Hey there to whoever might be reading this! I just leveled up to lvl 4 yesterday and I’ve been wanting to spill my excitement and love for WaniKani since lvl 2. So if you’re a newbie who’s trying to gauge if this is the right learning tool, this might be the post for you (though it’s a bit long and personal so if you’re looking for a quick answer: YES USE IT!!) Otherwise this is just me saying hello to the community, gushing about how thankful I am I found this site, and reflecting on how I got here and where I’m going (maybe for posterity reasons to reflect on later when I’m lvl 60 idk). 
So I started WaniKani almost a month ago, May 27th. I was a little put off by how I had to wait three days to do any kanji, but luckily I was prepared to wait because I read that ahead of time. It wasn’t hard to wait since I started at a pretty busy time in my personal life so that helped keep my mind off the waiting. While I waited, I read a lot of the introductory articles, like this one which is what got me started on WaniKani in the first place. I loved that even though WaniKani was mentioned a bunch during the article, pushing the reader to join WaniKani wasn’t the focus - giving a detailed path to learning Japanese was. I was also hooked on giving WaniKani a solid chance when I read up on how the mnemonics thing worked and learned that the kanji for “pregnancy” was just “woman” and “landslide” mashed together into one. That was the funniest thing I had ever read from a Japanese language learning tool. And WaniKani just does NOT disappoint!
I’ve been trying to learn Japanese probably since middle school. I think I learned hiragana and katakana by myself in 7th or 8th grade. But I started seriously trying to learn my freshman year in highschool, which was back in 2008/9. I was so in love with Japanese culture beyond just the entertainment and it was my dream to learn Japanese so I could travel there one day. I even petitioned for Japanese class and got a ton of signatures from kids who wanted the class (I was successful, but only AFTER I graduated did Japanese come to my school 
). I took one college class, which was at 8am and I learned nothing from. And then life got chaotic and learning Japanese slipped to the back burner. I kept trying here and there, but my community college only offered Japanese on a campus in another city almost an hour’s drive away, and my arts focused college didn’t offer Japanese. I would try apps like DuoLingo, YouTube videos, and all that, but nothing ever stuck or kept my interest. And on top of that, it was so hard for me to find resources for learning that didn’t start with “ohAyOu gOzAimaSu”, “aRigAtOu”, “waTaShi nO nAmAe Wa ____ dEsu, DouZo yOroSHiKu”… (lol sorry, I know those are crucial words but I’m obviously a little salty about learning the same basics over and over and never getting to anything beyond that. 
)
Well, on June 2nd I turned 28. And in the days leading up to my birthday, I started to realize that of all the major dreams I had as a kid (finishing college, working in videogames, and getting married with a dog and a house, all of which I’m proud of myself for accomplishing these past few years! 
) learning Japanese was the one that I still eluded me. So I went on a desperate hunt for something that would actually work for me, and found WaniKani. And I’m seriously so thankful I did.
This site is so funny. And that’s exactly what works. I am so tired of boring text books that have no personality. There are some I’ve found that have tried to be funny, but they fall flat since it’s that corny PG type comedy where you see what they were going for, but you just roll your eyes and wish they didn’t try at all. This site is ACTUALLY funny. Some of the mnemonics can get a little odd or farfetch’d 
but even when I’m shaking my head, I’m still laughing and sending screen shots about meat geese to my friends. This is exactly the type of learning environment I’ve been needing.
And THEN there’s the structure of it all! I love knowing exactly what I need to do in order to progress. I love that I can look ahead and see that the last word I’ll learn is kitsune (which I think is funny considering how common it is to see a Japanese language learner also in love with foxes). I love that the leveling system and the expectations are clear. And I love that I don’t have to wonder anymore if what I’m learning is in the most effective and efficient order. I’ve spent so much time wondering what to learn, but now I don’t have to worry about it. I mean heck, one of the biggest points of WaniKani is skipping stroke order and how to write in Japanese because it’s not something that’s used all the time - and that makes TOTAL sense!! And then the whole idea of relating radicals to letters of the alphabet - words are just kanji guys!!! Ahhh getting a little carried away here. 
Anyway. Another thing I love about WaniKani is the community. Everyone is SO nice in the forums! I’ve been reading here and there - and I don’t usually participate in forums - but here, I actually might. It reminds me of gaiaonline back in the day. Even then I wasn’t a huge forums person, but I did at least feel like I belonged. The internet nowadays is so full of people answering questions with a sarcastic “did you even try to google it??”, but not here. Yes I’ve seen a handful of unhappy people, but at large it’s a supportive group of people just trying to learn and support each other. That’s so refreshing!!! 
I think I’m starting to lose my train of thought, not that I really intended to put too much thought into this anyway, was just kinda letting the train run its course. 
… anway thanks for reading if you have. I’m really looking forward to participating more in WaniKani as a whole and will probably do a book club sometime when I get a little farther and learn a bit more. Speaking of reading, can I just say how STOKED I’ve been to recognize kanji in the few Japanese manga that I have?? I’ve read “目玉” twice now in the wild (who knew “eyeball” would be such a common word!) and saw “大切” in my Animal Crossing manga the day before I learned it on WaniKani. Also heard and understood “天才” when watching Kaguya-Sama and almost lost my mind. I seriously haven’t felt this motivated and excited to learn Japanese since high school. 
ANYWAY thanks for reading if you read my ramblings. I’m excited for what the future holds for me. I know WaniKani isn’t going to teach me Japanese alone and that I’ll eventually need to find a resource for grammar and verb conjugation and what not, but with the tons of vocab and kanji, plus the wonderful community full of resources and support, I finally feel like learning Japanese is within my grasp and I couldn’t be happier. 
. You get your cocky know-it-alls and sarcastic jerks everywhere, but it’s much better here than I’ve seen other places for sure.
But part of what’s great about WK is it that introduces you to this technique, so it’s easier to eventually make your own, simpler mnemonics.
