I'm so-so, I do some basic translation work on manga and visual novels too but I'm nowhere near native level, though I can read most visual and light novels just fine. It was mostly a process of learning by osmosis for me too, as I study grammar and stuff, sure, but I spend way more time actually reading the material. I don't think I ever had to learn kanji and vocabulary the "hard" way, that is to say with flashcards and whatnot.
Then again, I can write by hand like 1/100 of the kanji I can read (笑).
Oh, and I never took any classes, so doing that is very useful, but absolutely not necessary, as long as you're passionate about it.
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