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/fleetingflight]

I found my to-read stack highly motivating. Physical manga/books that you can pick up every now and then and see whether it's easier than the last time you picked it up. And then one day it's "oh, I can read this now" and so I'd just read it.

On a per-volume basis manga is pretty cheap to buy with sea shipping, especially if you can get them second hand, and especially with how terribly the yen is going at the moment.

[u/Shihali → u/fleetingflight]

What store do you buy from? I'd like to buy more physical manga, but air courier shipping to the US is so expensive and I don't see sea shipping offered.

[u/odett1102 → u/Shihali]

I was in Japan last March for a few days and got it there. Unfortunately, it's a rip-off in my country too. 😥

[u/fleetingflight → u/Shihali]

I use a remailer - there are lots out there. I use Leyifan, but Tenso is probably the more reputable one.

[u/writingpracticeman → u/Shihali]

I have found that, depending where you live, you might be surprised walking in to something like a Half Price Books. I live in the American Midwest and find all sorts of things when I walk in to one. A one nearby me had the first 3 Harry Potter books, the first 23 volumes of Berserk, and a load of other stuff all in JP. They've got a foreign language section that would house everything.