How did you manage? A lot of the novels/visual novels I see use a ton of Kanji. How did you begin to figure out what each symbol meant in that context?
I used a text hooker so I could look up kanji I didn't know. Eventually you'll understand more and more, and your reading speed will improve.
As for context... I mean, consider the English word free. I can think of three meanings off the top of my head. Sugar free, free trial, free the people. All three of those uses have different meanings, no sugar, something that doesn't cost money, and liberation, even though they all use the same word. Just like a single kanji can have multiple meanings depending on context, so can English words.
A kid doesn't learn English because he feverishly studied a textbook and brute force memorised thousands of words and all their meanings. He trials and errors it. He listens to it every day, tries speaking it every day, every time there is a word he doesn't understand he asks his mom what it means. A kid spends thousands of hours 'using' English. Learning Japanese isn't any different in my opinion. The best way to get a grasp of the language is to use it. Whether it be passively (reading visual novels, watching anime) or actively (speaking, writing). This seems really daunting at first. You boot up a visual novel, and every sentence is filled with kanji and words you don't know. You have to find the meaning for each word. You have to think about the context. Even if it doesn't immediately click, you'll see the same words used over and over again as you read, in different sentence structures and contexts. Eventually more and more will start to click. You'll notice for example that the kanji 無 in a compound negates the thing after it, like 無料 vs 有料, or 無限 vs 有限. Then maybe you will come across the word 無意味, which you haven't seen before. But you already know what 意味 means, and what 無 means, so you'll have no need to look up the word and just get it. This is why I say it is a slow process. Sorry for my poor explanation.
