I have been trying since 2017 to start wk and learn Japanese, and it only stuck this past year. I’ve written more in depth recently about my journey this past year and what made the attempt different from the previous attempts, but I can say wk is the best and most important resource to me. I’m a wk evangelist- see excerpt from one of my linked posts-
wk might be good for you, or might not. I would recommend it to anyone learning at least to try- I found that even when I hadnt used wk for years, i still remembered the kanji I learned from wk on japanese food labels or in manga, so it suits my learning style. I like typing in the answers, as whenever i did anki I would just mark things as correct when i was only tenuously correct, or got close but not perfect. I don’t like customizing like you can on anki (or even bunpro) because i cheat. The wk interface makes me want to use it, unlike anki which doesn’t. If you don’t like those features, then it might not be the best program for you
My main goals for the language have always been to be able to read untranslated manga and games, to immerse in native materials, and having a good basis of kanji knowledge is a must for that goal. The needle really turned for me once I hit 1000 kanji, which really made reading much easier. I still do look ups, often, but the sentence structure is legible due to wk and focusing on N5-N4 grammar this past year.
Throughout my year, I had tried to add in additional srs, like Kanji in context cards or bunpro, and just absolutely could not do it. I only have the bandwidth for one srs program in my life at a time, and as long as I make steady progress in one, I’m happy. Wk is a part of my life at this point, I use it everyday, and try to do about 15 lessons and all reviews. I don’t let it pile up- I do have a fear of a huge 500+ review pile. I maintain a roughly 10 day per level pace- it goes up to 15-22 days when I start a new job, then usually goes down to about 7-9 days once I settle at work. If i’m just feeling overwhelmed, I put it on vacation mode for a few days, then get back to it. Once i finish wk, I plan to make an immersion deck on anki or the like, and put in words I want to learn from games/manga. One step at a time though.
I like learning kanji, I like learning Japanese- it’s tough, but rewarding. I’ve been immersing from the beginning of the year, but now I can actually understand about 80% more of what I read than before, even without a dictionary. It’s slow and steady work. I think its important to define your “why” and find ways to incorporate those goals now into the language. I have three manga magazine subscriptions on Bookwalker, and every new issue, I read through the magazine, sometimes I skim, othertimes I intensively read a chapter that really interests me. It depends.
Setting goals is also important too, month to month. I love having a study blog because it holds me accountable and helps me track my wins and future directions. There’s been days where I push a little bit extra because I have a goal to be up 2 levels in a month. I think also concurrent learning is important when doing wk- you need to be exposed to the kanji you learn on wk in some form outside of the website, so doing a textbook can help a lot as well. After all, you need grammar to help you read.
I wouldn’t do wk without textbook study or immersion- its like theyll be washed away in memory by the time you do start reading/grammar study. It’ll sink in better when you do both.
I think ultimately it’s up to you to decide if wk works for you or not- theres a lot of mixed opinion here on the forums. Anki might work better for you, or maybe you should start with Japanese from Zero and start even slower. Sometimes you’re not ready to commit fully to the process of language learning, and need a more relaxed fun little thing like Duolingo, which won’t help you long term, but gets you comfortable with making a routine of language learning.