1. Intro and guide
Okay!
Finally I’m a proud Lvl 60 user so…
This time I want to share my experience speedrunning WK in Vanilla Mode (Yes… I didn’t use plugins whatsoever, everything was done in my cellphone).
DISCLAIMER
1.This was done in my second attempt. In the first one I failed miserably, mainly because I didn’t know some basic mechanics and in the end became overwhelmed at Lvl 49 … But that is what this guide is all about, right
2. I already had some background in japanese (kana, grammar and vocab), so I’m not sure if it is a good idea for a complete begginer to attempt WK following this method.
FIRST STEP: Know your lessons
Every “normal” level is divided in two parts, the first batch of Kanji is unlocked when you pass the previous level (you need to Guru around 90% of Kanji inside a level to advance).
There are the so called “short” levels (the first two and the majority after Lvl 43) but that is another story.
When you advance a level, new lessons will appear divided as follows:
1 Vocabulary (in purple) 2 New radicals (in blue) 3 New kanji (in pink) Keep that in mind to optimize your leveling.
SECOND STEP: Know your timings
Believe it or not, WK somehow “encourages” you to advance on a level per week basis. And if you forget to do your lessons in time, you can even get on schedule again (with some pain involved )
Item learning stage - Time
Apprentice 1 - 4 hours
Apprentice 2 - 8 hours
Apprentice 3 - 1 day (23 hr to be precise)
Apprentice 4 - 2 days (47 hr to be precise)
Guru 1 - 1 week
Guru 2 - 2 weeks
Master - 1 month
Enlightened - 4 months
Burned
THIRD STEP: Schedule your reviews
I used to set an alarm in my phone to avoid missing lessons. My study program was as described in here (of course you can switch days for your own convenience):
Saturday 7:00 a.m. (hardest day)
Do reviews, advance to a new level and IMMEDIATELY use the “Advanced” button on the “Today’s lessons” panel to select new Kanji and radicals (pink and blue items). Do those lessons. NOTE: All vocabulary items will remain. Wait! Don’t learn them right now.
Saturday 11:00 a.m.
Do reviews, get your new items to Apprentice 2 (first batch)
Saturday 7:00 p.m.
Do reviews, get your new items to Apprentice 3
Sunday 7:00 p.m.
Do reviews, get your new items to Apprentice 4
Monday
There are no reviews for your current level (only for previous ones). Consider doing your remaining LESSONS (vocabulary). And get your review pile to 0 if possible.
Tuesday 6:00 p.m. (47 hr)
Do reviews, Guru all items in the first batch of Kanji. Remaining kanji for that level are unlocked at this point. IMMEDIATELY use the Advanced button and select new kanji (items in pink). Do those lessons.
Tuesday 10:00 p.m.
Do reviews, get Apprentice 2 for the second batch of kanji
Wednesday 7:00 a.m.
Do reviews, get Apprentice 3 for the second batch of kanji
Thursday 7:00 a.m
Do reviews, get Apprentice 4 for the second batch of kanji
Friday
Like Monday, do remaining vocab lessons. Get your review pile to 0 if possible
Saturday 7:00 a.m.
Do reviews and advance a level. The cycle starts again
As a general rule, I kept my review pile close to 0 doing two sessions of WK every day excepting Saturday with three sessions, that’s why I called it the “Hard day”.
FOURTH STEP: Avoid mistakes UNTIL you've guru'ed new Kanji
I don’t expect you to have photographic memory (neither do I). If you think you have an average memory skill, you will need some trick to reach Guru level quick! Keep reading
NOTE: Failing items while doing LESSONS doesn’t count as errors. You can screw up as much as you want while learning them for the first time.
When doing REVIEWS: If you fail a KANJI (pink item), that can seriously hinder your progress: You need a minimum of kanji in guru to advance a level in WK so… The trick is: Keep Two Windows of WK app open. The first one will be your LOOKUP window, the second one is your MAIN window, start doing your reviews in that one.
Case 1. If you forget a Kanji:
LOOK UP the meaning/writing for it in your first window so you don’t mess it up. NOTE: I didn’t look up vocabulary. Words are not needed to advance levels and… Your objective is to recognize those without cheating, right
Case 2. If you make a mistake (or typo) when reviewing a kanji, don’t panic: Close your MAIN window at once: Your mistake will not be recorded. Open a new one and continue doing your reviews… Alternatively you can just tap the “Refresh button”, it works basically the same (I needed more than a year to discover this ), consider it your “Oops” button .
FINAL NOTES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
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When entering the “fast levels” you can opt to do two of them every week (following the same schedule), or remain advancing at one level per week knowing those new symbols will be seriously difficult (you will start confounding kanji more often).
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Make good use of synonyms: The synonym tool is excellent to avoid mistakes. When doing reviews, add a synonym of your own in the Meaning tab whenever you can. It happens very often you really know the meaning and context of some kanji BUT the meaning inside WK is not the same you used to know and appear as an error. To avoid recording an incorrect meaning, I used the Akebi app (absurdly helpful). You can get it for free on Google play.
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Take advantage of the quiz tool: Really great and relatively new to WK. I used to do the “Recent mistakes quiz” every time after dealing with reviews (great tool to master difficult words, thanks to WK team).
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Desperate measures: Just on the verge of surrender? To avoid resseting (again ) around Lvl53, I was forced to start cherrypicking Kanji so my review pile remained manageable. At that point I only added some 20 new vocabulary items for those days with less than 200 reviews in my forecast… It really was a Lifesaver
But… Is it even possible to finish WK this fashion? Well, let me show you my progress graph and basic stats:
Looks cool right?
I hope this summary will be of use for all of you who want to master this certainly intimidating mountain of symbols
And that’s all folks…
2. Acknowledgments
To all my comrades inside the Manly Racers thread
Vivid Strike: For creating the thread (he disappeared some time ago )
Saibaneko: For making the Racer’s list in Wiki form
Haseeb Yousfani: For being the first one to finish the race
Drake92: For achieving the goal of start living in japan
Techker7: For his courage also doing WK in Vanilla mode
Greti33: For his perseverance, coming from an old thread and keeping up with the good work 'til the end
KJules: Mi sheep friend , I miss racing with you through Death
Savbohn: For becoming overwhelmed too and having the courage to start again
ekg : For entering the race giving support to old and new racers alike.
Kush76🤖: For you continuous cheering along the way. I certainly expected your like👍🏻in every important step along the race.
Rachiewru: Our SloMo guy. For never surrender and also represent us, the Manly Racers in the new forum (900 days of Japanese Folklore, Level 60 in 2026)
And for everyone I forgot to mention: Thank you
3. Now it’s time for some Cake:
Such great sense of accomplishment… That’s 354 days nonstop summarized in a few lines!
Now at 45 y.o. and after this long streak, feel like I wanna cry but Forget it: Time to celebrate! There are tons of books and manga waiting to be read so I can use this knowledge for good.
Have a great time studying Kanji and see you at the top.
Keep vrooming