So helpful! I just purchased my first hobinichi yesterday and wondered if my pens would work. I am thinking the clena might be worth trying. Thank you, Annie!
I'm gonna have to do my own pen/marker testing, as I use markers like Crayola, Stabilo and some random ones where the brand isn't 'well-known' online but was bought from a nearby stationary store. Will use the last note page to do that like you did, I do am glad I can use my Uni Jetstream ballpoint pen, as a lefty I HATE gellpens and I am not interested in fountain pens like the majority of Hobonichi people write with XD
Interesting video. I only use a .05 gel in my Cousin and Sterling Ink TN and I am ok waiting a second to dry or blot. I do not like writing with thinner nib.....tp scratchy. Happy Planning.
As for watercolor, I let go of Hobonichi because I do illustrate my days in my journals. I have always loved how watercolor behaves on Tomoe River paper! Sanzen paper is very different with watercolor. The paint does not “dance” across the paper like it did with Tomoe River paper. But, the biggest issue for me was that after painting in the old hobonichis, yes, the wet would make the pages buckle, but once dried and the book was closed, the pages would flatten out nicely and felt soft to the touch. Lovely! With the Sanzen paper, the buckling was horrific and once dry, book closed…. Pages remained buckled and felt “crunchy” and looked splotchy! I just could not enjoy my journaling style in Hobonichi after this change. I tried multiple Hobonichi books, with Sanzen. All were a hard no for me. Many will be fine with Sanzen paper if they find their favorite pens! I enjoyed writing with a fountain pen with Platinum Carbon waterproof ink. Never an issue until Sanzen paper. Sadly, it bled through. So, for me, it was either change my journaling style altogether and let go of the materials that bring me most joy to use daily…. Or, find a new journal/book. I chose the ladder. Thank you for this video!
Thank you for the comparisons! I am a first time hobo user for 2025 and did a little stamping in my cousin. Even with light inking of the stamp I had a little bleedthrough. 😢 I would love a watercolor test video!
They bleed too! I got the bad batch I think. I tested a lot of pens and highlighters yesterday and many of them had bleed through. If Hobonichi doesn't do something to address this, I am not getting one for 2026. 😭
@@NonprofitAce The chalk ink bleeds? I've been a TRP user since 2017. I have more notebooks and paper types than I care to admit. I've never had Chalk ink bleed. I would contact Hobonchi. If I received a package direct from any company that is defective, I would be upset too.
@@NonprofitAce No worries! There are others that say the Soramame ink pads work for them. If you are not happy with the Hobonchi, please don't feel like you need to prove it in any way. There are so many other companies that offer great products. If you have any questions about other planners, journals, etc I will gladly share my experiences.
It’s really frustrating that there’s such inconsistency given how expensive it is. I’ve seen worse ghosting and bleeding with highlighters from other people posting on Reddit and that’s what’s putting me off ordering. I highlight a lot so I’d be crushed if I couldn’t in my planner after shelling $60.
I also love reading my Bibles I have a world Bible school study edition Bible and a catholic life Bible and a children Bible as well and 2 mini Bibles can I write in them with a regular pencil ❤
My big problem as been with fountain pens. Complete bleed-through, mostly with my 5 year. There was solid bleed-through, not just spots where the ink pooled. Which is super disappointing, as I will have that for 5 years, and I also bought one as a gift for my son, who got me into fountain pens in the first place...
And it’s odd because I have zero bleed through with my fountain pens - from cheap to expensive. But I’ve seen some truly horrendous examples from others
@@elsbells4841 The inconsistency of this year's release of Hobonchi isn't due to TRP-S being "bad" paper. It's because there has been a few bad batches of the TRP-S released. It's not just hobonchi that received the "bad" batches, some other brands of Notebooks and planners have as well. If anyone does want to go down the rabbit hole of Tomoe River Paper it's very interesting. Most pre-pandemic fountain pen users could even tell the difference between the specific machine number that made the paper they were using.
