Review | Uni Kuru Toga Dive: Everything is here.
With the release of a brand new Aurora Purple, let's take a look at the most expensive mechanical pencil released by Uni: The Kuru Toga Dive.
Overview
Overview
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| MSRP | ¥5500 |
| Weight | 22g |
| Body Material | Plastic |
| Clip Material | Aluminum |
| Removable Clip | No |
| Grip Material | Rubber Composite |
| Knurled Grip | No |
| Tip Material | Aluminum |
| Retractable Tip | No |
| Lead Jam Rod | No |
| Removable Eraser | Yes |
| Lead Advancement | Top Button, and Automatic |
| Lead Indicator | No |
| Lead Sizes | 0.5 |
| Grip - Pipe Distance | 2.2 cm |
| Body Length | 14.7/15 cm (capped/uncapped) |
Design
Lead Cap
The main difference between the Kuru Toga Dive and other mechanical pencils is the fountain pen like cap. Almost everytime I've shown someone this pencil, they ask me if it is even a pencil.
Some pencils have retractable lead pipes to protect the pipe, but the Dive's lead cap solves both this problem and another: having to advance a little bit of lead everytime you want to start using the pencil.
It's somewhat redundant, but everytime you uncap the pencil, if no lead has been advanced, the action of pulling the cap off will advance a small amount of lead. This also means you can store the pencil with lead advanced and not worry about it breaking.
The reason I say its redundant is because the action of taking the lead cap off and needing to advance a little lead everytime you pick up your pencil is about the same, but while you may need to fiddle with the amount of lead you'd like to advance before writing, uncapping the Kuru Toga Dive will get you the perfect amount, everytime. It's much smoother.
Lastly, the little black knob on the top of the cap appears removable, but when twisted just shifts back and forth slightly. Not the best build quality, but not really noticeable either.
Grip
The Kuru Toga Dive has a dissapointingly uncomfortable grip. Being made from some combination of rubber and plastic, it's rather stiff and being 1 cm wide, its comfort is not not comprable to other grips that Uni has made, the Alpha Gel in particular.
There are three flat edges spaced out equally around the rounded edges of the Dive, preventing it from rolling around on a table and adding some soft corners to what would otherwise be a perfectly round pencil. These serve as both functional and aesthetically pleasing additions.
Considering that the grip feels almost the same as the rest of the pencil's plastic, choking up on the pencil does not make a big difference to me. It's not that comfortable either way, but I wouldn't say it's actively uncomfortable.
| Maximum | Minimum |
|---|---|
 |  |
Lead Pipe & Auto-Lead Advancement
Images courtesy of Mitsubishi Pencil Uni: mpuni.co.jp
The lead pipe on the Kuru Toga Dive is actually one of its key features. When you begin to run out of lead, it will automatically advance the lead by a specific amount determined by a dial where the pipe meets the pencil.
In the images above, you can see the difference in length the lead pipe extends out between the minimum and maximum setting. There are 5 total settings, MIN, MID, and MAX, with two settings between the three.
The lead pipe gradually recedes inwards with use along with the lead, and automatically advances once you press around ~400 times, advancing more lead in the process. This causes some disorientation as the tip of the pencil extends out a bit farther than when you were initially writing, and can lead you to snapping the lead with the mismatch of where you thought the lead was and where it suddenly is now. Even with this issue however, I think the lead advancement is excellent because the lead almost never reaches the end of the lead pipe in order for it to advance, unlike the Pilot S30 and Pentel Orenz Nero series.
You can see the internal mechanism in the first image, where after a certain number of presses the lead is advanced. This of course works in conjunction with the Kuru Toga mechanism, as I will mention later.
I personally keep the setting at MID, at least while I'm using Kuru Toga HB Lead. If I were to use B lead, I may consider increasing it by one or to MAX. The MIN setting is definitely not enough, but I do press down rather hard.
There are no issues with visibility, especially since the lead pipe sticks out so far. You can always see what you are writing.
Clip
The clips is decently tight, and despite it being so thin, feels rather sturdy. I wouldn't push it too hard though, it seems like it's just aluminimum so any excessive force will definitely cause some bending. I wouldn't clip it in my jacket pocket.
Cap and Eraser
The eraser cap almost never needs to be removed, and the action of capping the lead cap over it almost defeats the purpose of having a convenient eraser on your mechanical pencil.
The eraser itself is nothing special, it's just the same one found in nearly all of Uni's mechanical pencils.
The cap is harder to remove than most Uni Pencils, but that means its more secure. Advancing lead is actually quite satisfying, but the whole point of this pencil is that you don't need to do so.
Kuru Toga
This is a special section I only give to Kuru Toga pencils (obviously), and despite what it may seem like on the surface, no two Kuru Toga engines are truly the same.
To give a brief summary for those that don't know, the Kuru Toga mechanism spins the lead of the pencil with each press onto the paper, preventing it from ever becoming uneven. No matter what pencil you use, mechanical or not, if you continuously write at a certain angle, the lead will flatten, making your lines wider, and if you even slightly rotate the pencil the line will become incredibly thin again. The Kuru Toga mechanism just makes this process automatic, preventing any jarring changes in line thickness when writing.
"Kuru" means to spin, and "Toga" means to sharpen. This mechanism is arguably the best innovation in mechanical pencil history, but there are some detractors. The original mechanism (I will expand more in a second) has an issue where when pressing down, the lead pipe will move a little bit. It's not much, but can definitely mess with people who aren't used to it. However, I think this problem has been solved:
An observation I've made is that since the Kuru Toga Switch and Alpha Gel, the mechanism itself has been moved further away from the tip. While this seems counter-intuitive to the "vibration" problem, it actually provides a noticeable improvement in terms of how shaky the lead tip feels when writing. This has been a common complaint about the Kuru Toga mechanism, but it's much less of an issue with the KS, Dive, Switch, and Alpha Gel.
