My ultimate goal is to be able to read anything from modern Japanese that I can get my hands on. I believe this will acquire about 10,000~12,000 base words of which I have about 7,500.
My immediate goal is to finish WaniKani, get to about 9,000 words (at the end of WK I should have around 8,600), and be able to read any of the visual novels I’m reading at roughly 100% understanding, putting some words in HouHou as I need to.
I don’t care about just being able to do the N1 lol
N1 isn’t even that astounding of a level in the language
edit: I’m not saying that passing the N1 isn’t that impressive, it’s really impressive and you have to work you ass off to do it. However, in the grand scheme of the rest of the language, the N1 isn’t that amazing
Tbh a lot of it will be hearing Japanese, rather than actively listening. I would barely even consider listening a form of study because it’s so easy to do. Why sit in the car in silence when I can listen to Japanese? Why make sentence cards in silence when I can listen to Japanese? You can easily find 18 hours a day
While this is true, being able to keep it up for a year straight, without losing focus or sanity, let alone having true downtime to process everything you’re taking in, is the part that I think we’re having trouble with.
Yes, thank you man who has not even reached likely N3 levels of Japanese. I’m sure you know so much of the usefulness of a degree which you are many hours from. 
N1 is a pretty large accomplishment. With it, you can read a large amount of works, understand intent and basically be able to guess the few amount of words you don’t know with a fair amount of accuracy. Sure, you might not be able to read classic Japanese and some verbose novella might throw you off. But when it comes to news articles, commentaries, adult novels, and whatnot you should be able to read most of that stuff.
Read again please, I edited it
im pretty sure hes just verbatim describing the AJATT process. More specifically I feel like I heard all this word for word in a Matt Vs. Japan video
My main goal is to be able to read otome visual novels without too much of a struggle. Even ones set in the past, like Suzaku Ibun. My smaller goals till I get there, though, are these:
Hopefully these are realistic enough. 
Why would I care about downtime? My downtime will be Japanese. We are talking about language learning here, and I’m prepared to let it absorb all the time I have.
Definitely realistic enough! I was able to get to the point of reading visual novels (with a dictionary of course) within the year!
You got this!
Aa, thanks! Makes me really motivated to keep going. I can’t wait. 
Alright, it’s still a pretty big achievement in the scope of the language. Again, the only things I can think of that you wouldn’t be able to read are stuff even native speakers would have trouble with: stuff like classic Japanese and word loving writers.
Also, lots of hours of listening Japanese is doable if you don’t include being able to understand it. Granted not being able to understand it is why listening to it can be a boost for your studies. But if you’re talking about a mixed amount of looking up words and just absorbing it, I think 18 hours is still a bit excessive. Grammar in particular should be given a sufficient amount of time as well, lest you are unable to to fully grasp the sentences and only pick the words. Not to mention the amount of time to read the sentences would make the 10,000 hour goal unreasonable.
If you’re able to put in about an hour each day (including WaniKani and grammar, whatever system you use), you’ll be on track for handling some entry-level shoujo manga well before the year’s done (with some fuzzy guesses about stuff using context).
Don’t let yourself push it off with the excuse of “I won’t understand all of it”. As soon as you think you’ve got enough of a grasp on everyday grammar (N5/N4, mid-Genki II if you’re following with that), pick up a volume of something you also have access to in English and get started. (You’re not gonna have a complete grasp of vocab or intent until you actually read things regularly, though there’s no shame in that, and professional translations, while often not literal, are a decent way to verify your understanding and keep making progress in a story without getting stuck; after a few volumes, you’ll probably be familiar enough with the scenario and writing style that you’ll be able to read entire chapters with just a dictionary)
I said earlier that I don’t care if I understand 100% or 1% because eventually it WILL be 100% after enough reading (with Japanese in the background). Also, because audio is hands free, can study grammar with Japanese in the background lol.
I don’t understand why me saying I’m going to give it my all has to result in you saying that that’s stupid. If I can find the time to do it, I will do it, and I KNOW I will do it. I’m sorry you aren’t as determined as me…
It’s definitely possible. I think at about 3,500 words I was able to read most moege and get the gist of what is going on. Less than that and you might have to go for some purposely easy visual novels. Though, the one you listed mentions 12+, which usually suggests an easier read than others. (Quality wise it can still be very good by the way. I wouldn’t know)
Have you tried this core 2k visual novel deck? It contain 2000 of the most used words in visual novels and some of the words that don’t show up for a while in WaniKani but I saw in the preview shots of that game are in it. I would suggest maybe doing that in tandom with WK.
While the V2K has certainly been helpful to me in my own media-consumption journey, I feel it would be prudent not to start using it too early.
Chances are people who intend to play VNs already know a bunch of scattered words, so it won’t feel too daunting, but because they’re just words without context and, at level 2, it’s unlikely that enough of a foundation exists in kanji to derive the meanings of vocab (or even identify them visually), it could lead to establishing a bunch of leeches or vocab with no practical application at a time when the language basics are more important.
I first tried using it around level 8 and ended up having to put it away 'til around 20, when it was far more accessible and it wasn’t uncommon that I’d see a new word and then see the same word in the wild a few days later.
Dude, I’ve gone from knowing no Japanese whatsoever (didn’t even know what the writing system was) to nearing the last 10 levels of Wanikani at max speed with 2500-2750 words extra and it hasn’t even been a year. Not to mention a rough N2 level of grammar and so forth. I think I’m pretty passionate about learning. Which is precisely why I wanted to say this:
I’m not trying to discourage your enthusiasm. If you want to experience 18 hours of Japanese a day, be my guest. However, if your goal is to know Japanese, that amount of time using that method is not feasible nor necessary. I am just telling you this so you can calm down and balance your goals with efficiency and feasibility. If you don’t you’re just going to either burn out or not progress at all satisfyingly in Japanese.
Kinda a rough plan;
I’ll be trying to study 2 to 3 hours a day. I’m working through WaniKani, 1 lesson/week in Genki 1 (if I can), Tae Kim’s guides, and putting everything I learn in Anki.
Once I get around Level 10, I plan to get into Yotsuba!. At Level 20, I’ll probably look around for some simple shoujo manga on BookWalker. Once I feel satisfied with my progress, I’ll pick up Volume 1 of InuYasha in both English and Japanese and start working through it.
Hope this isn’t too slow; but it’s a general plan I had in mind.
Oh yeah, I did the same. I only really started looking through it after Tae Kim and reaching about level 16. At that point, I felt like I had a strong enough grasp in radicals and grammar that I could actually use the list. After that point, I think it would be good to look over V2k, but not before that I agree.
No it’s fine. Just go at whatever pace suits you, as in whatever pace balances the amount of months it takes to study the material with when you want to actually experience the material. 頑張れ!
Thanks for the deck recommendation; I’ll try to get into it at a later level, but I’ll put it into Anki now.
Also, yeah, the VN I mentioned is one of the easier ones, and it’s rather short, so it’ll be a motivation booster once I’m able to complete it.