Though I’m a fan of the colour blue, I tend to shy away from blue inks, since they tend to be boring. That’s why I wouldn’t have splurged on a (pretty expensive) bottle of Pilot Iroshizuku Asa Gao myself – I got it as a gift with a pen purchase a few years ago.

Online pictures of this ink tend to give it a more purplish tint than it actually has. In reality it’s a slightly dark cobalt blue. It scanned a bit lighter than it looks like on the page:

Here it is in natural light, for a bit of reference (this is bit darker than it actually is):

This is the pen I used for this review, a medium nib Pelikan M620 Place de la Concorde:

There’s some red sheen to it, but you’ll probably only see it on Tomoe River Paper, and then only if you look closely. The shading is a little less subtle, but not by much. You’ll see a bit of it using medium nibs and broader, again, particularly on Tomoe River Paper. It’s a “dirty little secret” ink – the kind that looks pedestrian to all but the knowledgable observer. A fun way to put a zing into office work, as it is totally appropriate for office writing.

As usual with Pilot Iroshizuku inks, the bottle and packaging is gorgeous, the ink is well behaved enough for vintage pens, and it cleans out pretty easily without staining. A good choice for a demonstrator pen, if you’re looking for something that will fly under the radar.