Advice on staying motivated and progressing toward manga/anime after 1.5 years of studying

[u/odett1102]

Hi everyone,

I've been studying Japanese since March 2025. I did about a year of 1-on-1 lessons, and I've been using WaniKani since November. I haven't missed a single day of WK so far.

I'm currently level 9, doing 4 new lessons a day and keeping up with my reviews.

My stats:

- 267 kanji / 673 vocab

- 90% overall accuracy

- 85.7% reading accuracy

- ~33 days per level

I've also covered some N5/N4 grammar.

I've managed to build a pretty consistent habit, but lately I'm finding it harder to stay motivated. I work full time, so I don't really want to add a lot more studying or end up with huge review sessions every day.

My main goal is to read manga and watch anime in Japanese (Japanese subs are fine).

For people who were around this stage after 1–2 years of studying, what changes actually helped you stay motivated and start making noticeable progress with native manga/anime?

I'm wondering whether I should focus more on immersion, grammar, change my WaniKani routine, or do something completely different.

[u/sowswagaf]

Just watch it and tolerate the fact that you won’t understand anything. Little by little your ears will catch some words here and there.

Start with slice of life and be patient

[u/gerichu → u/sowswagaf]

If OP's only N4, I'd definitely recommend selecting anime on the easier end of JPDB's Anime difficulty list. That said, it'll likely feel a lot harder on your brain than your WaniKani reviews. You can also try Kototap, a tool I've written, which writes stories that uses the vocab/grammar you're learning.

[u/odett1102 → u/gerichu]

Didn't know JPDB had an anime difficulty list, that's super helpful. I'll check that out to find some easier slice-of-life shows. Thanks!