I recently started using an app called TangoRisto. It allows you to read short Japanese news articles by providing the hiragana above the kanji, along with other very useful tools built in to assist with your understanding of the kanji and phrases. I'm finding it becomes a bit more fun and intuitive when you are forced to use the kanji in context and not just memorize them from scratch. I think as Japanese learners it is important to learn the language the way it is actually produced and consumed by native speakers. Now, I try construct similar sentences used in the articles, and am more eager to learn the kanji characters I encounter, especially if the article focuses on topics of great interest to me. I think it's another tool to make the learning the characters a bit more manageable.