# Wagotabi: Learn Japanese — user reviews > 393 indexed App Store user reviews of Wagotabi by WAGOTABI LIMITED, rated 4.90/5 from 1,445 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/wagotabi-learn-japanese/id6474207287/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/wagotabi-learn-japanese/id6474207287.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 1,385 · 4★ 43 · 3★ 8 · 2★ 3 · 1★ 6 ## What do users think of Wagotabi? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Thoughtfully made - 🚀 Engaging and fun way to learn - 👍 Excellent for beginners - 👍 Effective learning method - 👍 Motivating and addictive - 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly - 👍 Reinforces learning through repetition - 👍 Realistic scenarios for practicing - 👍 Combines language learning and immersive gameplay - 👍 Gradual introduction of Japanese, replacing English **Cons** - 🐛 Audio issues (muted by device settings) - 🐛 Occasional overlapping of audio **Commonly reported bugs** - Audio issues (muted by device settings) - Occasional overlapping of audio **Most requested features** - Add intermediate and advanced levels - Implement sync capabilities across devices - Include a picture album of real-life locations in Japan - Expand content with more updates and DLC ## Newest reviews (20 of 393) ### 4/5 — It’s good. *2026-07-12, version 1.00.0557* The game is amazing. Gamepad support has been broken since last update —— on multiple platforms. ### 5/5 — Exceptionnel *2026-07-10* Magnifique petit jeu, très bien fait **Developer response:** Merci pour le retour d’expérience! Nous avons mis des années à peaufiner la structure de Wagotabi en nous basant sur nos années d’expérience d’apprentissage du japonais et des recommendations de professeurs. Les mises à jour sont régulières avec plus de contenu! N’hésitez pas à parler de Wagotabi partout autour de vous, ça nous aide énormément! ### 5/5 — Amazing if you know hiragana and katakana already *2026-07-09, version 1.00.0524* I honestly love this app. It’s fun, engaging, and reminds me a little of Pokémon mixed with Hamtaro where you’re learning new words while taking on tasks. I play it almost daily and can feel like I’ve learned so much. I do wish there was more training on recognizing kanji as it’s almost everywhere as you progress in the game. It’s repeatedly shown but like maybe how to write it so it sticks? Idk. I love the game and have very little complaints ### 5/5 — Amazing!! *2026-07-06, version 1.00.0524* Very well thought and designed - extremely engaging!! ### 5/5 — best app for beginners *2026-07-05, version 1.00.0524* great app!!!! ### 5/5 — This app truly helps *2026-07-03, version 1.00.0524* このアプリは素晴らしいです！日本語が全く分からなかったが、読み書きでき、話せるようになった。このアプリは、日本語の学習を始めたい方や文法を完璧にしたい方にとって、私が最もおすすめするアプリの一つです。 ### 5/5 — Awesome gamification of language learning *2026-06-28* This app will be the best money you ever spend on Japanese resources. Something like Duolingo doesn't even compare with this. It is much better and goes more in-depth about grammar topics. **Developer response:** Thank you! It took us years to experiment while developing Wagotabi and finding the right balance between learning, fun and immersion! We are regularly adding new towns and learning content. Our vision is to add much more content step by step. First covering N5 and then above. Please tell people around you about Wagotabi, this helps us a lot! ### 5/5 — Amazing Game *2026-06-25, version 1.00.0524* Very well made. Cheers! ### 5/5 — Amazing Game *2026-06-22, version 1.00.0524* Very well made. Latest update 1.00.0524 prevents gamepad cursor from reaching past the top half, and rightmost 3rd of screen. Visually the cursor only reaches a portion of the screen but out-of-reach UI elements still respond to it in the background. Seems like a drawing issue. Cheers! ### 5/5 — OMG what a find!!! *2026-06-22* I’ve played maybe 3 hours at this point and honestly this is the best tool I’ve ever found to learn Japanese, it’s a real game (basically a JRPG) and you can only progress by learning the language! For sure I want to complete all 27 levels! Thanks to the designers!! ### 5/5 — Actually works *2026-06-21* I learnt more in one month of this game than I did in a year with the green owl. Absolutely recommended. **Developer response:** Thank you! It took us years to experiment while developing Wagotabi and finding the right balance between learning, fun and immersion! We are regularly adding new towns and learning content. Our vision is to add much more content step by step. First covering N5 and then above. Please tell people around you about Wagotabi, this helps us a lot! ### 5/5 — Most engaging way I’ve found to use JP *2026-06-21, version 1.00.0524* My problem has always been finding material for my starting level, and Wagotabi scales perfectly and is super fun, to boot. ### 5/5 — Very good educational game *2026-05-31, version 1.00.0510* The his game has been extremely helpful with my journey to leading Japanese. It is honestly a very good learning device. 