I’ve just had a little potter around with the free sections and unfortunately not a fan of the actual “writing”, but maybe that’s because I know that how smooth it turns out via the app doesn’t actually reflect my own kanji handwriting, and it also doesn’t look like it goes up to the level of kanji I’m at. Still a resource worth someone’s time though, especially the portability of it.
In that case, definitely, for me though I like to do vocab review in anki when I am on trains etc. A notebook and mechanical pencil always goes with me everywhere, so it’s no hassle to write. Different stuff works for different people though.
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You can refine its sensitivity, or turn it off completely and it will only use your own handwriting. There called ‘squigs’ if youre looking for it in the settings
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Ooh, cheers for that! May be worth it for my commute then, if I’ve got no other studying to do. Any practice is good practice.
If you are worried about writing on paper, definitely go with notebooks with square divisions. It is certainly a skill all of it’s own. I recommend doing it alongside kanji learning though. Writing just for the sake of writing (not learning anything at the same time) might feel stale after awhile.
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I’d suggest as well that the purpose of this is to learn how to write the kanji, not to be able to write beautiful calligraphy-like characters
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Even in saying that, It is actually surprisingly difficult to write kanji that even remotely look correct unless you have tried it on paper a lot (let alone calligraphy). My first attempts at writing kanji in real life were hideous… hideous I tell you! hahah
Can you provide us with some materials that make good in you opinion case for it? If it expensive I need good reason to be able to get permission from my wife xD
Definitely learnt that lesson the hard way. I tried way too hard a while back to just write things I already had solid knowledge of, and after a while it felt like a horrendous waste of time. Sure, there’s merit in trying to improve on already-established knowledge, but when there’s so much knowledge out there to get… time could be better spent, to say the least.
I’d suggest as well that the purpose of this is to learn how to write the kanji, not to be able to write beautiful calligraphy-like characters
Oh, no fear of that. I have coordination issues and shaky hands, I’m not making any works of art any time soon 
As long as my kanji is legible enough, then I’m satisfied.
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One thing I did notice that happened more and more as I wrote kanji a looooooot, was that they naturally started to balance out, and I was writing things more like a native would. For example, in handwriting (but not anything else), square shapes tend to be thick at the top, and narrow toward the bottom, while lines tend to be shorter at the top, and get progressively longer toward the bottom.
Noticing little things like this is not going to help you learn the language any faster, but it will give you way more confidence in writing.
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I found that skritter helped with that regard too. It almost encourages a more native type of writing of a character. For example the 糸 stem is never actually written that cleanly, and the stroke number is decreased. Using the default squig settings (senstivity) in skritter, it is actually more likely to accept a natural stroke pattern of 5 strokes instead of the official 6.
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I think the first month is free to try, so that might give you a better understanding of it’s uses. Writing out kanji is a more substantive way of learning them as it forces you to be able to reproduce the knowledge and not just passively understand it. Similar logic to why reading is easier than writing and listening is easier than speaking.
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I will add trying it out to my to-do-list. I don’t really buy into wanikani philosophy nor RTK so I had to made up my own approach. Seems to work but if there is way to improve then I am all about that 
Thanks 
I’ve definitely noticed I can recognize kanji decently but hopelessly cannot produce most of them from memory. Practicing writing kanji seems like a good idea. In addition to it being good kanji practice I think not remembering the details necessary to write them from memory could become a problem as one learns more kanji that look similar and share radicals.
I’ve just gotten a bunch of notebooks for kanji practice (Genkouyoushi notebooks). My idea is to use Kaniwani as an SRS system to practice writing the kanji I have already learned from Wanikani.
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I also like Skritter for writing… when I get to it that is. In particular, I like how easy it is to make my own vocabulary lists. The words I want to practice tend to be ones I found in a book or somewhere and didn’t read correctly. Usually all I have to do is enter the word and choose a dictionary definition and that’s it.
I’ve run into some kanji it didn’t know how to write even when it knew words using them. But my impression is that it knows more than most of the other apps I’ve tried to use for writing practice.
I use a normal touch screen pen on my phone so it’s not super different from normal writing with a pen.
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I would have loved to know everything Cure Dolly is teaching regarding grammar and particles from the start. She takes away the westernisation and gives you the true (as far as i know) meaning behind everything.
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I remember when I stumbled across Skritter back in 2013 and it was such a revelation for me and my mates, we could pack in about an hour of effective kanji practice extra A DAY as we rode on the train to school. Life changing 
It’s easily the single most important app I’ve ever found for Japanese study, as it combines everything that wanikani and anki and all those offer, AND throws in active writing practice, the production of language not just passive understanding of it, which just ties everything together so much more sturdily.
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I could not agree more. Grammar that I can’t understand and internalise means nothing to me. Trying to learn from Genki made me believe Japanese makes no sense, and Tae Kim is hard for me since his explanations often defy basic rules of how grammar has to work (they take a lot of time to teach that in schools in Poland and it one of my interests) so I could have not make sense of it. It does not make any sense to me that basic sentence of any language can be subjectless. I find it impossible to believe… That interpretations breaks our basic understanding of universal grammar.
Are Japanese from Mars? No? So it can’t be that way… Or nothing I “understand” is applicable…
Cure Dolly made me give it another chance and it seems to work so far
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I would say to myself, “No, you idiot, you won’t ‘just’ pick it up.”
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This made me laugh out loud 
, we were all that guy in the beginning.
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