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ASBPlayer: Subtitle-Based Sentence Mining for Anime

ASBPlayer subtitle sentence mining for anime turns a line of dialogue into an Anki card with its audio, a screenshot, and the full sentence. The result is not an isolated word stripped of context.1 If you already use Anki and want cards drawn from native listening, ASBPlayer is the capture front end that connects the video to your deck.

Overview​

What ASBPlayer is​

ASBPlayer is a browser-based media player and browser extension built for language learners who study through subtitled media.1 It is free, open-source, and community-driven. Its founding maintainer is killergerbah, and the codebase lives at the asbplayer/asbplayer GitHub organization. The older killergerbah/asbplayer path redirects there.12

The documentation frames the purpose plainly: learn languages with subtitles by adding selectable subtitle text to almost any video source.2 That selectable text is the hinge the whole workflow turns on.

Player and extension are two halves of one tool

ASBPlayer ships as a web app for video files on your disk and as a browser extension for video already playing in your browser. They share the same capture engine and Anki connection; you pick the half that matches where your video lives.12

Why mine from anime at all​

A card built through ASBPlayer carries the subtitle sentence, an audio snippet of that exact line, and a screenshot frame, not just a bare word.13 The audio and on-screen context help the card recall a moment, not just a definition.

The deeper rationale is sentence-mining methodology: a word met inside a native sentence, with sound and image attached, sticks better than the same word in isolation. That reasoning belongs to the site's Sentence Mining: Building Your Own Japanese Anki Deck From What You Read material, so this article points there rather than re-arguing it here.

Whether anime is sound study material at all is a separate question: what it teaches well, and which speech habits it teaches badly. That question is taken up in Learning Japanese From Anime: The Honest Guide.

Where ASBPlayer sits in the toolchain​

ASBPlayer is the capture front end, not the dictionary or the flashcard app. It renders selectable subtitle text, so a pop-up dictionary extension can read it. ASBPlayer then bundles the audio snippet, the screenshot, and the sentence into a card and sends it to Anki through AnkiConnect.13

The documentation explicitly anticipates annotating subtitles with tools such as Yomitan.1 Card delivery depends on the AnkiConnect add-on being installed and Anki being open, because ASBPlayer talks to Anki through AnkiConnect's local API.14

How ASBPlayer works​

The two ways to feed it video​

There are two delivery paths, based on where the video file is. For a video file on your own disk, drag the media and subtitle files into the ASBPlayer website, which plays them as a standalone player.15

For video streaming in your browser, install the browser extension. The extension can use auto-detected subtitles on popular streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube. You can also drag a subtitle file onto the streaming video you want to mine.12 In short, the website is the player for files on disk; the extension adds selectable subtitles to a video the browser is already playing.2

What it captures​

From a chosen subtitle segment, ASBPlayer captures three things: the subtitle text, an audio clip of that segment, and a screenshot.3 It also pulls the surrounding subtitle context and shows a dialog where you can edit fields and preview the card before it is created.3

Those three artifacts are the raw materials of a mined card: the sentence text, the audio snippet, and the screenshot frame.13

Supported subtitle formats​

Supported subtitle formats include SRT, ASS, VTT, PGS, and "extracted" subtitles, meaning tracks pulled from a media container.3 The ASS entry covers the SSA family of subtitle formats.

FormatWhat it is
SRTPlain timed-text subtitles, the most common file type
ASSAdvanced SubStation Alpha (the SSA family), styled subs
VTTWebVTT, common for web video
PGSBitmap (image-based) subtitles from disc/container sources
"extracted"A subtitle track pulled out of a media container

Auto-detected streaming subtitles on Netflix and YouTube are handled by the extension as a separate path from these user-supplied files.13

Playback aids for immersion​

ASBPlayer includes playback modes built around a listen-then-read rhythm. Condensed playback skips the unsubtitled sections of a video. Fast-forward playback speeds through those gaps, so a session spends its minutes on actual dialogue.1

Auto-pause stops automatically at the beginning or end of every subtitle. That gives you a moment to read the line or trigger a lookup before the next one arrives.1 When the subtitles drift out of sync with the audio, the player lets you adjust the subtitle offset to resync them.1

Setup​

Install the app or extension​

Choose the half of the tool that matches your video. For local video files, use the ASBPlayer website at app.asbplayer.dev. For streaming video, install the browser extension.125

Reach for a Chromium browser for the audio step

Chromium-based browsers are the reliable path for audio capture. The project's primary build target is Chromium. Firefox and Firefox-for-Android builds are also produced, but a Chromium browser is the safe default for mining audio cards.1

Connect it to Anki​

The documented connection has two steps: install the AnkiConnect plugin for Anki, then configure ASBPlayer to create cards via AnkiConnect using your chosen deck and note type.1 AnkiConnect is a separate Anki add-on that exposes a local API, which other programs call to add and update cards. Anki must be running for ASBPlayer to reach it.4

This article does not re-teach AnkiConnect from scratch. The detailed installation and field-mapping walkthrough lives in the site's dedicated Yomitan + Anki: One-Click Card Creation material.

Map the audio and image fields​

In ASBPlayer's settings, you map your Anki note's fields to the captured material: a text field receives the sentence and its word or definition context, an audio field receives the audio clip, and an image field receives the screenshot.3 Field names depend on your own note type, so think of the mapping by role: the field that holds the sentence, the field that holds the audio, and the field that holds the screenshot.