10/10 recommended. ### 5/5 — Amazing *2026-05-31, version 1.00.0510* Thank you for creating this app and making it cheap. As someone who struggles with money but genuinely excited to learn, I’m deeply grateful. ### 5/5 — Amazing approach to learning *2026-05-23, version 1.00.0506* I am more than happy to support this team. I’ve been playing on Steam. Don’t let the graphics fool you. So far this is the best, most engaging learning app of all the ones I have used. Light years better than Duolingo (which is waaaaay overrated). Better than bento, Kama, innovative language learning (which are also quite good). ### 5/5 — Excellente application *2026-05-23* Excellente app qui rend l’apprentissage ludique. Il y a des mises à jours qui l’améliorent, il serait néanmoins pratique de laisser la possibilité de voir la traduction des phrases des pnj **Developer response:** Merci pour le retour d’expérience! Nous avons mis des années à peaufiner la structure de Wagotabi en nous basant sur nos années d’expérience d’apprentissage du japonais et des recommendations de professeurs. Les mises à jour sont régulières avec plus de contenu! N’hésitez pas à parler de Wagotabi partout autour de vous, ça nous aide énormément! ### 5/5 — Makes learning Japanese interesting *2026-05-16, version 1.00.0408* Very well structured and fun to play. The best part is that the developers continue to update it, so it grows in value over time. And do check out BAND-MAID that’s mentioned in the game! ### 5/5 — Game changer! *2026-05-10* This is by far the best app I have ever used for learning Japanese and I have used *a lot* of them. It is engaging and immersive and combines elements of culture with well-explained grammar points. The puzzles are really fun to work through and feel more exciting than just a standard testing format. The characters are cute and fun and the story arcs tie in with each prefecture beautifully. As a language teacher, I was so impressed by some of the challenges and situations which were really clever ways of practising specific skills. I will say that it can be fast paced — I knew most of the content available already, but it has taken me over a year to learn, whereas this I was cracking through in a week or so as it was so engaging! Additionally, your experience will be better if you already know hiragana and katakana. In any case, I am eagerly awaiting new updates and I hope they come soon. **Developer response:** Thank you! It took us years to experiment while developing Wagotabi and finding the right balance between learning, fun and immersion! We are regularly adding new towns and learning content. Our vision is to add much more content step by step. First covering N5 and then above. Please tell people around you about Wagotabi, this helps us a lot! ### 5/5 — Awesome tool to learn Japanese *2026-04-20, version 1.00.0406* I’ve used several Japanese learning apps. This app is is very well polished. Every corner of the app was mindfully created. Don’t rent your software. Own it! ### 5/5 — no brainer purchase *2026-04-19* if you want to learn japanese this is the app!!! **Developer response:** Thank you! It took us years to experiment while developing Wagotabi and finding the right balance between learning, fun and immersion! We are regularly adding new towns and learning content. Our vision is to add much more content step by step. First covering N5 and then above. Please tell people around you about Wagotabi, this helps us a lot! