Coming from Chinese, Hiragana or Kanji first? I've also watched a ton of anime in my time, and my brother and I were discussing taking a trip to Japan, so I figured this was as good an excuse as any to learn the language.  From my exposure to the characters through anime I know that quite a few of the Kanji are very similar in both form and meaning to Mandarin.  I also know that some have no relation at all. So, which alphabet do I start with? I was going to do Hiragana because it's the one I'm least familiar with. 