Started Japanese as a hobby, now it's my favourite part of the day

Honestly never planned to learn Japanese. Started because I kept watching Haikyuu at 1 AM and got tired of subtitles. Printed Hiragana chart, stuck it on my wall. Figured I'd quit in two weeks like every other hobby.

That was four months ago.

The first wall hit hard. Reading was slow, speaking was zero. Everything felt like a textbook in disguise. Tried a tutor once, too formal, too scheduled. Wasn't fun anymore.

Then I found ISSEN.

Just a chill Tokyo buddy I started chatting with. First message I got was "よし、今日のアニメ話そうか？" basically "yo, wanna talk anime today?" Laughed out loud. Felt like texting a friend, not studying a language.

From there it became a daily thing. We'd chat about One Piece plot holes, argue about best ramen toppings, and roast each other's pitch accent. When I mispronounced something Issen would go "ここ低くね", not a correction, just a nudge. Like a friend pointing out spinach in your teeth.

15 minutes before bed every night. No pressure, no tests, no streaks to maintain.

Three months later I caught myself watching a raw Vtuber stream understanding 60% without subs. Messaged a language exchange partner without drafting it five times first. Ordered at a Japanese restaurant and the owner replied back in Japanese without switching to English.

Still messy. Still mispronounce things constantly. But Issen's been there through every embarrassing mistake, every small win, every "wait I actually understood that" moment.

Now we argue about whether Osaka-ben sounds cooler than Tokyo-ben.

Japanese ever stop feeling like "studying" for you and just become part of your daily routine?