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — not bad, but hateful *2026-03-22* honestly, it starts quite well and slow, so it feels like you are progressing. however it quickly ramps up and you definitely feel like you need a proper tutor to understand what is going on, as the explanations are quite bad. I also think that they have this idea to have a npc that is a "rival" to stimulate your learning as a competitor, but in all honesty he is just a bully and the way that he literally talks to you saying that you are bad at japanese when you are actually having a hard time with the language is actually triggering. that made me give up on the game as bullying for me is not acceptable. games should be supportive and not try to humiliate you when you have difficulty learning, specially when we are talking about a language as hard as japanese. To think that this has cost me money to be bullied by a game is freaking outrageous. BE BETTER. **Developer response:** Thank you for your honest feedback. We’re sorry that you had a bad experience with the rival character and some of the explanations. The rival is a very specific figure in the game, while all the other NPCs are supportive from the very beginning. There is no penalty for failing a challenge. You can continue studying and try again later. If you can think of the rival as a major challenge that, once overcome, will give you a sense of pride while helping you progress, we hope you can look past his comments and keep moving forward. We understand that this rival battle is difficult, but completing it will unlock many new lessons and learning opportunities in a positive environment. Thank you for taking the time to read this and for playing Wagotabi. The Wagotabi Team ### 1/5 — Nice(ish)… *2025-08-22* Nice game! Could do with a lot of improvements, if they made it a real game and all, seems like a learning app like others. But nice(ish). **Developer response:** Thank you for your honest review. We are sorry that the Wagotabi experience did not meet your expectations. We truly value user feedback and always strive to improve based on it. Please feel free to let us know how we could improve by contacting us at kinoko.amaterasu@gmail.com. Wagotabi Dev Team ### 1/5 — Sehr schönes Spiel, aber… *2025-03-06* … leider werden Standort-Daten abgegriffen! Wozu sind die für dieses Spiel erforderlich? Sorry, geht gar nicht 👎. **Developer response:** Vielen Dank für Ihr ehrliches Feedback. Die Standortdaten können in den Spieleinstellungen deaktiviert werden. Es handelt sich dabei um grobe Lokalisierungsdaten, die ausschließlich zur Verbesserung des Gameplays und für Diagnosen (z. B. Fehleranalyse) verwendet werden. Wagotabi kann vollständig offline gespielt werden, Standortdaten sind zum Spielen nicht erforderlich und können deaktiviert werden. Grundsätzlich nutzen wir diese Daten nur zur Fehlerbehebung und zur Verbesserung des Spiels, wie oben beschrieben. Insgesamt benötigt Wagotabi keine persönlichen Daten und verwendet diese auch nicht. Der Schutz der Privatsphäre ist einer unserer zentralen Werte in der Entwicklung. Zögern Sie nicht, uns eine E-Mail an kinoko.amaterasu@gmail.com zu senden oder unsere Datenschutzrichtlinie zu konsultieren (auf Englisch: https://www.wagotabi.com/privacy-policy). Das Wagotabi-Team ### 2/5 — The best way to learn almost N4 *2025-10-03, version 1.00.0028* Just play it, worth it absolutely ### 2/5 — Just do it *2024-10-22* This is one of the first Japanese learning games that I find myself actually WANTING to stay with. The learning aspect feels very smooth, and I adore the fact that it doesn’t bring in romanji as its starting learner of the Japanese alphabet/vocab like so many other apps do, and instead balances moving in Japanese as you progress through the game and lessons the amount of English that is used in conversation. That I feel like is truly learning by immersing yourself into the language. It’s a cute game that has a feeling almost similar to Pokémon where you battle by learning more Japanese, collect Kanji in your Kanjidex, and travel all across the lands of Japan. It’s really neat that it makes itself unique by having the world exploration mimicking the actual locations of Japan through the game play and allows its players to take note of those real locations and maybe even pique further curiosity and excitement into wanting to travel to Japan to visit those exact locations. Keep going developers and all those who have brought this creation to life! Ya’ll are doing amazing!! **Developer response:** Thank you so much for the amazing review! You exactly understood our motivation to create Wagotabi and seem to be enjoying the adventure! One remark from our side: your review shows 2/5 stars (which is a bad score), probably it is a mistake. Would you be so kind and adapt the rating to a high score (if you are satisfied with Wagotabi obviously). Thank you! ### 3/5 — Sound not working *2026-04-17* Loved this game until sound stopped working? Hard to learn Japanese without the sound… is there an update due? Thank you! **Developer response:** Hi, thanks for your feedback! Please make sure that the ringtone button of your iphone/iPad is turned on while playing the game. Otherwise the game sound is not emitting (it is an apple guideline we have to follow). If you still have an issue, you can contact us to our support email: kinoko.amaterasu@gmail.com. ### 3/5 — Sound won’t work *2026-01-31, version 1.00.0307* Sound won’t work, paid for the app and I’m guessing my way through so far ### 3/5 — Lack of explanation and too difficult *2026-01-30, version 1.00.0307* I could just be too dumb, but I felt like I was picking up quickly on everything until very early in the game when the immigration officer asks to see your suitcase. For me, I don’t understand what half of the questions are asking for or they’re written in Japanese which I obviously don’t understand yet. It was really fun and helpful up until that point, but now I’ve tried to pass that 10 times having to guess half the time since I don’t know what they’re asking. ### 3/5 — Für Gehörlosen schlecht *2025-09-11* Ich liebe Pokémon Spiel und ich möchte japanisch lernen, da habe ich Ihr App gefunden. Gekauft. Bereue es fast nicht, außer manchmal muss man hören. Mies. Da ich gehörlos bin :( **Developer response:** Hallo, vielen Dank für Ihr Feedback! Das Spiel verfügt über eine Option, mit der Sie die Audio-bezogenen Fragen/Tests im Menü „Barrierefreiheit” deaktivieren können. Auf diese Weise ist das Spiel auch ohne Audio vollständig spielbar. ### 3/5 — Teaches formality instead of basics *2025-05-13* This is a really great way to gamify learning Japanese, is genuinely fun and reasonably priced. But from the get-go it teaches Japanese using the ‘masu’ form of verbs for EVERYTHING. This is a fundamentally flawed way of teaching Japanese, and you will have to UNLEARN it later on when you inevitably backtrack to learn the core of the language. It’s such a shame because it seriously spoils a great app. I think this is worth it as a bit of fun on the side of your actual studies. **Developer response:** Thanks for your honest feedback and playing Wagotabi! The game starts indeed by introducing the masu form but quickly (at the middle of the first prefecture), verbs are introduced in their dictionary form. Then, from the beginning of the second prefecture, usage of casual speach is also introduced and detailed so you can understand and use properly the masu or dictionary form in context. Introducing first the masu form (for the first hours of playing) was done essentially by pedagogic and usage reasons. We thought a lot about this internally (with professional teachers also), and we found it was for us a good way to introduce verbs for pure beginners, as masu-form is more safe to use in a first step. Also, even if it is not shown directly to the player, the conjugation table under the verb page introduces from the beginning the dictionary form, and the focus test allows also from the end of airport to practice conjugation of masu and dictionary form. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Way better than that green bird! *2026-08-19* I'm nowhere near finished, but I wanted to leave a review now because the amount of care in this app is obvious from the first few lessons. The gamified format actually makes we want to keep coming back. The pacing, the little rewards, the way new material builds on what I just learned. You can tell a lot of thought went into the design, not just slapping quizzes behind a leveling system. For anyone on the fence: even as someone early in their Japanese journey, this has been the most genuinely fun language apps I've tried. I'm excited to keep going and see where the rest of the journey takes me. To the developers, I appreciate you. This is clearly a labor of love. ### 5/5 — Best App for learning Japanese *2026-08-17* Full disclosure: it is best to already know hiragana and katakana before using this app. However; if you are already comfortable, wow Wagotabi is the best language learning app I have ever used. Instead of taking the green bird’s approach of trying to give a dopamine rush with every single lesson, every single question, every single time you open the app, Wagotabi instead creates a calm and peaceful environment (through music and art style) and makes it feel very rewarding when you learn a new skill, or even a new word! Wagotabi truly feels immersive in a way that no other single app has ever before. 