Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/11/11/this-sakura-pigma-manga-pen.html
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Ordinarily, I don’t like product suggestions with affiliate links that aren’t noted as being such. But I like these pens and I like Boingboing.
The Sakura Pigma pens are just good, though I thought their combo brush set was sold as a great way to make “Manga”. This particular set is nice if you need different widths, I prefer having some color choice too, but I make and send postcards when I travel or when I am just out and about and want to share a thought with my love. (I am also a living anachronism that still uses a typewriter daily - though out of need and as an accommodation.)
Decades ago these pens, or at least anything beyond the simplest of varieties, were difficult to find. I imported some colors from Japan when after the first time I borrowed one, because my local art store didn’t have the colors or widths I wanted. I think the pens I ordered back then, came out to about $8 U.S. per pen, including shipping. This seems a good to fair price, but as always search around and if you have a local art store perhaps patronize them, but buying through an affiliate link isn’t bad for BoingBoing. (It seems to be an affiliate link with the tag = …boingboing&linkCode…" showing up in the link.
The pens really are relatively lightfast and are fairly permanent .Not on the level of Noodler’s Bulletproof inks <small)link is the Noodler’s classification system).
I have years of ink tests on watercolor cards and various papers. If I can find some tests from days of yore, I’ll post a photo. From memory the inks look good 20+ years later, or at least the following colors that I more regularly use- black, siepa, dark red, brown, light brown and blue. The blue-black by my memory has changed over time. Either in my memory or in it’s formulation.
I almost always carry around a set of these pens, but in different colors. They have survived being borrowed for entire weddings, so I can attest that they hold up to abuse and lasting quite a while.
Sadly, they can’t be refilled unlike the Copic Pens link is to their website. They seem to last a long time, and least in my experience. They tend to loose their markings long before they run or dry out.
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I second that these are good pens. If you do any really fine pen and ink work, the 0.005 micron is fantastic.
(and a definite plus plus plus on the Noodler’s inks as well. The “bulletproof” polar black eel flows quite nicely out of an EF nib.)
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Amazon has a good prices for everything. #amazon4life
Sakura Pigma are fantastic pens. 
I’ve switched to pentel recently for my fineline pens, but the sakura IDenti pen dual tip is still a must in all my carry art bags.
same, i remember those days. there weren’t many options then and these were far superior to anything else at the time. now these are much easier to find and there are a number of equally good choices. we are lucky to have such options. 
i could talk permanence, uv resistance, transience, dye vs pigment, optical properties, etc. all day. first thing i do with any new pen is set a stripe on the window exposure card, and set a stripe to test after drying against water/alcohol/acetone solvency, etc. most this stuff can be looked up these days, but old habits…heh.
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Honestly I don’t work for JetPens, but they’re a small business and offer far more, and often at competitive or BETTER prices than Amazon. Plus: they’re a small business that invests heavily in reviews and tests of the products they sell-- it’s almost as good as buying in person. Oh, and did I mention that they’re a small business? JetPens.com
That said I switched years ago from Sakura landfill multiliners to Copic’s excellent multiliner SP series: the nibs and ink cartridges are replaceable and it’s all housed in a sharp-looking metal barrel. Light fast, waterproof, alcohol-marker proof.
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