Yes, I second this. It looks like the words I remember most easily are the ones I encountered in anime or songs I like.
For example, now I’m watching “Maison Ikkoku”, so the words 管理 / 管理人 were an instant 
Or きょう reading for “echo” 響 once I realized it makes Kyouko’s name - 響子
First time I saw it I giggled because it sounds like the Italian word “cazzo” which is a rude word for penis, and how perfect that 活 means “lively”! 
(I have the sense of humour of an 8-year-old, I know…)
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But it makes a great mnemonic!
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Check out thus boss mnemonic art for help with a couple of those. Make your own! The doodles worked for me 
I’ve found it really really helpful to look up the wiktionary page for each new kanji I learn. Seeing the actual origins of the characters helps so much, especially with the simpler ones that are pure ideograms:
This helps me even more than making up my own mnemonic for what the shape ‘kind of looks like in its current form if you squint at it’, but actually seeing what pictures the kanji evolved from.
This helps for the pure pictogram kanji AND the semantic combos like 教 - Wiktionary
(Cool, you can actually see its a kid, and a, uhh, “teaching cane”…)
But you’re kind of on your own for the pure phonetic kanji, especially if the phoneme it’s trying to help you remember is a total red herring in Japanese like 活 - Wiktionary
Anyway at the end of the day some of these aren’t helpful and some might even lead you down blind alleys, but I’m a really visual learner and I have been helped a ton by checking out the O.G. pictograms during study.
I guess I’m on the better side of things here
Edit: I accidentally revived an old thread. Oops
Better look at the date next time
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