Amon

I'm able to read a VN without problems (2,5 years self-study, 10.000 individual words learned), but I wouldn't be able to hold a simple conversation, simply because I never practiced it. You can have a near-fluent passive language-ability (reading, hearing), but that doesn't guarantee a sufficient active language-ability (speaking, writing). That's nothing surprising. It's the basic difference between recall and creation.
Your course of action should depend on your goal. I never intended to actually speak a lot Japanese, so I focused my study on learning vocabs and a skimming through some grammar. If you just want to read VNs, a good spaced repetition system (Anki), a good grammar guide (imabi.net), exposition to the language (Anime subbed or even jap-subbed) and willpower (continuing to read untranslated even though it's a hassle in the beginning; doing your daily reviews) is all you need. I've never even done a single school-like exercise.
---
On a sidenote: I don't recommend Memrise as a SRS anymore. The devs have no clue what they are doing with their site.
 
 

I'm able to read a VN without problems (2,5 years self-study, 10.000 individual words learned), but I wouldn't be able to hold a simple conversation, simply because I never practiced it. You can have a near-fluent passive language-ability (reading, hearing), but that doesn't guarantee a sufficient active language-ability (speaking, writing). That's nothing surprising. It's the basic difference between recall and creation.
Your course of action should depend on your goal. I never intended to actually speak a lot Japanese, so I focused my study on learning vocabs and a skimming through some grammar. If you just want to read VNs, a good spaced repetition system (Anki), a good grammar guide (imabi.net), exposition to the language (Anime subbed or even jap-subbed) and willpower (continuing to read untranslated even though it's a hassle in the beginning; doing your daily reviews) is all you need. I've never even done a single school-like exercise.
---
On a sidenote: I don't recommend Memrise as a SRS anymore. The devs have no clue what they are doing with their site.
 
 

Just finished Little Busters Ex in Japanese. A goal I've worked two years for. Today's a good day.

Just finished Little Busters Ex in Japanese. A goal I've worked two years for. Today's a good day.

Working!
 
I want a Popura. Now.

"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious." - Orihara Izaya

From Hoshizora no Memoria ^^

"If you hesitate when asking a question, you're better off not asking. When you hesitate, you're afraid of looking into the other person's heart. If you look in to someone's heart unprepared, you won't be able to handle it......"

-メア from Hoshizora no Memoria

To defend tragic endings
 
The entire Clannad universe had a very important theme of "moving on". You can see this very clearly.
Nagisa outright says (paraphrasing) "Nothing you likes lasts forever. Knowing that, can you still keep liking this town."
To which Tomoya answers (without much thought) "Just find something new that you like."
 
The entire Clannad story becomes Tomoya's own journey to learn that very lesson. First he grows past what he hates to find what he loves. Then he had to learn to accept loosing it and finding a new reason at life.
 
That's why Clannad's ending, though happy and popular, from a literary standpoint is a cop-out.
Maeda Jun decided to go back on his own established theme just to give the fans what they (not he) wanted.
He didn't even need to write a tragic ending even if he doesn't revive Nagisa. There's no reason he couldn't have Tomoya just live happily with Ushio, maybe even remarrying.
 
From that point then, Tomoyo After's tragic ending is much better than Clannad's happy ending. It keeps to the theme.
Tomoya and Tomoyo had to help people around them learn to move on. Now she's tested herself if she could.
The story and ending have room for improvement, but it is much better than Clannad's ending from a literary thematic point of view.

People tend to lose an increadible amount of time simply by using unefficient tools and learning methods. Here´s the cure:
 
Memrise.com
 
The probably best tool to learn vocabs. It´s basically a spaced repetition system with some gamification. I always heard about Anki and tried it, but found it to be awful. Absolutely terrible, to be honest. Memrise on the other hand works fine. I´ve learned over 8.000 vocabs (and 2.600 general Kanji meanings) within 1,5 years. You can follow me there as Cynic. PM here for recommendations on courses to take.
 
Imabi.net
 
Excellent grammar site with a ton of example sentences.

People tend to lose an increadible amount of time simply by using unefficient tools and learning methods. Here´s the cure:
 
Memrise.com
 
The probably best tool to learn vocabs. It´s basically a spaced repetition system with some gamification. I always heard about Anki and tried it, but found it to be awful. Absolutely terrible, to be honest. Memrise on the other hand works fine. I´ve learned over 8.000 vocabs (and 2.600 general Kanji meanings) within 1,5 years. You can follow me there as Cynic. PM here for recommendations on courses to take.
 
Imabi.net
 
Excellent grammar site with a ton of example sentences.

Strike the blood - "Senpai!"
Rolling girls - "What were we doing again?"
non non biyori - "Then put it all together and.. dynamite!"

Nothing beats childhood-memories like Lufia 2.
If I had one wish, I would like to relive that time when I first played that game.
 

 
Also Secret of Mana: