I built the literal Duolingo Killer
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Hi Everyone,I recently wanted to learn Japanese with duolingo but it kept giving me repetitive lessons. So I built an app that gives a variety of lessons from anime.You can try it out here:https://kanjieight.vercel.app/Thanks everyone.
HN · launched Nov 25, 2025 · 11 upvotes (top 46%) · 0 views
Niche: language learning apps · 511 launches, 50 in the last 7 days ▼ -6% · Explore this niche →
Category and tags
- Education
- Vertical SaaS
- B2C
- Hobby / open-source project
Visit website ↗ Source listing ↗
More like this: all 511 launches in language learning apps →
Could you build this?
Yes This is a full-stack educational web application combining video/subtitle synchronization, flashcards, and an LLM-assisted curriculum, all easily generated using modern web frameworks.
Discussion
20 comments analyzed.
Competitors mentioned: Duolingo, Netflix for language learning
Concerns raised: Copyright/fair use issues with anime content, Unsubstantiated claims (2.7x faster learning, Yale/USC research links missing), Paywall with no free demo or trial content, False App Store ratings (claims 4.8-4.9 stars but not listed on any app store), Website appears AI-generated, lacks authenticity
Feature requests: Free clip or demo before requiring payment, Login option without Google sign-in
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one : 293 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #113 of 294 (itself plus its competitors, highest first, normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 27 days after the earliest competitor.
- Origa · ph · 2026-10-20 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.53
- Cadence Spanish · hn · 2026-01-14 · 7 upvotes · similarity 0.52
- Itsumo: Make yourself fun and interesting academic language lessons · hn · 2026-04-08 · 9 upvotes · similarity 0.50
- Learn Japanese contextually while browsing · hn · 2025-12-17 · 92 upvotes · similarity 0.50
- I speak 5 languages. Common apps taught me none. So I built lairner · hn · 2026-02-13 · 35 upvotes · similarity 0.50
- Open-source alternative to Duolingo for learning anything · hn · 2026-05-27 · 7 upvotes · similarity 0.49
- Open Lingo · ph · 2026-10-12 · 2 upvotes · similarity 0.49
- Easy Japanese - Tokyo Accent · ph · 2026-10-29 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.47
The niche, labels, vibe code rating and competitor comparison on this page are analysis by Nicheloom. If you use them, please credit nicheloom.com. How you may use our data.