I second this. I have never studied Japanese, but I could say I know at least some essential phrases thanks to subtitled anime. 

So, nobody thought to recommend actual learning tools such as the awesome Human Japanese and Human Japanese Intermediate apps or the Living Language Japanese Complete books with CDs?

http://www.humanjapanese.com/home.html

http://www.amazon.com/Living-Language-Japanese-Complete-Edition/dp/0307478653/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393442682&sr=8-1&keywords=living+language+japanese

Rosetta Stone is overpriced crap.

From what I understand about Rosetta Stone is that it is good for languages based on Latin but is bad for ones that are not

I'm learning through Kumon, you know there's no "easy way" you just have to learn hiragana, katakana and kanji. Kumon is a fast way, as you do things dayly and on your own pace.

It's not a proper way to learn any language, trust me, and the price is laughable. Rosetta Stone uses a method which was nothing but a fad based on incorrect assumptions about the way people learn. It's a confusing and frustrating waste of time. It might be okayish for Klingon, though. 

Living Language uses actual workbooks, supplemented with Audio CDs, and is 1/10 the price. You'll learn enough from them to start reading and listening to simpler material, and using vocabulary builders. They're also easy to refer to later.

Human Japanese is something you should definitely look into for learning Japanese. Tells you a lot about the culture too, and is written in a nice, friendly and conversational style.

If it does not work then why does virtually every business and the U.S. military use it? I am not argueing that itis the best way (as I do think it is impossible to properly learn Japanese from it) but I think it works fine for Latin based languages

Or, you know, just use the best free alternative on the internet.

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete

Looks like he even added videos now. It's the best complementary lecture to learning vocabulary.

All those paid courses are made to prepare people to actualy speak japanese and converse with japanese people. For OP's purposes this is hindering more than helping. If it is only reading comprehension, simple grammar and vocabulary is all he needs. While the latter is absolutely key.

In case you missed my post, it's just on the previous page.