Bimoji Fude Pen 美文字筆ぺん

I got two of the Bimoji pens by Kuretake in a manga specialized website. Before I bought them I looked online and found very little useful information about the pens. So I decided to make a review with possible what they don't tell you about the pens.

The name of the product is: 

美文字筆ぺん Bimoji Fude Pen (Brush Pen for writing beautiful characters)

They are sold with 5 different brush tips as seen in the official website. 

4 of them are felt tips and one of them is made of synthetic bristles. I got the finest felt tip and the bristles one. Here they are against the light:

Placing them against the light you can see the ink reservoir, note that the one in the right has way more ink than the one in the left. The right one is the medium with brush and the other is the felt EF[extra fine]. They came like that!

Since they were purchased brand new in a very reputable shop I don't think that the left one came used up. What I reckon is: given the medium brush pen higher flow of ink it stands to reason that it would require more of it. Otherwise users would certainly complain of it running out too fast. But the EF has such a fine and economic use of ink that the minuscule amount would make for a comparable lifespan.

Most online reviews I have seen said that there is no distinction between them. Well... There is. Note that they have different writing in the middle. It goes like so:

In green it is written 美文字筆ぺん [Bimoji Fude Pen], then space, then the specific tip also in green.

In my case they are 極細 [Extra Fine] on the left one; and 毛筆中字 ['Medium size brush'] on the right one.

lastly they have in red 呉竹精昇堂製 [Made by Kuretake]. 

Surely they seem quite identical. I think kuretake makes them in special colours although they may be more elusive to find in the west. Here are some beautiful variants in Japan.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS and OBSERVATIONS:

1. On the top left you can see that there is two types of packaging. One have the information printed in the plastic the other has a transparent plastic with a paper inside. I don't know if the medium brush always comes in the paper package {In the official Japanese site it is the only one with the paper package}; Or if the plastic style is a new model and the paper one was an older model still in stock. I say that for the plastic one seems nicer.
2. On the top right: In the package there is some stuff written like 手にやさしい持ちやすいグリップ付き！！ [With easy to use grip!!]. In the back you find the line width it can make, but as any artist or calligraphy writer knows it vastly depends on the paper quality.
3. Left bottom: The difference between the tips on my models.
4. Right bottom: They also have strings to further simulate the traditional Chinese/Japanese calligraphy brushes. Those can be useful.
5. After it is dry. The ink IS water resistant and works well with watercolour.
6. Don't store these pens in a non ventilated box! Those "easy to use" grips will get sticky and slimy. Mine came in such state. It isn't a big deal, just clean them. But if you can avoid the clammy feel, I'd recommend it.
7. These Aren't refillable or rechargeable. Although I heard of people attempting to refill it.
   
   

Thanks for reading!

(Status: Enjoying my new tools of the trade)