Hey I'm looking to buy a normal sized ken that's reasonably heavy, slays lunars, and is overall a great shape for everything. Any ideas?
Sounds like a good idea but is the 2.0 a normal sized ken? Cuz I thought it had like bigger cups and everything
2.0 Is larger. You could try some of the original kaizens, as far as weight goes that's luck of the draw, good luck!
The 2.0 is standard size. The cups are just slightly larger than the original Kaizens, but not nearly as big as the Pops or Sweets Primes. The Kaizen 2.0 shape is basically an updated Ozora shape, so they are a great choice to go with.
If you're not wanting a kendama with bigger cups and stuff, whether the ken is good at lunar or not will mostly be based on luck. The GT-E1 is a really good standard sized kendama, and the swoop makes it more likely that the ken will have good lunar balance since it takes weight off of the base cup (or at least that's what I've heard). It's not particularly heavy or light though, so maybe it's not the best one to get :/
Wait Kaizen 2.0s are the standard size w/ bigger cups. The only Kaizen that isn't standard size is the Craft+.
i'm a little curious as to what you mean when you say "normal sized" ken. A lot of the kendamas on the market are normal sized, but they have big cups. For example, the Primes from Sweets and the Pops from Krom are all standard sized kendamas, but they just have big cups. It's not like the Craft Shift or the Slaydawgs where all of the dimensions are a small percentage larger than standard sized. So when you say normal sized, does that mean something like an Ozora where it's standard sized but doesn't have big cups? If so, I think out of all the kendamas on the market, the closest thing would be either a kaizen 2.0 or GT-E1. They're both standard sized but don't have cups as large as the Pops or Primes. I like the GT-E1 over Kaizen 2.0s just because I'm used to the swoop and because all of the ones I've played slap lunars well. Mine have been decent weights ranging from high 60s to mid 70s as well
Yeah that's what I meant, sorry for getting you a little confused. I just thought that kens with bigger cups, thinner spikes, and overall a different look and feel than a normal ken such as Ozoras, Kaizens, and other brands alike were not "normal". And thanks for the advice! I'll see if I can get one on my hands on one of those because I've heard and seen the hype in those shapes and I've been dying to try something new
All good! I can see the argument in why anything that isn't similar specs to JKA would be considered "not normal." Since the JKA still require their kendamas to be used in certain competitions, one could make the argument that any other kendama without the sticker of certification isn't "normal." And in a way, I guess it isn't. I mean there's all these new paints and shapes to help players progress faster. If kendama were like a pure sport, these things would probably not be considered normal, kinda like how you can't hit with a certainty type of bat in baseball because it gives an advantage.