SRS works when cards are simple and sessions are short. The goal is reliable recall, not encyclopedic cards. Design clean prompts, protect daily time, and add content from what you actually read and hear.

Card design that survives months of study

Front: one prompt (word, reading, or meaning). Back: short example + audio.
One fact per card; split multi‑fact items (meaning vs reading vs example).
Prefer phrase‑level for collocations (問題を解決する) vs isolated words.
For kanji: pair with one high‑value compound and component cues.

Settings that help (guidelines)

New cards/day: 15–30 depending on schedule. Start low and raise slowly.
Review cap: keep daily time ≤ 20–30 minutes; lower new cards if you exceed.
Bury siblings (e.g., same word different prompts) to avoid cueing.
Suspend leeches (cards you miss repeatedly); rebuild with a better example.

Habits that compound

Review at the same time each day to stabilize attention.
Add cards the same day you meet them in reading/listening.
Read/write aloud on hard items; engage more senses for memory.
Do a quick “error autopsy”: why did I miss this? fix → proof.

Building your deck from real input

Mine 3–5 items per reading/listening session.
Prefer frequent connectors, collocations, and kanji compounds you’ll re‑see.
Tag by topic (JLPT level, domain, phonetic series) for targeted sessions.

Pitfalls

Giant back sides with grammar essays—split and simplify.
Adding too many new cards on good days—protect tomorrow’s you.
Studying only lists—tie SRS to real input so words come back in context.

Metrics to watch

Daily review time (minutes) and accuracy trend.
New cards introduced vs leeches suspended (balance matters).
Unknown words per 1,000 in your reading (declining shows transfer).

Mini playbooks

Overloaded day? Do reviews only; add zero new.
Stuck card? Replace the example and add a pronunciation/kanji note.
Too easy? Raise new cards by +5 for one week, then reassess.

How Kanji Koi helps

Adaptive SRS tuned for short daily sessions.
Component breakdowns and stroke‑order animations for kanji cards.
Collocation‑friendly prompts (verb + noun) with audio.
Offline mode to protect your streak on commute‑length slots.

Use Kanji Koi to tag leeches and auto‑space them with improved examples. Pair a 5‑minute component review before reading—recognition jumps, and your SRS feels lighter the next day.

If kanji clog your queue, switch to component‑grouped sessions with stroke‑order practice for 10 minutes.