theres a lot to review for "words for japanese basics" and it overwhelms me. customing doesnt do a thing either -tried to reduce the number but it only increased today and i quietly screamed- SO what should i do
You don't actually have to follow through. That's just an indicator of how much you have to study for that time, not how much you want to limit. Customization is only the buffer for how much you study per quiz and how often it wants you to study. You can just as well let it sit for a time and it will increase over time consistently, unless you keep acing it. If you consistently study and do more, it will eventually stop requiring you to study particular material.
You can study as much and as often as you want. You need not be discouraged by the button that says your review is ready. You can bypass that and it will either already count what it wants you to study, and/or give you your basic quiz just the same.