If you manage to see this, below is a sloppily copy-pasted version of what I wrote a few months ago on the pen. I plan on cleaning up the review and expanding on it later, but for now I'm putting this here.

Had this pen for 3 days now, so some early thoughts. The Kyuseido Kakari is a pen I was attracted to when I first learned about it, but over the past few months I considered buying it for myself more and more as I hone in on the type of pens I like. A well built, high-capacity demonstrator with a filling system similar to one of my favourite pens, the Penbbs 355. Decided to take the plunge after hitting a personal milestone.

I’ll spare you all the technical details on how it works and refer you to Kyuseido’s website here, but I will say that the filling mechanism works great, though you’re closer to getting the minimum 3.5ml of ink drawn rather than the 4.2ml maximum, which I assume is achieved through filling the pen like an eyedropper or using a similar technique to fully fill a vac filler pen (from my experience, anyways). Cleaning and changing inks in this pen is extremely easy, a few pumps and it’s as good as new. The pen itself feels incredible in the hand, and being able to adjust the weight distribution at the cost of a slightly lesser fill is a great option to have. I love demonstrator pens and being able to see the ink slosh around, right now the pen is inked with Robert Oster Fire and Ice. The black titanium is stunning in person and I enjoy the weight (30.8g) uncapped.

Now the nib. When ordering this pen only three options were in stock at the time: BB, Architect and Italic. I didn’t want a BB, and considering CY is known for their grinds I wanted to try one of them, originally considering the Architect nib—a grind I had a limited, but positive experience with due to Osprey Pens selling one—but I wanted to try an italic nib for once. I quickly found that it wasn’t for me, the sharpness of the grind, coupled with the bounciness of the nib (a feature I don’t care for at all) made for a horrible experience. This is on me for not getting an italic nib on a cheaper pen to see if I would like it attached to a pen of this price, and simply not waiting for a restock of a nib choice such as a medium or the sankakusen. Thankfully you can simply swap out the nib for a #6 of your choosing, right now I have the Penbbs Calligraphy nib #1

The lack of roll stop/clip doesn’t bother me at all, and I enjoy the look of a clipless pen. My pens never leave my desk and I can count the amount of times I dropped a pen on the floor with one hand, but for a pen this expensive I understand why people are bothered by the lack of one. Not to mention there are already two posts about the pen breaking after a fall. Also a minor thing, but I was surprised it doesn’t come with an instruction manual. It’s not “hard” once you get it but the description on the website on how to operate it can be difficult to parse without a video, and I guess anyone who purchases this pen would be enthusiasts who already did their research so this is maybe an extreme nitpick for something that bothered me and only me. I ended up watching Pen Venture’s video on the Gravitas edition on the pen to make sure I did it correctly.

Overall it’s a wonderful pen and I have no regrets purchasing it. It’s a work of art, feels wonderful and sturdy, and being able to support a smaller business is a plus. I wish I got another nib but that’s on me. Never owned or held a Conid pen so I won’t say anything about the comparisons. It’s hard to “recommend” a pen at this price range but I'm satisfied with the purchase. Not sure if I'll see myself buying another, if it's available around Christmas time I'll think about it. Definitely interested in seeing what else the team at Kyuseido has to offer.

Since I have my 355 inked and next to me I’ll note some things

The Kakari has a thicker section and body, and weighs 13g more (unposted). The 355 holds less ink, but still fills around 2.4ml from what I read online. The Kakari also has a way to go for a partial fill without leaving air pockets, making the filling system more flexible.

The 355 is a bit less flexible when it comes to nib swapping, from reading other people’s experiences most #6 nibs will not fit without some tinkering due it’s cap, however Penbbs does have a wonderful array of separate calligraphy nibs with different types of grinds, in both steel and gold. I currently have the #4 nib in the pen on my desk, which is very similar to a MF Naginata Togi grind. However the nibs do get produced in limited runs and it’s hard to know what each nib does without third party information. For anyone with a spare Platinum 3776 nib it swaps into the 355 without issue.