

The teachers have taken great care to create this bridge between simple grammar study and reading with the training wheels on so that you can graduate finally into real Japanese literature once you work through materials. I was surprised to discover the value of the comment sections after each reading section : Teachers provide very well-considered answers to grammar and usage questions and lots of examples. Nuances are explained clearly and intelligently.

Downloaded the app, immediately forced to make an account to continue. Tried making an account and got a “we don’t allow spam” message so I can’t continue. It says I would need to contact their customer support to try and resolve it which is kinda a hassle when I’m not even sure if I would like the app yet since I haven’t been able to try it due to the account signup issue.

I started using this app a little over a month ago. I’ve been using it nearly every day and some of the words and phrases I’ve come across in the stories on Satori have popped up in my Japanese conversations! Also, it works really well in conjunction with WaniKani. I really enjoy the episodes with voice and sound effects. The voice actors have done amazing work. The fact that every single word and phrase has been annotated with detailed explanations is my favorite aspect of this app. I read other things in Japanese too, but they don’t have the benefit of these annotations. I also appreciate that each episode has its own discussion area. I often read through those to get further insight on some of the more difficult areas of an episode. I can only recommend this app to anyone learning Japanese. Even if the stories are difficult at first, often, they get easier a few episodes in as you learn the associated vocabulary. If not, there are many others to choose from.

This app has made it so much more enjoyable to spend time in Japanese. I have no patience for textbooks and this app is the perfect bridge between native content and foreign language instruction. If I were going to nitpick anything, it would be you can’t adjust the size and color of the text, but even that isn’t a huge deal for me. I just finished all the beginner level stories and I’m excited to continue to the next ones up! Thanks satori!!!