Hey all, just an update after reaching level 60:
It has taken since I made this original post in January 2021 until October of 2022 for me to go from reaching level 60 to burning all radicals, kanji, and vocab from Wani Kani. That’s approximately two years to level 60, and two years since level 60. (There have been a few content additions along the way and I welcome more).
There are no real tips to achieving this beyond what I have already written up in the original post. You will need to go leech hunting more often, but simply stick with it and eventually the ever diminishing pile of reviews will reach a point when, like for me now, there are so few reviews left that I can simply commit the last stragglers to memory and just wait until burn day.
Here is what happens when you get to this point.
You will begin to forget some of the burnt kanji you don’t see very often. You will begin to forget some exceptional readings, and some of the mnemonics you used to distinguish similar meanings. It’s fine, don’t panic. They are a million times easier to relearn than when you first encountered them. You never truly forget. When you encounter one you should know, it will be like unlocking a memory rather than the daunting task of learning something for the first time. Everything is reinforced through use, and kanji is no different. You have (mostly) left the learning phase and are now in the practice phase.
On the happier side, you will find it very, very easy to learn the other aspects of Japanese, almost never have problems with other Japanese apps/systems like DuoLingo that don’t explain kanji well, and you will have in your back pocket an extensive latent vocabulary to draw upon.
Should you wish to continue learning kanji, you can always start with the N1 kanji not currently on WaniKani. Go a step further, and you can reinforce your kanji knowledge by trying to learn how to write kanji, but it’s not super necessary. Otherwise, are there like kanji word games to play?
I am now tackling Japanese learning with greater confidence that I have pushed through one of its most difficult roadblocks. Best of luck with your journey ahead. 頑張って!