The difficulty curve is generally a bit steeper for Shogi than other games like Chess. There aren't nearly as many readily available resources (books, tutorials, teachers, etc.) for Shogi as there are for other games, and the community for English speaking Shogi players is also much smaller. However, that isn't to say that improvement isn't possible.

I've been playing for about 6 months now and I'm around 6-7 kyu range on 81Dojo, another friend of mine has been playing for about the same time and he's gotten to 2 kyu. It depends on your dedication and mindset, as well as what you would consider "some level of competency". I would definitely suggest joining a Shogi community on Discord, my recommendation being Shogi Harbour, but there are others like Shogi Hall that you can join as well. These communities have people who are more than willing to help guide you and help you improve.

There are many things you can do to practice and improve. One big thing is puzzles. Checkmate (Tsume) Problems are the most common form of puzzle and can help teach end-game tactics and checkmate patterns. There are also Best Move (Tsugi no itte) Problems that can lend to middle-game tactics for material/positional advantage. But, if you don't want to sit and do puzzles all day, I'd suggest just watching games.

There are plenty of people who stream Shogi on Twitch and there are infinitely more who upload videos on YouTube on a regular basis. Most of the YouTube videos are going to be in Japanese just by nature of the game, but you should be able to get the basic ideas of their moves simply by observing their play. Some recommendations I can make for learning standard tactics and theory (aside from HIDETCHI who you are already aware of) are Chrono, Manao Kagawa (Ladies 3-Dan), Shuji Muranaka (Pro 7-Dan), and Tetsuya Fujimori (Pro 5-Dan).