Rough learning curve but once it clicks it clicks
I was studying Mandarin on my own using apps, flashcards, and graded readers. At around the 200 character mark, I felt like i was hitting a plateau. That's when I found Mandarin Blueprint. Even though the HMM method wasn't convincing to me at first, I decided to stick through for a while and I'm glad I did! Back then during my repeat until I memorize it method, when I forgot a character, there was no way for me to remember it, I'd just have to cheat and flip the card. Now I can remember at least something from my movie, and then it makes me remember other components from my movie, and I can mostly remember the character, meaning and even pronounciation.