> Kanji aren't that bad; it just takes time to memorize them

Yep, but I just didn't have the willpower/energy/interest.

I've heard from people who know kanji well, that when you read in kanji, you'll appreciate it how you can always quickly tell what something is roughly about, even before really reading it.

That's of course because the "pictures" convey meanings, and so on. I guess that can be called a certain kind of efficiency.