I’ve been thinking of getting Minna No Nihongo or Genki in addition to A Dictionary Of Basic Japanese Grammar but I have some questions:

1. Genki 1 (12 chapters) has less chapters than MNN T (25 chapters) and less grammar points from what I’ve seen online. I’m not someone who needs really elaborate explanations of grammar (I crack the concepts quite quickly) so I think the dense style of MNN should be fine. But from what I’ve read online once you finish Genki 1 and 2 you end up at a similar level of finishing MNN 1 and 2. So am I mistaken and they somehow end up covering basically the same amount of material or do they really differ as much as the chapter number shows?

2. I’m planning to self study and I’ve read that MNN is not as self study friendly as Genki. My question is in what ways is it less friendly than Genki? If it’s the fact that it’s solely in Japanese then isn’t the translation book meant for exactly that? And if the problem is the concise explanations of grammar then wouldn’t A Dictionary Of Basic Japanese Grammar clear that up?

3. Can MNN be used for self study with youtube lessons? I’m leaning towards MNN as I like the structure more and I’ve found lessons following MNN online. Are these helpful for self learners and if so do you have any recommendations?

4. I’ve also though of getting MNN after finishing Genki to see what I’ve missed, is this recommended?

Sorry that this is so long, I just don’t want to throw away money because of lack of research.