[anrakushi]

umm.. if you are doing it by the JLPT kanji list then why do you need to do it by any of those methods? unless you are going to break down the 100 kanji listed for JLPT 4 into those categories (similar shape or easy -> hard), why not just get the list and work your way down it, in whatever format it is in. I'm at all referring to the vocab's kanji. there is a list of 100 kanji that you must know. study those. then level 3 has 200 more kanji, study those. they will come in a list already, just work your way down the list, 5 or 10 a night. don't forget to learn compounds with them.