i already said this somewhere else, but it worked really well for me when i couldn't take japanese for two years because of some time constraints...

watch elementary-level tv cartoons or movies in japanese, sing along with the songs, and try to find kids books (x3 with looooots of pictures)

it can be tough, like the equivalent of watching blues clues or barney in english, but they're designed to teach in ways that are much more fun than just read-repeat-repeat-memorize. they also speak a lot slower than in your average anime XD