I think Satori Reader is THE BEST free learning resource for improving listening comprehension, because of how you can play audio for sentence level, episode level or series level.
I read only the free episodes for a few years, while I worked my way through other learning sources.
As far as “jumping into reading”, Satori Reader is ideal, for reasons well-listed by Mitrac. It’s a MASSIVE time-saver, because all of the lookups have been done and grammar well-explained. It’s great for being your feel for the language, as a whole.
I haven’t finished ANY series in there, I think.
I’ve only read a few novels (Harry Potter 1 and Kiki’s Delivery Service and Konbini Ningen; plus listen to the audiobooks of all these) and a few manga (Death Note, Teasing Master Takagisan, Crayon Shin-chan; and their anime in Japanese).
This is a darn lot of work to do intensively, because I have A LOT of lookups. Satori Reader is relaxing. Plus, I can never l recognize the spoken Japanese fast enough to catch it all.
Most of my study time, since I began studying Japanese in 2019) has been spent cramming vocabulary.
Now that I’ve gone through level 47 of WK and have been studying for so long, I’m finally around N3, intermediate. I’m finally able to recognize what people are saying enough to have a conversion…
At THIS TIME, for me, I finally paid for the Satori Reader subscription, and am slowly going through and able to fully absorb the vocabulary and grammar, and listen (once I’ve studied).
This is what I need right now to improve my listening and speaking ability