For anime reactors
Anime reaction video editor
Built with anime reactions in mind: keep the subtitles readable, react in the corner, and cut to yourself the moment you start talking.
You’re quiet → the episode playsYou speak → the subtitle strip stays
your microphone
What people make with it
What makes anime reactions hard to edit
Subtitles you must not cover
Anime is watched with subtitles, and a camera in the wrong corner sits right on the dialogue. Your camera takes any of nineteen shapes and goes wherever the subtitle band is not, and in You-first the episode window can crop down to the subtitle strip while you talk.
Twelve episodes, one setup
A season is a dozen reactions with the same layout. Save the project once and each new episode opens with the same three looks, title card and sound mix. You only add the two new recordings.
Line art and small text
The output follows your source resolution, up to 4K, so fine line art and subtitle text stay sharp instead of turning to mush on a downscale.
Three moments, and you choose every look
The editor swaps between the first two from your microphone and puts the third at the start and the end. Each look is a ready-made one or one you build, and a second version makes the clips take turns over a long episode.
You’re quiet
The look that runs while the episode plays. This is the one that decides whether the subtitles stay readable, which is the thing anime viewers notice first.
You speak
The look the editor cuts to when you start talking. Crop the episode to the subtitle band here, or drop it out entirely, whichever you prefer.
Intro & outro
Just you, on the whole frame, at the start and the end. Spoiler warnings for a weekly series live here.
Where we would start for anime reactions
Studios claim anime aggressively. You-first keeps you full-screen with the episode in a window you can shrink and dim, plus a subtitle strip that stays readable while you talk.
You’re quiet
You have the frame, the episode has a window
Your camera fills the picture and the episode plays in a window beside you. Subtitles stay at their own size instead of shrinking with the whole frame, which is the thing that usually breaks in anime reactions.
You speak
The window shrinks to the subtitle line
While you talk the window crops down to the band the subtitles sit in. Much less of the episode is on screen, and the dialogue is still readable, so nobody has to guess what was said.
A suggestion, not a lock. The same project can run the other way round: the episode full-screen with you in a corner. It looks more cinematic and shows more of the original, so it asks for more frequent cuts to your camera.
And then you are in a real editor
Anime is the one type where what you put ON the frame matters as much as the frame, because the subtitles are already there.
text
Title cardChapter 2
pictures
meme.pngspoiler box
main
introquietyou speakquietyou speakoutro
sound
a transition on any cut titles pictures, clips and shapes your own music the picture follows the playhead
- A half-opacity panel stretched down to the subtitle band: less of the episode is legible, the dialogue still is
- Titles in a font that suits the show, filled with a gradient or a glow rather than plain white
- A hard cut to your camera on the opening and the ending, which are matched instantly
- Colour per clip, so a washed-out flashback does not drag your face with it
Plus one-click look changes on any clip, transitions, shapes, titles, pan and zoom, music and colour per clip. Everything the editor can do
An anime reaction, start to finish
The order we would work in. New to it? Start with the beginner guide.
- 1Record each episode with headphones on, so the episode’s sound stays out of your microphone.
- 2Add the episode and your camera. If both started together, skip Sync; if not, drag until the sounds line up.
- 3First episode only: take a template set, move your camera away from the subtitle band, and press Save project.
- 4Every next episode: add the two new recordings, sync, then open the saved project on the Look step.
- 5Review the cuts, cut to yourself over the opening and ending, and save.
You get the finished final.mp4, and a timeline for DaVinci Resolve, Premiere or Final Cut if you want to keep going.
If you get a copyright claim
Anime gets matched fast and hard. The setup that shows the least of it is You-first: keep the episode in a small window, drop its opacity so only the gist shows, and switch to the subtitle strip while you talk so viewers still follow the dialogue. Cut to your camera on openings and endings, because those are matched instantly. If you prefer Video-first for the look, cut heavily and keep the commentary constant.
Ways to lower the odds, not a guarantee, and not legal advice. Claims, strikes and fair use, explained →
Questions about anime reactions
Will the subtitles still be readable in the finished video?
Yes, as long as nothing sits on them. The video comes out at your source resolution, up to 4K, and you decide where your camera goes. In You-first you can keep just the subtitle strip of the episode on screen while you talk.
My episode is an MKV with subtitles. Do they show?
Only subtitles that are part of the picture (hardsubs) show. Subtitles stored as a separate track inside the MKV are not drawn, so use a release with burned-in subtitles, or play the episode with subtitles on and record the screen.
Can I reuse one layout for a whole season?
Yes. Save project keeps every look with its layers, text, colour and sound, and none of your video files, so it opens on any episode. Signed in, your projects follow you to any computer; signed out, up to ten stay in this browser.
Start your next anime reaction
Free to edit, free to try, nothing uploaded. Credit packs from $5 remove the watermark, one credit per finished video. See pricing
Open the editor