i know several people who have the Masonobu either in gyuto or suji, they seem solid, stiff and well built. over priced IMO. VG-10 is pretty good but there are a lot of other stainless tool steels out there that will knock it down. Any of the Konosuke will do better for about 1/2 the price. and the R!chm0nd series probably does well too. the Seki's seem to get good reviews too. for a price increase there are a lot of custom options if your willing to go to 500$ Fowler makes some awesome suji's and so does Carter. dont be concerned with the rectivity even though they say its carbon. Carters wont patina for the most part and my Fowler in W2 has never patinad after a couple months of protiene work.