Should I remember kanji of words that mostly use the kana version?


I tried playing a game the other day, I was surprised to see [面倒]{めんどう}くさい in
kanji, because even Jisho says it's mostly written in kana.

I also saw [貴方]{あなた} and [私]{わたし}[達]{たち}(not as rare), so it made me start
wondering if I should try to learn the kanji of every word, regardless if the
kana version is used more often or not? Can you guys read rare/unused kanji in
books and games? Or do you listen to it voiced and then recognize it (if it is
voiced)?




It depends on the word.

You seem to misunderstand the difficulty of 面倒, but it is a fairly common word
(JLPT N3) and is normally written in kanji. There is no reason for anyone but
a complete beginner not to learn how to write it in kanji. 面倒くさい has [two
possible readings](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/99387/5010), and
people usually use kana when the shorter (colloquial) version is intended. But
the longer version (めんどうくさい) is normally written with kanji.

貴方 is something you may not have to write yourself, but you need to know how
to read. See also: [Why is 私 a sixth grade
kanji?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/62132/5010)

There are many words, such as 薔薇 ( _bara_ , rose) and 嚢腫 ( _nōshu_ , cyst),
that may not be necessary to write, but should be readable by a respectable
adult. There are also many words like 蟷螂 ( _kamakiri_ , mantis) and 鸚哥 (
_inko_ , parrot) that even adults don't need to be able to read.

