even the subs that used to be nice and cozy, away from the usual redditor mentality are pretty bad now. Pretty sure a few I used to read now and then have been completely ship of theseus'd It's unrecognizable
email has become a glorified garbage bin that occasionally an important document is thrown in that I am expected to look at why is every service dog shit
ok here's my effortpost 1. Learn hiragana and katakana. You can brute force this. Look up a chart with all the readings and make flashcards, write over and over or whatever works for you. You just gotta match the character to the sound. Most important thing is to read it as much as you can so it sticks.
2. Read through a grammar guide, you don't have to memorize it all at once but refer to it as needed. Research elseware if you need more examples/explanations.
3. learn some words. There is a flashcard software called anki that lots of people use but I think it also burns a lot of people out. Give it a try with this deck: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pMlJvSrKQOSaiN8sPLdNDvWP31EClxDO/view but don't give up if you cant make it through. I ended up just making my own deck instead.
4. start fucking reading!!! It will suck a lot at first but the more you keep recognizing words the easier and more fun it will get. If this is too frustrating, consider working through a textbook like Genki 1 or 2. Those will give you a pretty good foundation too and are easy to find online for free.
Once I got comfortable enough to start reading, my general workflow became: See word I don't know > look it up > add it to my anki deck > keep reading
If you want to get started I will unironically help you. I'm far from fluent but I'm at the point where I can read slice of life manga pretty comfortably.
Yeah I really don't get it. I've learned a lot of interesting cultural stuff though tl notes in fan translations. The notes that were at the end of each chapter in the oshi no ko manga before it got an official release were the best part of reading it.