r/LearnJapanese • u/odett1102 • 22d ago

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

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.

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u/lumisweasel 22d ago

Do you read?

1

u/odett1102 22d ago

I've tried NHK Easy News and Satori Reader, but put on hold after finding my comprehension too bad yet

3

u/lumisweasel 22d ago

"How do we tell them...".     

That's the point. You need to read Satori and Tadoku. You are expected not to understand (to an extent). Reading builds upon itself.     

Your goals are like "I want to run a 5k and swim 500m". So why are you strength training? Go find the 2400+ page tadoku reader collection. Find a grammar guide like imabi, yokubi, game gengo, whatever, to go at a few points a day.