Romance of Men $350 Ebi Katana

[@shadowfox2814]

I could be mistaken, but ebi in Japanese means shrimp, whereas iseebi is lobster. 🤔

[@michaelrs8010]

You're probably right. I identified them as Crayfish, but Shrimp seems more likely considering it's Japanese. But definitely not a Maine Lobster 😄

[@salohcin0083]

^Has to be shrimp. I immediately thought, "that's a shrimp" when the kashira was on screen. Not sure about Pacific/Japanese sea lobster, but Florida lobster do not have claws.

[@michaelrs8010]

@@salohcin0083 I thought so too, but then I looked at a picture the "Japanese spiny Lobster". Then I looked up how the Japanese use "Ebi" and it seems they mostly use it to mean shrimp or prawn. But in other instances it's part of the name for a lobster. So who knows? They can solve the problem by simply calling it The Crustacean Katana. 😉

[@SpaceGhost182]

I like that theyre putting the effort into giving the sword its own theme. One of my favorite things to see. I have the korudo shadou from them, very simllar blade and hamon. Came razor sharp (one of the sharpest edges ive gotten on a production katana) and the fit and finish was good for the price. I like that they also have a lot of different options for hamon styles on their custom slider, quite a few I havent seen elsewhere for the price. I think theyre doing great budget cutters for a great price.

[@KF1]

wow, the lawn chairs of doom did a number on that edge. Good showing as always

[@dlatrexswords]

Very nice overview! That’s quite the striking theme that they have put together, and it is a little funny that they translated ebi (エビ) into lobster instead of shrimp, which is exactly what they executed 😂 That plastic is no joke! Not all plastic targets are made equal.

[@sinisterswordsman25]

I love the hamon on this sword 🤘💀 and the shrimp look angry lol evil murder shrimp

[@JoeSteel1]

Agreed, on its own, i found value in the build, the intent, the feel, look and performance, on normal targets, sharpness and toughness stood up well, and on hard wood vines, it also stood strong with no edge damaging...that hard plastic seems like an edge killer...a good value for purchasing, while keeping an open mind as you said with others like Ryan, SD. ect. well done Sir.

[@NaturalSynthetic777]

Lol fun theme. Wish there was more like this

[@watchreport]

The habaki is very similar to the Marto Highlander swords which is why I think gives it that cheap feeling and doesn’t look right on a sword like this

[@TONEDEAFSOUND]

great review!

[@erichusayn]

They hooked me up with a Surudoi. Been thinking about picking up a nicer, DH one from them. Or maybe if i pester them enough they will hook it up with one of these. For the price i feel you get what you pay for. Side note, if you can get your hands on a buffalo koshirae shadowdancer, i would highly recommend one. For $330, it has lots of fetures not found on $600+ big name production katana.

[@michaelrs8010]

What is that Buffalo (I assume you mean water buffalo specifically) Kashira about? Does it just have motifþimages or are they actually made out of buffalo horn?

[@erichusayn]

Oh, no. The tsuba has 2 water buffalo grazing on it, water buffalo menuki, and just a simple, but nocely textured fuchi and kashira. Its just called the "buffalo koshirae" on the shadowdancer website. Its a really good bang for your buck. One of the nicest sub $400 katana ive ever handled.

[@michaelrs8010]

@erichusayn thanks, I'll check it out. Didn't notice it the first look.

[@Pablo668]

Someone beat me to it in the comments. Ebi is shrimp (Prawns in Aus). Great review though, I'm a tad shocked at the damage from the lawn chairs.

[@Belial289]

aw nice, i love romance with- i mean romance of men!

[@preparedsurvivalist2245]

My opinion is that ROM makes glorified gas station katana. They have a lot of glitz and glitter, but they are just lower grade Longquan parts bin swords. I would say that the value comes into play if you can get one for a lower cost, but over 300 isn't a lower cost.

