I’m not a beginner, I had a 4 years break after learning for about 2-3 years in which I started it super casually and after about a year added wanikani to the mix.
Learning for me is not about speed is about understanding and building familiarity.
The pace I do reviews now is flexible, If the items are items I already know, I’ll increase the amount I add to the lessons, since it doesn’t add to the stress of recognizing new material.
Wanikani level structure is just a structure. I’m in a place where what important to me is my overall ability to read and deal with new kanji (which wanikani taught me how) so while the gamification aspect is fun and rewarding at times (new level, I can recognize x amount of kanji) it’s not what I’m focused on, it’s just one of the things I’m using.
I have those moments when the only thing that interferes with understanding a sentence is just the kanji, and yes it makes me wish I knew more already, but I also know that learning takes time, and I can only learn one item at a time not everything all at once, and 4 years of chaotic studying got me pretty far.
So I started reading graded readers at about level 10. And this was the what I used and then I bought some of their printed material when I went to Japan (as well as Genki 1 and 2 that I used at some point but not as deep studying cause I don’t like the format)
Another option is Park’s You can read Japanese! short stories for Japanese learners. It can really help you with some of your leeches like counters and such.
If you are familiar with the masu form, you’d be able to read graded readers and parallel texts just fine, the first levels don’t go beyond it, you have furigana and with some graded readers there’s also audio narration. The parks ones have a glossary and an english version of the story at the end of each story.
You also have The Ultimate Additional Japanese Resources List!
and this thread Graded Readers and Parallel Texts "Book Club"