Tariq

The whole study list system is a staggeringly useful resource, except on the odd chance the word's not included in the dictionary. I would say it's never too early to start reading manga - when I first started Crayon Shinchan I could only read hiragana and katakana so whatever little I could understand felt like a massive achievement. Now I can read a single strip in a minute or two so it's a really good measure of your reading speed as well, which gives you a huge advantage if you're planning on sitting a JLPT at some point as they include reading sections and there's a time limit. For lower levels (N5/N4) I'd definitely say give Crayon Shinchan (from the start, the language starts off easier) or Shirokuma Café a go, probably anything in the 'slice of life' category would be good as the language should b quite simple. I'm speaking purely in terms of educational value here but anything too fantasy/plot-based and you run the risk of learning loads of words which you'll probably never get a chance to use!

No worries - thank you for noticing and asking! Some of my lists are from manga whilst others are from anime and I do indeed research/add all terms myself if there's something I think would be useful to know or for kanji reinforcement. There probably are websites out there with lists but I don't know any off the top of my head. In terms of what I've got already and how I do things, Crayon Shinchan (the manga, not the anime) has proved to be an amazing resource in terms of everyday vocabulary and naughty words. Things like Tiger Mask W and Shirokuma Café are just series I watch in my spare time for a laugh but if they say something and I can see the kanji in my head but don't know the meaning (as an example from Tiger Mask, there was 'hangeki' where I know han is 'counter/against' and geki is 'attack', so counterattack) or there's a term integral to understanding the episode that gets repeated a lot... I look it up right then and there and add it to my drills. For vocabulary building/kanji recognition manga really can't be beat because of furigana, viewing anime is good for listening comprehension/spoken usage but in my opinion is probably too passive an activity to be good for actively learning new words/kanji.

Thanks for accepting my invitation to form a team! Let us master Japanese Language slowly, steadily, and progressively!

Hi Tariq! Thanks for bringing up the avatar issue. And we apologize for the delay in resolving it. Your avatar should be restored and you can update it now at any time!