diff --git a/ani-cli b/ani-cli
index 4d59379c..501a4407 100755
--- a/ani-cli
+++ b/ani-cli
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-version_number="4.9.6"
+version_number="4.9.7"
 
 # UI
 
@@ -274,7 +274,8 @@ download() {
 
 play_episode() {
     [ "$log_episode" = 1 ] && [ "$player_function" != "debug" ] && [ "$player_function" != "download" ] && command -v logger >/dev/null && logger -t ani-cli "${allanime_title}${ep_no}"
-    [ "$skip_intro" = 1 ] && skip_flag="$(ani-skip -q "$mal_id" -e "$ep_no")"
+    skip_flag="$(ani-skip -q "$mal_id" -e "$ep_no")"
+    [ "$skip_intro" = 0 ] && skip_flag=$(echo "$skip_flag" | cut -d " " -f 1)
     [ -z "$episode" ] && get_episode_url
     # shellcheck disable=SC2086
     case "$player_function" in
@@ -440,7 +441,6 @@ done
 [ "$use_external_menu" = "1" ] && multi_selection_flag="${ANI_CLI_MULTI_SELECTION:-"-multi-select"}"
 printf "\33[2K\r\033[1;34mChecking dependencies...\033[0m\n"
 dep_ch "curl" "sed" "grep" || true
-[ "$skip_intro" = 1 ] && (dep_ch "ani-skip" || true)
 if [ -z "$ANI_CLI_NON_INTERACTIVE" ]; then dep_ch fzf || true; fi
 case "$player_function" in
     debug) ;;
@@ -492,7 +492,7 @@ case "$search" in
         [ -z "$ep_no" ] && exit 1
         ;;
 esac
-[ "$skip_intro" = 1 ] && mal_id="$(ani-skip -q "${skip_title:-${title}}")"
+(dep_ch "ani-skip" || true) && mal_id="$(ani-skip -q "${skip_title:-${title}}")"
 
 # moves the cursor up one line and clears that line
 tput cuu1 && tput el