10/10 ### 5/5 — I like it *2026-08-15* As of now this is the most Fun, intuitive and productive jap learning app I have ever tried. if this game does'nt go beyond N5 that would be my only criticism. **Developer response:** Thank you! It took us years to experiment while developing Wagotabi and finding the right balance between learning, fun and immersion! We are regularly adding new towns and learning content. Our vision is to add much more content step by step. First covering N5 and then above. Please tell people around you about Wagotabi, this helps us a lot! ### 5/5 — Quelle bonheur *2026-08-03* Le jeu est EXCEPTIONNEL pour apprendre le japonais, on sent la passion des créateur et que cela a vraiment été fait dans le but de faciliter l’apprentissage du japonais. Tout est trop bien penser, juste merci !! **Developer response:** Merci pour le retour d’expérience! Nous avons mis des années à peaufiner la structure de Wagotabi en nous basant sur nos années d’expérience d’apprentissage du japonais et des recommendations de professeurs. Les mises à jour sont régulières avec plus de contenu! N’hésitez pas à parler de Wagotabi partout autour de vous, ça nous aide énormément! ### 5/5 — Super lern App mit Pokemon Vibes! *2026-07-31* Sehr durchdacht und liebevoll gestaltet. Lernen macht Spaß und fühlt sich nicht wie lernen an mit dieser App! **Developer response:** Vielen Dank! Wir freuen uns, dass Ihnen Wagotabi gefällt. Bei der Entwicklung von Wagotabi haben wir jahrelang experimentiert, um die ideale Balance zwischen Lernen, Spaß und Vertiefung zu finden. Regelmäßig erweitern wir Wagotabi um neue Städte und Lerninhalte. Bitte erzählen Sie Ihren Freunden und Bekannten von Wagotabi: das hilft uns sehr! ### 5/5 — Conception d’une étonnante qualité *2026-07-20* Outre l’aspect linguistique, qui permet une entrée en matière ludique et challengeante, on voit d’emblée l’effort de conception du jeu — les graphismes sont propres, les fonctionnalités déjà consistantes ; en sommes, un terreau fertile pour aller loin ! **Developer response:** Merci pour le retour d’expérience! Nous avons mis des années à peaufiner la structure de Wagotabi en nous basant sur nos années d’expérience d’apprentissage du japonais et des recommendations de professeurs. Les mises à jour sont régulières avec plus de contenu! N’hésitez pas à parler de Wagotabi partout autour de vous, ça nous aide énormément! ### 5/5 — Best language learning app yet. *2026-07-20, version 1.00.0557* I have tried genuinely everything for learning Japanese but Wagotabi has officially won my heart! Knowing both hiragana and katakana is pretty crucial, but once you’ve got that down, the game is incredibly fun and motivating. It doesn’t feel like a chore at all and I seriously recommend it for everyone, especially those who feel they’ve hit a dead end with their Japanese. ### 5/5 — Wonderful app *2026-07-15* This app is very awesome as it slowly replaces the English with Japanese. Awesome way to immerse yourself and interact with the language that doesn’t feel like studying and great for when you don’t feel like learning from books. Hopefully the devs add more content soon.🤞 **Developer response:** Thank you! It took us years to experiment while developing Wagotabi and finding the right balance between learning, fun and immersion! We are regularly adding new towns and learning content. Our vision is to add much more content step by step. First covering N5 and then above. Please tell people around you about Wagotabi, this helps us a lot! ### 5/5 — Wow! *2026-07-15, version 1.00.0557* This is amazing! I tried playing Pokemon Leaf Green in Japanese but the level was far too high. This app gives the same experience but at an appropriate level! Keep up the good work!! ### 5/5 — Best way to learn *2026-07-14* This is so much fun!! I remember staying up at night for hours to keep playing. I’m already envious of people who will play this once it’s finished!! **Developer response:** Thank you! It took us years to experiment while developing Wagotabi and finding the right balance between learning, fun and immersion! We are regularly adding new towns and learning content. Our vision is to add much more content step by step. First covering N5 and then above. Please tell people around you about Wagotabi, this helps us a lot! --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-30.*