Prior to coming to Japan, once a week for 10 weeks, I took a basic Japanese class. We used Japanese For Busy People, which uses some kana, although in class we used the romaji portions. Right before coming to Japan, I spent the boring moments at my second job (bartending) learning hiragana and katakana, to prepare for school.
So I arrive, and the first day of school we have a placement test, and although I remembered most of the hiragana and katakana, I landed squarely in the first level of class, ichi kumi. I remember being a little irked, if I had practiced a little more I might have made it to the second level.
Now I understand that that was not really going to happen. The fact that I knew absolutely no Kanji played no small part.
I read bulletin boards sometimes and often people are struggling to memorize kana or Kanji as quickly as possible, and while it is a great thing to cram 2000 Kanji into your brain in 2 weeks, you have to really learn the readings and the meanings and the usage for this to be any value. And past memorizing it, you have to figure out how to integrate them in your daily life, lest they be forgotten. Seeing them in print and hearing them in conversation is more important than simply learning how to write them. For me, unfortunately, learning the stroke order is the easiest part.
Moving at a rate where you retain the meaning, and are able to use and recognize them is the best way.