Sailor Maruzen Nihombashi Akane

[mmg122]

Thanks so much for your review of this beautiful ink, white_lotus. Emailed Atsu over the weekend and he tells me this ink is currently unobtainable. I guess I should just be grateful I have some MB WinterGlow left. Sailor and Montblanc sure do know how to create some stunning dark reds. Hard to see these beautiful inks that are so hard to come by...but it is what it is.

 

Mary

[BCGGSM]

Well I'm sorry my images don't live up to your standards. Maybe you should look somewhere else. I don't have to do ink reviews. I'm one of the few people who takes the time for, in my imagination, a somewhat comprehensive review of inks that most people will never see. Maybe I should spend my time doing something else.

Comprehensive review and sub-standard images are two different things. I never commented upon the format and contents of your review, just the pictures. And the colour in your review image (uncompressed) isn't far off from what I remember.

As for spending your time doing something else, it's none of my concern. Please do that (something else) if it makes you happy.

[SahilGulati]

This ink is gorgeous. Thank you for your reviw, white_lotus.

[swanjun]

Thanks so much for your review of this beautiful ink, white_lotus. Emailed Atsu over the weekend and he tells me this ink is currently unobtainable. I guess I should just be grateful I have some MB WinterGlow left. Sailor and Montblanc sure do know how to create some stunning dark reds. Hard to see these beautiful inks that are so hard to come by...but it is what it is.

 

Mary

 

I, too, am glad to have Winter Glow. I do wish I could find Akane, but it seems such a lost cause that I'm not even really trying.

[domzals1]

White_Lotus, I very much appreciate everything about your reviews of inks - without them, I would never have the chance to see a vast majority of these Sailor Bespoke inks! I am sorry that some people are so willing to offer "critiques" of the reviews when they themselves aren't willing to put in the time to do anything of similar comprehensiveness and quality. "Those in glass houses" and all that jazz...

[webgeckos]

As always, thank you for this marvelous review.

 

I got a bottle but hadn't used it yet. I even have a first gen bottle, with the label, which I never opened. Finally opened it to decant a sample, very strong and beautiful: like your reviews.

[BCGGSM]

White_Lotus, I very much appreciate everything about your reviews of inks - without them, I would never have the chance to see a vast majority of these Sailor Bespoke inks! I am sorry that some people are so willing to offer "critiques" of the reviews when they themselves aren't willing to put in the time to do anything of similar comprehensiveness and quality. "Those in glass houses" and all that jazz...

I was wondering why nobody had said anything about my comments.

While putting in time to do anything is appreciable, but if the time invested leads to only sub-standard reviews which do not offer an accurate image of the colour being reviewed, then there is no point in investing such time. If I like something, I'll say that I like it. If I don't like something and feel that it's misleading, i'll say that I didn't like it.

As for me putting in the time and effort, I have tried writing reviews. I feel my reviews are not good enough to be posted. So it's not like I don't "critique" myself as I do others.

[gylyf]

If I like something, I'll say that I like it. If I don't like something and feel that it's misleading, i'll say that I didn't like it.

I guess my question would be, is making your point worth possibly hurting someone's feelings? We don't need a self-appointed champion of review accuracy; everyone who reads these reviews is capable of determining for himself or herself whether he or she feels the review is of the standard he or she needs it to be to make a purchase (something that, by the way, is moot in the case of Akane). What we do need is consideration towards one another.

 

Anyway, you'll notice from the wave of supportive comments directed at the OP that followed your so-called "critique" that people did address your comments; they just did so indirectly.

Edited April 21, 2017 by gylyf

[domzals1]

I guess my question would be, is making your point worth possibly hurting someone's feelings? We don't need a self-appointed champion of review accuracy; everyone who reads these reviews is capable of determining for himself or herself whether he or she feels the review is of the standard he or she needs it to be to make a purchase (something that, by the way, is moot in the case of Akane). What we do need is consideration towards one another.

 

Anyway, you'll notice from the wave of supportive comments directed at the OP that followed your so-called "critique" that people did address your comments; they just did so indirectly.

 

I couldn't have said it better. I take no issue in people sharing their opinions. That's what we are all here to do. But to make direct comments about the OP's style and say that the review "serves no purpose" is rude and unnecessary. If you don't find a particular post useful for yourself personally, that is fine - hit the back button and move on. But there is certainly no need to belittle someone's contributions and call the effort "sub-standard and pointless" because the photos don't "measure up" to your standards. Based on the number of supportive comments upthread, I'd say that OP's reviews are appreciated and enjoyed.

[threejean]

Thanks for the review, what an awesome color! Can anyone recommend some similar alternatives?

[webgeckos]

Comprehensive review and sub-standard images are two different things. I never commented upon the format and contents of your review, just the pictures. And the colour in your review image (uncompressed) isn't far off from what I remember.

As for spending your time doing something else, it's none of my concern. Please do that (something else) if it makes you happy.

Everyone does reviews differently, often based and focused on their interests (shading and sheen etc.) I don't know if there is one way. Even if all of us users the exact same camer, scanners and software, monitors are different and some are calibrated and some aren't, and everyone is in a different place with the cones and rods within their eyes.

 

People use what gear they have. No one is getting paid to do this.

 

All the above being said, I think if you can't say something nice then don't say (or post) anything at all.

[BCGGSM]

I couldn't have said it better. I take no issue in people sharing their opinions. That's what we are all here to do. But to make direct comments about the OP's style and say that the review "serves no purpose" is rude and unnecessary. If you don't find a particular post useful for yourself personally, that is fine - hit the back button and move on. But there is certainly no need to belittle someone's contributions and call the effort "sub-standard and pointless" because the photos don't "measure up" to your standards. Based on the number of supportive comments upthread, I'd say that OP's reviews are appreciated and enjoyed.

