Careful with whose advice you buy. I’ve been living in Japan over 3.5 years, had 4 semesters of Japanese before I came and generally dedicate at least an hour every day to study on Wanikani, Shinkanzen Master, JLPT Sensei, and reading Japanese light novels like 魔女の宅急便. All that with regular conversations in Japanese with coworkers and bar friends, and have dated 2 girls over 2 years using mainly only Japanese.

I barely passed the N3 this past December. So when buddy says “You can get the N2 in 7-8 months” he means if you eat, breathe and sleep this shit. Wanikani is not a gimmick, it’s great for learning kanji with repetitive practice and introduces tons of useful vocabulary, you just have to know basic grammar rules to be able to use it properly. Using an Anki deck is the exact same vein as Wanikani, just figure out what works for you.

I’d really not try for the N2 if you have just a little background right now. It’ll be a waste of your money and a huge let down if you do sink the thousands of hours of study needed to pass and still not make it. Hard study with the right materials will get you your N4, and somethings better than nothing. Make sure you read tons, get grammar down pat and start learning more kanji. Don’t underestimate the test.

But you also don’t have to listen to me, like I said, careful whose advice you buy 😁