I swear I could have written this post. Here's my 0.02:
- I totally understand where you're coming from. That feeling of not being able to understand even a single sentence without having to look up a word or two is just... the worst. Basically, I've just had to come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to 100% understand everything. Heck, man, I live in Japan, and I doubt I truly understand 100% of any given (nontrivial) conversation. So, my advice is to give up. Give up on trying to 完全に understand every sentence, every word. Be okay with ambiguity. And I know, it feels like "I know every word in the sentence except the most important ones!" Sucks, but you'll enjoy Japanese a lot more if you release yourself from the need to grok every tittle.
- Tobira was the very next textbook I studied after Genki II. If you've finished Genki II and retain most of it, it shouldn't be too advanced for you. I know the Internet romanticizes the idea of learning languages quickly, but really nothing beats time in the language stretching your skills. If it's not too frustrating for you, try studying the textbook a little more contemplatively rather than speedrunning it.
- Believe it or not, you actually have an advantage over me, despite the fact that I live in Japan. Japanese people aren't exactly warm and forthcoming in casual conversation with foreigners, so I wouldn't describe living in Japan as a constant state of immersion, especially because I work remotely for an English-speaking software company. Your advantage is in the consumption of Japanese media: I'm not a huge fan of anime/manga, and I don't have time for video games. I've noticed that my friends who do like anime in particular have much better listening skills than I do. Simple exposure will get you used to speaking styles, etc. and you'll be able to pick out the difficult words in time.
- Key insight: if a character says a complicated word once, and it's never used again for the rest of the show, don't worry about learning it. Media consumption is a natural SRS. If they don't use the word again, chances are it won't be worth learning (at this stage in your learning). We're not targeting 100% comprehension, after all.
Best of luck to you!
Eh, I've been around the block at this point. Fedora ftw. Simple, easy, GUI installer, "just works"™️, sane package manager, normie default DEs, stable, corporate backing. Maybe not for a purist or enthusiast, but I don't have time for that stuff anymore anyways. My days of pouring hours into getting my Arch install just right are long past me. That was for when I still had free time.