learn japanese resources

Tobira: Beginning Japanese: a newish beginning japanese textbook series. i've gone through the first book and really like the presentation as well as the lecture videos on the accompanying website linked above. i prefer this book to genki, however i haven't used the second book. download the textbook, workbooks, and audio files for the first book here and the second book here.

Cure Dolly: youtube channel with a unique approach to teaching grammar. the above link takes you to a google doc with a transcript of Cure Dolly's entire grammar series organized like a textbook, with each 'chapter' linking to a video. cure dolly takes a visual approach to teaching the structure of japanese, which i found very helpful when i was starting out and trying to wrap my brain around how japanese is organized. i highly recommend checking out her channel if you're struggling to understand grammar explanations from other sources.
Sakubi: a text-based grammar guide i also like. it's more concise and straight forward than cure dolly, and i usually turn to this first when i have a specific question in mind or grammar point i want to look up.
Japanese Conjugation Practice: simple online tool that helps you practice conjugating verbs and adjectives in japanese.

Learn Hiragana: The Ultimate Guide: guide by tofugu to learning hiragana. i love their mnemonics system, it made it really easy to pick up hiragana in a few days.
Learn Katakana: The Ultimate Guide: a katakana version of the guide above. i personally learned hiragana and katakana simultaneously (so for 'a' i learned あ and ア at the same time) but you can go through this after getting comfortable with hiragana too.

The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course: guide to learning kanji. i feel like the keywords are more accurate and the mnemonics more useful than heiseig's remembering the kanji. i like the way it groups visually similar kanji and points out the differences so you can distinguish them more easily.
Ringotan: android and ios app for learning how to write kana and kanji. you can pick the order of kanji to match a bunch of different textbooks as well as wanikani. i like it for its SRS system and ability to control how many kanji you review.

Comprehensible Japanese: youtube channel and website with ALG/'comprehensible input' style videos – just watch the videos and acquire the language naturally. the youtube channel has free videos; way more can be found at their website if you subscribe to their patreon for $5 a month. i've downloaded a lot of their paid videos in 480p plus subtitles which you can stream or download through mega.nz here.
Pimsleur: audio only course covering basic japanese. there are 5 levels, and each has 30 lessons that are 30 minutes each. could be used as an introductory course but i used it as supplementary audio practice. link above takes you to a mega.nz folder where you can stream or download their complete course.

some youtubers i like who have videos suitable for listening comprehension practice at the N5-N4 level include:

Tadoku: free graded readers you can read in browser or download. many come with illustrations, audio, and furigana.
yomujp: free graded readers with audio. compatible with automatic popup dictionaries like yomichan.
yomu yomu: website with short stories and articles, sorted by difficulty. some articles come in sets called courses. the built in reader shows definition, grammar, and pitch accent on hover, has words color coded by jlpt level, and toggable furigana.
nihongoblog: short blog-style articles designed for language learners. most articles are split into three different levels of difficulty. comes with audio.
meika sensei's easy japanese blog: short blog-style articles designed for language learners. most articles have a beginner and intermediate version. comes with audio, toggable furigana, and key vocab on the side.
hirogaru: articles and videos about japan designed for beginner japanese learners. subtitles and furigana are toggable. articles come with audio and quiz questions to check comprehension.