Re-read one of my comments/posts, I never said anything about the format or style of the review. Only quibble I do have with it is that the pictures don't show the real colour of the ink. Also, if you can read, after the OP posted the full size image of one of the images used in the review, I did say that it looks a lot better and closer to what I remember.

About the last part of your post regarding support etc, it closely resembles what happens when someone flunks an exam of any kind. People show their support and encourage you, but it doesn't change the reality that you flunked.

[BCGGSM]

I guess my question would be, is making your point worth possibly hurting someone's feelings? We don't need a self-appointed champion of review accuracy; everyone who reads these reviews is capable of determining for himself or herself whether he or she feels the review is of the standard he or she needs it to be to make a purchase (something that, by the way, is moot in the case of Akane). What we do need is consideration towards one another.

Anyway, you'll notice from the wave of supportive comments directed at the OP that followed your so-called "critique" that people did address your comments; they just did so indirectly.

It depends. I have been a member for over one year and have referred to many other reviews done by the OP for my purchases. I have received a completely different colour on more than one occasion from what is shown in the reviews.

As you would know, these inks are not cheap. It's diasapponting to get a different colour as shown in the reviews with a $10 ink, so it's worse with these $25/$45 a bottle inks. Do you still expect someone to show consideration towards another after this?

There is a good side and bad side to everything. I really don't understand why people want to keep the good part up and brush the bad part under the mat. Life doesn't work like that.

 

Regarding wave of supportive comments, I have responded to that in the previous post.

Edited April 21, 2017 by BCGGSM

[BCGGSM]

Everyone does reviews differently, often based and focused on their interests (shading and sheen etc.) I don't know if there is one way. Even if all of us users the exact same camer, scanners and software, monitors are different and some are calibrated and some aren't, and everyone is in a different place with the cones and rods within their eyes.

People use what gear they have. No one is getting paid to do this.

All the above being said, I think if you can't say something nice then don't say (or post) anything at all.

I think it is difficult to take a colour accurate picture or scan, but some people do colour adjustments to make it appear as close to the real colour as possible. Not possible to do that?

In the present case, I did say that the uncompressed image was very close to the colour I remember.

[webgeckos]

I think it is difficult to take a colour accurate picture or scan, but some people do colour adjustments to make it appear as close to the real colour as possible. Not possible to do that?

In the present case, I did say that the uncompressed image was very close to the colour I remember.

Yes sorta. I can color correct my images and scans ... but the corrections are adjusted to MY monitor which I am correcting them on, not some universal generic RGB configuration. And there there is SD and HD, and even the material cabling is made of will impact quality, as will if something is shielded or not (bother network and HDMI/RGB cables.)

 

Go to a big box store. Go to the TVs. You'll see all of the tvs are slightly different. Go look at computer monitor section. Pay attention to the reds. All slightly different.

 

About the only thing YOU can do is order a color correcting set for both scanner and monitor and calibrate your monitor to both color cards and grey scales. But even so, that only solves 1/3 of the issue. The other third being the OPs optical gear/monitor and lastly the compression algorithms and methods used by any given site/host.

 

I have a medical issue with my dominant eye (Central Serous Retinopathy.) It effects me thusly: I can see blue-blacks on screen and tv. In real life it only appears black to me. This happens with BB 4-B, MB Tolstoy and others. Instead of being snarky I just give the ink to the Inksters, or someone else I know would enjoy what I cannot see.

 

I guess I would just like to say I appreciate the care, time and effort she puts into reviews. She and I have a lot of similar tastes in inks. If you don't like them, maybe you ought not click on reviews started by her.

[webgeckos]

Oops one last thing. I have a bottle of 2008 Akane and the most recent 2017 Akane, the same batch White_Lotus has reviewed. I personally find it a spot on match for mine, on Tomoe River (cream) paper.

[Connly33]

I really love this shade of red, what i really wish i could get my hands on though is the Maruzen Nihombashi Murasaki that you did a review on.

I had seen a bottle on ebay going for around $60 and it was sold almost instantly.

[mmg122]

Comprehensive review and sub-standard images are two different things. I never commented upon the format and contents of your review, just the pictures. And the colour in your review image (uncompressed) isn't far off from what I remember.

As for spending your time doing something else, it's none of my concern. Please do that (something else) if it makes you happy.

 

SNARKUS MAXIMUS

[fireant]

I was wondering why nobody had said anything about my comments.

While putting in time to do anything is appreciable, but if the time invested leads to only sub-standard reviews which do not offer an accurate image of the colour being reviewed, then there is no point in investing such time. If I like something, I'll say that I like it. If I don't like something and feel that it's misleading, i'll say that I didn't like it.

As for me putting in the time and effort, I have tried writing reviews. I feel my reviews are not good enough to be posted. So it's not like I don't "critique" myself as I do others.

 

Normally, when I see that first sentence makes me think the poster is trolling. While I am certain that this isn't your purpose or the reason you replied yet again, all I can suggest is that if you don't like don't like the reviews performed by an individual, perhaps don't read them.

 

ETA Thank you White Lotus for your great review.

Edited April 23, 2017 by fireant

[DrDebG]

Very nice review! And I really, really like this color. But most of all, I am impressed by your careful assessment of the ink formula. I would love to get some of this just to try. Hmmm, I will be traveling through Japan soon . . .