In the following marketing material from Uni, you can see the difference:
| Old | New |
|---|---|
 |  |
On the website of the Kuru Toga KS, the following is said:
「もっと集中」ブレを抑えた新エンジン：ペン先の動きを最大限抑えた新エンジンに進化しました。筆記時に動きを感じにくいため、より書きやすく「もっと集中」できます。
This roughly translates to:
New engine with less shaking: the new engine has evolved to minimise the movement of the pen nib. The new engine makes it easier to write and more concentrated, as you are less likely to feel movement when writing.
While this is about the Kuru Toga KS, Uni has been using this mechanism for their new pencils for a while now, and it is such a huge improvement I might argue that all past mechanisms are obselete. Taking into account the fact that the Kuru Toga KS is meant to be the new "base model" of the Kuru Toga line, I would say Uni agrees.
Build Quality and Feel
The Kuru Toga Dive, while all plastic, has one of the best build qualities in a pencil I've ever felt. I personally have the glossy Abyss Blue color, but I've also seen the matte Dense Green color which I actually like a bit more.
Uncapping the pencil feels incredibly satisfying, and the magnet connecting it to both the front and the back end is solid, making attaching it to the back and recapping the pencil equally satisfying.
The weight of the Dive when the cap is attached onto the back gives it a high center of weight, making it very different from most other pencils. It makes no difference to me, but others have complained about this affecting their writing.
Despite this, There's still a feeling of premium quality and reliability when writing, and the fact that I never have to advance lead makes it so you can truly "dive" into writing (at least that's what Uni's marketing tells us).
Price
For those in the U.S., it seems like the only option is to get the Kuru Toga Dive from scalpers and resellers. Being a limited run pencil, even the "standard" three colors of Twilight Orange, Deep Blue, and Dense Green can cost upwards of $80. For the even more limited colors Cascade Blue, Moonlight Blue, and the original Grand Blue, I've seen for around $250.
For those in Japan, it's still almost impossible to find. In June of 2023, I got extremely lucky I was able to find a specialty stationery store that had restocked it off of an Instagram post. Even then, each store is only allocated 6, 2 of each of the main 3 colors. I'm unsure how the new Aurora Purple will fit into this, but possible just adding on and making it 8 per store. I was able to purchase two of them, each for MSRP at ¥5500, although it was two seperate occassions since its only one per customer.
I was dissapointed several times at the famous Itoya in Ginza because they had so many people coming in and asking when they were restocking. This pencil is very hard to find. If you are in Japan, I highly recommend you scour Twitter and Instagram or even Facebook, especially for small local Stationery stores that post regular updates.
Fun!
The Uni Kuru Toga Dive is the perfect representation of what makes Japanese Stationery so special.
Japanese stationery is always at the forefront of stationery "innovation". With new features coming out nearly every year, practical or not, companies like Uni, Pentel, Zebra, and Pilot continuously try to solve problems that may or may not exist already with the stationery experience.
The Kuru Toga Dive encapsulates this perfectly with its clearly overengineered set of features. Nobody asked for a pencil that has both the Kuru Toga engine and auto-advancing lead, yet Uni went and made it. Not only that, the lead advancement is adjustable, better than the competition, all packed in a sleek and beautiful design.
Surprisingly, the fact that the pencil needs to be capped and uncapped is quite rare, which only adds to the Dive's now iconic design language.
Practical or not, the Kuru Toga Dive is the most fun pencil I have ever owned, making it a plus that it's also actually rather functional.
Conclusion
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Excellent Build Quality | Full Plastic Build |
| Best Auto-Lead Advancing Mechanism | Large Gap from Tip to Grip |
| Excellent Kuru Toga | Tiny Eraser |
| Lead Pipe is protected | Not Well-Balanced |
| Really Cool! | Mediocre Grip |
| Expensive AND Rare |
Verdict
The Uni Kuru Toga Dive is my favorite pencil, and my daily driver.
On the surface, the seemingly over-engineered feature-set of the Dive and expensive price tag make it a very hard sell. Even if you did want it, it's actually quite hard to get your hands on. So, why do I like it so much?
No, it's not the sunk cost fallacy (I hope).
Sure, you technically don't need a fully customizable auto-lead advancing Kuru Toga mechanism in your pencil. The capping mechanism is arguably unnecessary and kind of annoying to need to do. The relatively mediocre handling while writing is easily outclassed by countless others.
Despite all of this, writing with the Dive is subjectively the best experience I've ever had with a pencil. I can write entire pages of notes without needing to even think about the lead, and the satisfying click of the cap makes me feel like I'm about to get a bunch of work done.
It's entirely subjective, but I believe this pencil is 100% worth it for anyone who likes stationery.
The best way I could describe the way I view the Kuru Toga Dive is that it's similar to a folding smartphone. Over-engineered and overpriced, but it is pretty damn cool to have and you will get use out of its "unnecessary" feature-set. It's also just different enough where people will ask you, "what is that?", although I don't really see that as a pro.
If you want my practical, objective verdict, the Kuru-Toga Switch and Alpha-Gel are more comfortable, and have the same "upgraded" Kuru Toga mechanisms as the Dive. You won't get the objectively very good auto-lead advancement, but that is an over-engineered feature that nobody needs.
Normally, for most people, I recommend the Kuru Toga KS, as it's simple, cheap, and reliable.
Ultimately, the Kuru-Toga Dive is a bit of a novelty, and although I can't argue that it's "ahead of its time" (I mean it's a damn pencil), I do find its features practical, albeit excessive. Basically, I don't see myself switching to another pencil anytime soon, but I can't make an argument for the average person to buy it.