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WaniKani and Katarineko: kanji foundation, film payoff

These two tools don't overlap, which is why they combine so well. WaniKani teaches you to recognize kanji; Katarineko gives every kanji you learn a place to matter this week, in a film you chose.

What WaniKani does that we don't

WaniKani is a dedicated kanji system: radicals first, then kanji, then vocabulary built from them, with mnemonics and its own spaced repetition across sixty levels. Kanji volume is the hard part of Japanese, and a system built only for it teaches it with a thoroughness we don't attempt. If it's working for you, keep it.

What we do that WaniKani doesn't

WaniKani's famous problem is the long march: months of reviews before the kanji feel used. Katarineko is the using. Our weekly stories are written from your film's vocabulary at your level, so the characters you learned on WaniKani start appearing in sentences you chose to read, attached to a film you want to understand.

How they combine in practice

Run WaniKani as your kanji habit and Katarineko as your reading habit. No coordination needed; the overlap takes care of itself. My Neighbor Totoro's curriculum is 155 words to 70%, and a large share of them are written with the everyday kanji WaniKani front-loads.

When a story shows you a word whose kanji you haven't met yet, the reading is right there. You don't have to wait for the level that teaches it.

One caveat: if it's a choice between doing your WaniKani reviews and reading, read. Recognition drills exist to serve reading, and reading is also review.

Statements about WaniKani describe its widely known core; check their site for current details. More pairings: your Japanese stack.