[@consumer1073]

i still can't believe how you grew mountains for arms overnight

[@おみ-k4y]

It's not a Japanese katana, but it looks convincing enough to be quite satisfying.

[@Monkey-d2p]

I thought you already posted this

[@sloanNYC]

It is so funny to me that plastic furniture kills swords! LOL

[@Kratos_God_of_50_BMG]

Great review Matt, I’m just a little surprised that you thought this was worth $350. The tsuka with “meh” diamonds, the visible panels, the fuchi jutting out like it does, and the habaki looking as $2.95 as it does, I was sure you were going to say that their competition out of Longquan have done much better on much less $$$ offerings. That doesn’t even include the blade issues. I’ve seen that mutant lobster/shrimp/squid theme on other swords before, though I can’t recall the competitors price for almost the exact same sword. They actually sent this same katana to Joe (JS Bladecraft) I think 4 months ago, so I may be a little biased myself having seen it reviewed twice, and not being impressed either time.

[@michaelrs8010]

Basically the same price through HanBon Forge.

[@Matthew_Jensen]

It is a little more clean than the RyanSword I played with for $350. Fuchi is a little more off but the ito is nicer and tighter. The saya is better shaped. But that sword was also folded and laminated. The Shadow Dancer $400 katana had a few less things. Simple scabbard, worse ito, 1095 steel but it was all put together really well with less features.

[@Kratos_God_of_50_BMG]

@@Matthew_Jensen Maybe the mutant lobster/shrimp/squid was too much….lol

[@GermanSausagesAreTheWurst]

Inflation is all over the world, not just the US.

[@michaelrs8010]

In the same family as lobsters, those are actually CRAYFISH on those fittings. Edit - someone else said shrimp which could very well be the case considering its Japanese

[@DK_1983]

ebi = shrimp

[@hansluftikus5294]

15:22 - 😨😭

[@DK_1983]

1:50 I promise you they ARE pulled from the exact same parts bin. Their words/text.... (Like any other humans) are LIES... Believing otherwise is naive. So I was a bit disappointed when you said you wouldnt destruction test this blade. Bc its ALL I watch these videos for. I want to see if they deliver the respective quality blades they claim. Do they bend? do they break? how soon/easy do they break? Is it even a 1060, or 1095 or whatever as claimed etc. No difference between a stores 100dollar swords and their 500dollar swords. You need a WAY higher difference in price shift before you're getting something (technically) better. Those last 400 dollars, gives, tighter wrap, fittings cared for and actually "fitted". But thats it. But Saya is the same cheap unfitted mass produced crap. Blade is the same as the cheap swords. I want to see this sword being broken.... There is literally no point otherwise in me watching these vidoes. I can see the exact same in your video than I can on their website. Only the "lies" (not saying YOU are lying) im saying the process is lying... And jsut bc something says T10, doesnt mean I trust it to actually BE T10.... Which again, is why I want to see the swords being tested/proven. None of these swordsmiths are in this for their pride nor honour. They ALL in it for the money and fame, meaning they are automatically proven untrustworthy. Hence, we need you!

[@GrandmasterHobbyist]

understandable, but if youre buying from a reputable brand their products are being testing and reviewed all the time by many people so its safe to assume it is what they say it is as far as the steel.

[@DK_1983]

@ have you seen his other videos? Lots of reputable Smiths whos swords just go pling! Or chip badly (when the steel they claim to use shouldnt). So my other point is also quality control. Clearly these blades were never stresstested, definitely not destruction tested, bc the blades are still undamaged and unbroken. So I would love to see a Smiths work consistently, across models, stand up to somewhat practical abuse. Ofc they all fail at some point. But as we see, most of blades these days fail VERY early… Too early imho. So its not only about the integrity of the Smith. Its also about his level of skill. Which 98% of Smiths are overestimating their on skill level far to High. One lucky/durable blade doesnt meant you’re good Im my book. I want to see you make a thousand of the same blade and they are all the exact same durability. Consistency. And we can only see how good someones work is when its being truly tested.