In a big data study of anime, I analyzed 1,432 episodes (over 3.3 million words) from 120 anime. 6,282 different verbs came up nearly 480,000 times. Just 200 of those verbs do most of the work. This data-driven reference shows you where to start, so understanding anime comes faster.
Share of all the verbs spoken across 120 anime: 1,432 episodes, over 3.3 million words.
What's inside
- The verb, readable at a glance. Furigana above, romaji under each character, so you don't need kanji to start.
- The forms anime actually uses, with how polite or blunt each one sounds and how often it's heard.
- Phrases heard in at least 10 different shows, on about half the pages.
- One original line to remember it by. "Hang on a sec! I'm still transforming!"
- Twelve conjugations, most heard first, including the casual forms textbooks skip.
- Also inside: a two-page conjugation cheat sheet, the verbs that became grammar, six genre chapters with 121 more verbs, and an English index.
Look inside
Who it's for
Learners who know some basics and want to understand what's actually happening in each line. It's a reference, not a course: read a page between episodes, not cover to cover.
Try it free first
Try the Top 10 Verbs in Furoma Reader, the reader that puts kana above and romaji below every word. Or take the two-minute quiz and see how much of anime you already understand.
The series
Start with Watch Anime, Learn Japanese for the 210 words anime says most, add Top 200 Japanese Verbs in Anime for the verbs, then Top 200 Japanese Adjectives & Adverbs in Anime for the words that give every line its color. See all three.
Questions
- What is the most common Japanese verb in anime?
- する (suru), to do. Then いる (iru), to be, and 言う (iu), to say.
- How many verbs should I learn first?
- Start with 10: they make up 43% of the verbs you'll hear. The top 50 make up 64%, and all 200 in this book reach 80%.