It's intuitive once you already know what it means and have sunk dozens of hours into memorizing what the shortcuts do /s
At any rate, I never spent much time memorizing keys. I'd look up a thing or two, apply it, and it'd just sink in.
But Vim isn't about being intuitive, it's about being efficient. Once it 'clicks' you will be able to express incredibly complex text manipulations in only a few keystrokes. And with configuration you'll build the most powerful but comfortable environment that you'll miss anywhere else.