I can’t speak for anyone else or tell you if it’s the right tool for your own learning, but speaking personally, if I didn’t start Wanikani when I did I am almost certain I would not be living in Japan right now. I think having a routine and integrating Japanese as part of my day was the only way that I personally was going to be able to stick with it, especially for something like kanji. The ability to control your own pace, see your progress, it was all incredibly motivating to me. And the community is wonderful. I finished WK years ago and I still pop in here frequently. Can’t recommend it enough.
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Play around with the new Widgets to see if you like the new UI and how burned cards, vocab, and kanji lists are accessed
If you like the new dashboard, go ahead
If you’re still on the fence, I suggest subscribing for just a month.
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Yeah its amazing. Enormously helpful. And actually fun.
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I would advice buying the lifetime subscription in the upcoming sale. Don’t buy now
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Is it worth subscribing? Yes, absolutely. It is purely Kanji / Vocabulary based so you need to look at something for Grammar (maybe Bunpo), but only really after about level 15, when you have enough kanji to follow some of the grammar discussions. But overall, I’ve been at Wanikani for two years, I’m on level 20, my grammar is terrible but I’m starting to feel like I can read simple sentences. DEFINITELY worth it.
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My experience is similar to what many have said here: without WK, I would have not been nearly that far in my learning journey.
That being said, what I always recommend to my friends is the SRS system, that was a game changer to me. At the time, I tried Anki but the ugly UI was enough for me to not stick to daily reviews and lessons. With a lack of guidance, I would do too many lessons when I’m feeling super motivated and then a week later I would be discouraged by the amount of reviews…
So my recommendation would be to check what you can do by yourself using free apps / resources. Do you need a solution that’s flexible between pc and mobile? Are you able to stick to a routine even when you’re having a rough day?
To me, I saw a difference with and without WK for that, specifically. So I paid a monthly subscription until the end of year sale and I bought the life subscription, my goal being to learn kanji at my pace. I know I’m slow but I’m here to enjoy the journey, and I have a busy life outside of studying Japanese 
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Thank you for your feedback.
Do you know when the upcoming sale starts?
Could you tell me more about bunpro and your experience please?
I’ve only just started BunPro, but it works using the same flashcard SRS system WaniKani has, except it does grammar instead of vocabulary. It actually has vocab, too, but I think WaniKani is a little better, so I’m still using it for that.
Anyway, in BunPro, you do your lessons and reviews just like you would here, except it shows you sentences with a missing word or particle, and you have to put in the right one. Sometimes, it’ll show you a word and tell you to change it to past tense, polite form, negative form, etc.
Here are some examples of the types of reviews it has:
ペンギンは ____ (飛ぶ) ← convert this word to a negative standard form
Meaning: Penguins don’t fly
It’s asking you to take the word 飛ぶ (とぶ) (To Fly) and make it a negative, meaning “don’t fly”. In the lesson, it tells you that you take the kana with the う sound (ぶ) and make it the あ equivalent, so that would be (ば), then add ない to the end. So, the full sentence becomes ペンギンは飛ばない. Just like WaniKani, you only have to type the kana, and it’ll handle the rest.
I started learning grammar because I tried reading Yotsuba, and after looking up a ton of words, I realized I actually knew plenty of the words I saw, but I didn’t recognize them because they were in a different form. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to read it more comfortably after getting through a few more WaniKani levels and learning most of the N5 grammar.
Honestly, BunPro’s UI is a little confusing at first, but I got the hang of it in a day or two. But I sometimes feel like its questions are a little too vague. The example I gave is really direct in that it tells you exactly what you’re supposed to do, you just have to learn how to do it by reading the lessons.
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So WK seems to provide enormous Kanji practice through SRS system. However, I am interested in improving my Japanese grammar simultaneously while studying Kanji.
What is another option that can provide both kanji and grammar knowledge while preparing for JLPT tests? Does marumori fit this criteria?
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Thanks a lot.
That’s wonderful. Thank you.
Thanks for your insights. I like the accountability that SRS system offers. Since I am interested in improving my Japanese grammar simultaneously while studying Kanji, what is another option that can provide both kanji and grammar knowledge?
Thank you.
Aside from the grammar forums in this community, is there any source that can help with both kanji and grammar knowledge while preparing for JLPT tests?
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marumori has a free trial (or used to) it has all the N-level pathways. Try it and see. It’s very cute but ultimately will depend on what tool works best for you.
Since you are going after the jlpt exams check out bunpro for sure.
They recently added JLPT practice exams for free.
Bunpro also has pros/cons doing SRS for grammar but they also have SRS for vocab.
You can use one or both and they have anki input modes.
You can also opt into all the beta features and turn just about anything you want on/off.
They have an undo button as well.
I just don’t recommend WK to anyone anymore. The core product really has some serious deficiencies and the removal of the summary page that was promised a new better replacement (from May2023) came back up just recently. WK could be a great system, but they honestly don’t listen to the feedback, in spite of saying they do…the actions make it quite clear.
But for some people it has worked fine but w/o any leech management of any kind, I cannot personally recommend anyone spend any money on wanikani…as long as leeches aren’t managed you can get caught in a quagmire of hell and never get out. Also still no native app…relying on 3rd parties and then claiming they don’t support the scripts/3rd parties is just unethical IMO.
Best of luck!!
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So you recommend WK + BunPro in combination… Could you please explain how WK and BunPro sync together? Are they related? do you use different accounts?
Is there any other option that can provide both Kanji and grammar learning simultaneously through the SRS system?
Thank you for sharing your insights.
How did you improve your Japanese grammar learning?
Is there such a resource online (free or paid) that can prepare for JLPT tests, simultaneously proving kanji and grammar learning experience?
How did you learn Japanese grammar? What resources have you used?
I need a resource that can help with Kanji and Japanese grammar at the same time.
Is there any other website that can teach both Kanji and Japanese grammar simultaneously?
It doesn’t work like that. Think of grammar points as being limited in number, but they have depth of understanding, in addition to need practicing to be useful (to be able to put to use).
However, Kanji hinges on vocabularies, which is pretty much limitless. SRS (like WaniKani) fits Kanji and vocab better, but not really grammar points. (Though, after a while, vocab meanings have depth too, but that’s for later when combined with grammar.)
Anyway, there have been attempts to put grammar into SRS, like Bunpro; but in most cases, SRS is vocab first. And Kanji is both an obstacle and benefactor to remembering those vocabularies.
imo, remember as many vocab as you can; but acquire most important grammar first and foremost well.
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Thank you very much for your thorough feedback.
Could you please give an example on the lack of leech management?
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