kanji were originally very logical in meaning. they have little parts inside them (that were originally very logical too), and if you're going to study kanji individually it's easiest to learn them according to which ones look similar. for example:

了子字学　牛午　十木本休体　木林森

usually parts donate either "sound" or "meaning", sometimes both. examples of sound:

中　ナカ、チュー、ジュー　middle, during, throughout
仲　ナカ　friendship
虫　チュー、ムシ　bug

寺　ジ、テラ　(buddhist) temple
時　ジ、トキ　when, time, hour

犬　ケン、イヌ　dog
献　ケン　contribute

EDIT: (...i'll keep writing this after class is done)

so here's the basic memory techniques i'm now using:

1. try to imagine every single kanji as a scene, something moving, SOMETHING. for example, 女 is "woman". now i actually imagine a fat woman walking funny. even if the scene doesn't connect in any way to either the word meaning or the pronunciation, i have to still make up a scene so i can think of the kanji as "alive" and not just "a symbol". editing that scene later to include the relevant info as i think of it is easier when i see it the second or third time, if i can't think of it at first, rather than trying to make a perfect scene in the very beginning.

2. replace the kanji using one of the same sound, if i can't remember it. 助 (help) and 女 have the same chinese sound, "jyo". so in a word like 助言 "help-speech: advice", if i can't remember the pronunciation, i mentally think 女言 "woman-speech" instead.

3. say the pronunciation aloud each time the word comes up. you remember it about 50% better that way.

4. make up hand and arm movements to go along with the meaning or feeling of the word.

5. when you can't think of anything else, make word-rhymes and stuff (ex. "kantou" sounds like "can toe" and then you think "in Kantou you really -can toe- the line").

for example 桜 cherry tree/blossoms, you might have your hands doing "branches waving in the wind" movements while you say "sakura" aloud and imagine that a woman 女 is standing next to a pink cherry tree in the wind 木 (tree) and looking up at the three branches or petals of leaves above her head (those three lines on top of 女). and i try to imagine the feel of the wind and everything.

it ends up sounding pretty crazy BUT i just did TWICE the amount of words in one hour as what i normally do, thanks to doing all of this. and it gets easier and faster each time as you go along because your brain gets better at it. AND suddenly, memorizing stuff seems like a game instead of like a chore. you just "played" for 3 hours instead of studied. basically i have to teach myself to become a kid again.

i haven't yet started doing "mind maps", basically you pick a place and say each step of the route or each place in the room is reserved for a certain memory. so say i pick the route from my house to the grocery store. every single view along the way becomes a slot for a certain memory, that i never reuse for something else. or i pick my living room. every piece of furniture, every windowsill, each spot on the wall, becomes a slot. when my mind map is full i create a new map with another place i know well, and that way things don't overlap. i'll try doing that when i start working on handwriting kanji again i guess.

anyway, this is how far i am right now on readthekanji:



i'll finish N3 today, do the 2 homework assignments that i'm late on, and hopefully get further into N2.