Traditional methods of teaching foreign languages focus too much on the written language, but the written language is not the spoken language itself, which people use most of the time. Also, due to the Less Effort Principle, the vocabulary used in spoken language tends to be much smaller and simpler than the vocabulary used in written language. As we can't ask a text for explanations, the vocabulary used needs to be clear, so the words tend to be more advanced in order to avoid ambiguities.
I think all avaliable tools lack a list of words, which the source is real everyday conversations (not anime or manga!). Here is a list based on Meidai Kaiwa Corpus, which covers about 90% of everyday conversations: http://www17408ui.sakura.ne.jp/tatsum/database/VDLJ_Ver1_0_General-Learners_Basic-2500.xlsx