Under the hood, audio is written as Anki's [sound:filename] reference and the image as an <img src="filename"> reference. ASBPlayer uploads the media to Anki through AnkiConnect's storeMediaFile call, then writes those references into the fields you mapped.34

Load a subtitle file​

For local playback, drag the subtitle file onto the ASBPlayer website player. For streaming, either let the extension auto-detect the service's own subtitles or drag a subtitle file onto the streaming video.12

The mining workflow​

Read the line with Yomitan​

Because ASBPlayer renders subtitles as selectable text, a pop-up dictionary extension can look up a word when you hover over it on the subtitle line. The documentation names Yomitan as such a tool.16 The verifiable ASBPlayer fact is that the subtitle text is selectable, so the dictionary works on it. The lookup behavior itself belongs to Yomitan.6

In practice, you pause on a line, hover the unknown word, and read the gloss in the pop-up before deciding whether the word is worth a card. The Yomitan (Yomichan): The Hover-Dictionary Workflow is covered in its own dedicated material.

Capture the card​

ASBPlayer supports several export modes through AnkiConnect: a direct add, a GUI add that opens Anki's own "Add" dialog for manual review, and an update-last-card mode that edits the most recently created note.3 These modes support two common patterns, and neither is mandatory.

In one pattern, you create the card from the pop-up dictionary first, then use ASBPlayer's update-last mode to attach the audio and screenshot to that same card.3 In the other, you export the card directly from ASBPlayer with the sentence, audio, and image in a single step.3 The diagram below traces the loop both patterns share.

Keep the deck mineable​

Mine sparingly. Pulling one or two genuinely unknown words per scene keeps the deck reviewable and keeps each card tied to a sentence you mostly understand. Over-collecting buries the words worth knowing under ones you were never ready for.

The discipline of how much to mine, and how to choose lines at the right difficulty, belongs to sentence-mining methodology. This article points to the site's material rather than restating it.

Alternatives​

Language Reactor​

Language Reactor is a browser extension and language-learning toolbox for studying from native materials, including Netflix and YouTube. It was formerly named "Language Learning with Netflix," and the old site now redirects to languagereactor.com.7 It layers language-learning tools, such as dual subtitles and a pop-up dictionary, onto the Netflix and YouTube web players.7

Its durable shape is a streaming-site browser layer. Its feature split has changed over time, so the stable points are simple: browser extension, Netflix and YouTube layer, former name.

Voracious​

Voracious is a video-player app for Mac, Windows, and Linux with special features for studying foreign languages, especially Japanese.8 It is an open-source desktop application built by rsimmons for local video files plus subtitle files.89

Its documented features include automatic-pause and hide-then-reveal subtitle viewing modes, automatic furigana and hover dictionary lookup for Japanese, EPWING dictionary import, and exporting subtitles as sentence cards to Anki with audio and image via AnkiConnect.8 The AnkiConnect card-export overlap with ASBPlayer is real. The contrast is delivery, since Voracious is a desktop, local-file player.8

When ASBPlayer is the right pick​

ASBPlayer is free and open-source. It works on both streaming services through the extension and local files through the website. It also creates cards via AnkiConnect, which slots it into an existing Anki and pop-up-dictionary pipeline.123 If your study mixes streaming and downloaded video, one tool spanning both paths removes a tool switch.

The contrast is one of reach, not quality. Voracious is desktop and local-file-oriented8. Language Reactor is a streaming-site browser layer7. ASBPlayer spans both delivery paths.12

Good to know​

Audio reliability lives in the browser choice​

Chromium-based browsers are the reliable path for the audio-capture step. ASBPlayer's primary build target is Chromium, with Firefox builds also produced. If audio cards come out empty or silent, the browser is the first thing to switch.1

You still need legally sourced video and subtitles​

ASBPlayer is a player and capture tool. It ships no content of its own. The learner brings their own local file or a streaming service they subscribe to, plus a subtitle file or the service's own subtitles.12

Subtitle accuracy varies​

Auto-detected streaming subtitles and fan-made subtitle files can mistime or paraphrase the spoken line. ASBPlayer exposes a subtitle-offset adjustment to fix timing1. But the content accuracy of a line is yours to verify before it becomes a card. A mistimed or rewritten subtitle bakes the error into your deck.

See also​

References​

Footnotes​

  1. asbplayer. Project repository (founding author/maintainer: killergerbah; the repo github.com/killergerbah/asbplayer redirects to the project organization github.com/asbplayer/asbplayer). README. https://github.com/asbplayer/asbplayer ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20 ↩21 ↩22 ↩23 ↩24 ↩25

  2. asbplayer. Official documentation site. "Learn languages with subtitles" / introduction. https://docs.asbplayer.dev ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  3. asbplayer. Reference documentation, subtitle-format and Anki-integration sections (supported formats; AnkiConnect card-creation flow and media field handling). https://docs.asbplayer.dev (Reference) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13

  4. FooSoft. AnkiConnect plugin for Anki (add-on enabling external programs to create and update cards). https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2055492159 / https://foosoft.net/projects/anki-connect/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. asbplayer. Official web app (drag-and-drop player for local media and subtitle files). https://app.asbplayer.dev ↩ ↩2

  6. FooSoft / Yomitan project. Yomitan browser pop-up dictionary extension. https://github.com/yomidevs/yomitan ↩ ↩2

  7. Language Reactor (formerly "Language Learning with Netflix"). Official site. https://www.languagereactor.com ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. rsimmons (Connor). Voracious: "A video player app for Mac/Windows/Linux with special features for studying foreign languages (esp. Japanese)." Project repository. https://github.com/rsimmons/voracious ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  9. Voracious. Project landing page. https://voracious.app ↩