A lot of the complaints about Wanikani, especially as you get to the upper levels is that it teaches you some “useless” kanji. I find that to be false. Today while reading a book, I came across the “dreaded” 鬱 kanji, which means “depressed.” (See the image below.)
To be fair, I have encountered this kanji several times in Japan already. An essay we read in class talking about kanji talked about it, but it was a rather “clinical” example, meaning it was talking about the kanji, and not really using it per se. Similarly, television programs about kanji often bring it up as something very difficult to draw.
However, in daily life, you’ll rarely encounter it. For example, you’ll often see signs at stations in Tokyo that try to discourage people from killing themselves and offering a phone number, you’ll often see 憂鬱 just written in kana alone. But if you’re reading books (like I imagine that a lot of us on here are, you’ll come across a lot of the kana learned on here!) Therefore, if you get discouraged about the “uselessness” of upper level kanji, here’s an example to encourage you to keep it up!
