So, I’m beyond the halfway point on Wanikani (in terms of levels, but perhaps not time 
) and I often ruminate about how happy I am that I found it as a learning resource. Perhaps if I spent less time ruminating and more time chewing the Kanji cud, I would be at level 60 by now ? 
but regardless, I am going to take a small amount of time to go through some of the reasons I love Wanikani -
Forced consistency
Wanikani provides a consistent trickle of Japanese input into my mushy brain alphabet soup.I think this consistent input has helped ensure longevity in my studies (so far) and connects together what would otherwise be islands of motivation. So even when i’m out of term time for Japanese class, or haven’t picked up a textbook in a while, that exposure to the language is still there.
I have studied 695 days out of the 735 days I have been a member, and done an average of 155 reviews per day. As someone who gets easily distracted, I still can’t believe these stats when I look at them. As is often highlighted on the forums, Wanikani can’t be the only resource you use if you want to get to a decent level, but what is does ensure (if you use it as I have), is that you are doing a little bit of Japanese leaning (nearly) everyday.
It has made learning Kanji easy
I have learnt 1150 Kanji so far, and it has been (relatively) easy! Sometimes when I have a look at the Kanji I have learnt to date, I ask myself … how? and the answer is I Just sat back and let the SRS do the work, bebe. SRS works so well for me, i’m honestly a bit shocked no one mentioned it to me at school ! I incessantly bang on to other Japanese learners about Wanikani, as I can’t understand why you wouldn’t use it if you were serious achieving something close to fluency.
Wanikani changed my life
Now this might sound a bit OTT, but let me explain. Before Wanikani I was someone that quite easily dropped things - after all I am a classic millennial - and would concentrate intense effort into something, but when I wasn’t an expert in a couple of months I would drop it. I was also afraid of committing myself to something long term. Wanikani emphasized something I subconsciously probably already new, that a little bit of studying often, is a hell of a lot better that intense but scattered efforts. Becoming fluent (or anywhere near) in any language, will take years - unless you can accept it as a long term commitment , chances are you will fail.
Awesome community
I love coming on to the community forum after a review session and reading about how everyone else is finding things - how there study sessions are going - where they are planning to go on there next Japan trip - successes _ failures. getting to know who the veteran masters of Wanikani, and wondering how long a newbie will last It really adds to the experience of Wanikani.
Wanikani supercharged my progression
I started Wanikani about a month before starting taking classes at my local university, and the speed which I have progressed has been way faster than anyone else in my class. Not trying to blow my own trumpet here ! I think having just that little head start with Kanji and vocab meant that was able to consume the course material with less effort, and progressed much quicker than I would have done otherwise.
So, a big thank-you to the people behind Wanikani, and the Wanikani community for making my Japanese learning experience so enjoyable so far !
I’m heading back to Japan in November for the first time since April 2017 (a trip which prompted my Japanese learning journey), and i’m really excited to see if the experience will be different now I have some knowledge of the Japanese language.
So expect an equally verbose post when i’m back 
ごめん
Finally - to anyone thinking about whether or not to sign up - I can’t recommend it enough.
頑張ります!!
