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Rating: 
Summary: For serious students that really want to understand Japanese
Review: I'm a Japanese learner, and I've begun to tackle the very overwhelming (and seemingly insane) task of learning Kanji. I've tried different methods of learning Kanji (Writing them over and over, flashcards, etc.), and I have found this to be the most effective book/method in UNDERSTANDING Kanji.You learn key characters that make up Kanji characters; therefore when you learn a Kanji character. You'll say to yourself, "So that small character means "xxxx" and that other character means "xxxx." So I put the two together, and the Kanji means "xxxx." That makes sense." Rather then trying to mash into your brain the way of reading a Kanji you're unfamiliar with, you learn the concept of understanding the Kanji. You learn the pronunciation later. But that's also the only downside. In order to commit to this great system of remembering Kanji, you have to be serious about it. So anybody that just wants to "skim" Kanji, I don't suggest you use this book. It takes commitment, and it takes time. But it pays off in the long run.
Rating:
Summary: For serious students that really want to understand Japanese
Review: I'm a Japanese learner, and I've begun to tackle the very overwhelming (and seemingly insane) task of learning Kanji. I've tried different methods of learning Kanji (Writing them over and over, flashcards, etc.), and I have found this to be the most effective book/method in UNDERSTANDING Kanji. You learn key characters that make up Kanji characters; therefore when you learn a Kanji character. You'll say to yourself, "So that small character means "xxxx" and that other character means "xxxx." So I put the two together, and the Kanji means "xxxx." That makes sense." Rather then trying to mash into your brain the way of reading a Kanji you're unfamiliar with, you learn the concept of understanding the Kanji. You learn the pronunciation later. But that's also the only downside. In order to commit to this great system of remembering Kanji, you have to be serious about it. So anybody that just wants to "skim" Kanji, I don't suggest you use this book. It takes commitment, and it takes time. But it pays off in the long run.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for serious students, not for tourists
Review: The format of the book is to intoduce the simpler kanji first, and use sets of components which you learn before learning the associated kanji, thereby avoiding giving you kanji with unknown components. This allows you to create a stronger association between the character visually and its meaning, leaving the image much clearer in your mind. But if you want to use the book afterwards for looking up a kanji that you can't remember, then you would be much better off with a kanji dictionary or similar. Some other works have better facilities for looking up kanji, but most of the books that cover all of the every-day use (joyo) kanji are significantly more expensive than this. The stroke order numbering can also be confusing (the numbers are sometimes placed so that determining which line it refers to is difficult). If you want to quickly learn a core set of kanji that you can use, or want to be able to look up the kani you see rather than learn them all, then get another book. If, however, you want to learn the joyo kanji (something every serious student of japanese should aim to do), then this book could be of great assistance for your studies
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This book was exactly what I was looking for. Finally a book that teaches you all the little bits of kanji first, and tells you what they mean. 11 points out of 10!
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