NO.1 table tennis review site

I'd recommend this to Japanese-style penhold players who use both sides.

It's good for anyone using Japanese-style penhold who wants to attack with both forehand and backhand like Chinese-style players do.

Unlike reverse-style penhold, you keep the Japanese-style feel — you can hook your finger firmly into the cork and swing, and you don't need to shave down the backhand cork all that much, which is convenient.

This might just be the new standard for "Japanese penhold" that opens up the next era.

See original review Hide original review

I bought this because I wanted to try using my backhand even with Japanese penhold.

It's light and bouncy, so it's plenty usable.

It has good bounce, and the cork is a standard Japanese-style shape, so you don't need to shave it down much.

Even among reverse-style penhold blades, the bounce is good, so if you're not going to flip to the reverse side, this one is fine to use as-is.

See original review Hide original review

This is a Japanese-style penhold blade with a grip structure that lets you use your backhand as-is.
The weight is reasonably light, and when hitting, I could easily get the right angle not just on the forehand but on the backhand too.
It also has a decent amount of bounce, so I'd love for players who won't use anything but Japanese-style penhold, yet still want to use their backhand, to give this a try at least once.

See original review Hide original review

The feel on contact has that distinctive softness of wood, and gives a real sense of gripping the ball.
It handles very well and I think it's quite easy to control.
On the flip side, it doesn't generate much speed, so if you want speed you'll need to compensate with your rubber choice.
The racket itself is light, so I think you can swing it plenty even with a heavy rubber on it.

Punching through with one shot is difficult.
But for anyone who wants to deliberately play a control-based game, it's worth having.

See original review Hide original review

The feel on contact is soft, with a decent amount of grip on the ball, and it's cheap, thin, and light. It's also a rounded-corner shape, so it's easy to swing through on backhand-side shots too. Drives, smashes, everything is easy to do with it, but the downside is that being a 5-ply blade, it doesn't give you much distance. It suits players who mainly play close to the table. Even if you swing all out, you'll feel the distance hit a ceiling, so it probably won't satisfy players who step back and swing big drives.
If you're not ready to give up on it, you might be able to work around it by choosing the right rubber...
In my personal experience... I tried Vega Asia, Hexer Powergrip, G1, Rozena, and Tenergy 05, but drives from mid-distance all lost steam — none of them worked. However, the V15 Extra alone didn't lose steam, and the drive trajectory, grip on the ball, and distance all reached a level I was very happy with.
For ease of rallying and third-ball drives, Rozena was really good.
Next I want to try the V11 too!

See original review Hide original review