I actually use a lot of TR S paper (I’ve tested PTD, T&P, Midori Hibino, SI, Hobonichi) , even have some blank TR S inserts for my rings planners. The Sanzen paper seems to have more tooth to it than the paper used in the ‘23 (and previous - my experience dates back to ‘14 Techos) Tomoegawa editions., although I personally find the Hobonichi ‘24 and ‘25 to be smoother to write on, with inks drying faster - which seems to point at the inks being soaked up quicker than with the old paper. Annie’s test on smudging seems to supports this theory, too. There have been many comparisons between Sanzen and Tomoegawa and in most of them the bleedthrough appears more pronounced on the Sanzen paper, so for now, like Annie, I’ll stick to my less-saturated pens and markers - and keep my fingers crossed! I’ll probably test out my Karin markers (the wettest ones I have) and my less-consistent fountain pen inks on one of the empty daily pages soon though. Just because I’m curious like that 😅
Definitely want to see a watercolor test!! I paint in my planners!!
not even 20 seconds into the vid and i had to make a comment. Not the paper comparison to diddy!!! LMAO
🤣
I use the Uni Style Fit .38 black. It rights beautifully and it fits in the graph squares.
So helpful! I just purchased my first hobinichi yesterday and wondered if my pens would work. I am thinking the clena might be worth trying. Thank you, Annie!
I'm gonna have to do my own pen/marker testing, as I use markers like Crayola, Stabilo and some random ones where the brand isn't 'well-known' online but was bought from a nearby stationary store. Will use the last note page to do that like you did, I do am glad I can use my Uni Jetstream ballpoint pen, as a lefty I HATE gellpens and I am not interested in fountain pens like the majority of Hobonichi people write with XD
Interesting video. I only use a .05 gel in my Cousin and Sterling Ink TN and I am ok waiting a second to dry or blot. I do not like writing with thinner nib.....tp scratchy. Happy Planning.
I use the .5 and .4. Both perform so well! Energels
I just realized my normal pen bled thru my 2025 SI Common planner when I set up the Dec 24 monthly page……and that led me here.
As for watercolor, I let go of Hobonichi because I do illustrate my days in my journals. I have always loved how watercolor behaves on Tomoe River paper! Sanzen paper is very different with watercolor. The paint does not “dance” across the paper like it did with Tomoe River paper. But, the biggest issue for me was that after painting in the old hobonichis, yes, the wet would make the pages buckle, but once dried and the book was closed, the pages would flatten out nicely and felt soft to the touch. Lovely!
With the Sanzen paper, the buckling was horrific and once dry, book closed…. Pages remained buckled and felt “crunchy” and looked splotchy! I just could not enjoy my journaling style in Hobonichi after this change. I tried multiple Hobonichi books, with Sanzen. All were a hard no for me.
Many will be fine with Sanzen paper if they find their favorite pens! I enjoyed writing with a fountain pen with Platinum Carbon waterproof ink. Never an issue until Sanzen paper. Sadly, it bled through. So, for me, it was either change my journaling style altogether and let go of the materials that bring me most joy to use daily…. Or, find a new journal/book. I chose the ladder.
Thank you for this video!
Hmmm be quick & light handed? I’m thinking fountain pens would be another story. Thanks for your time!
I love the flower covers, where did you get them?
These are the Liberty Fabrics Hobonichis for 2025, linked in the description box 🥰
@PlanningAnnie thank you
Thank you for the comparisons! I am a first time hobo user for 2025 and did a little stamping in my cousin. Even with light inking of the stamp I had a little bleedthrough. 😢
I would love a watercolor test video!
Chalk ink pads work great on TRP. I use the Versa Magic Dew Drops.
They bleed too! I got the bad batch I think. I tested a lot of pens and highlighters yesterday and many of them had bleed through. If Hobonichi doesn't do something to address this, I am not getting one for 2026. 😭
@@NonprofitAce The chalk ink bleeds? I've been a TRP user since 2017. I have more notebooks and paper types than I care to admit. I've never had Chalk ink bleed. I would contact Hobonchi. If I received a package direct from any company that is defective, I would be upset too.
@@hkm424 My mistake, the dew drop ink does not bleed, but the VersaCraft Soramame (also by Tsukineko) inks do bleed.
@@NonprofitAce No worries! There are others that say the Soramame ink pads work for them. If you are not happy with the Hobonchi, please don't feel like you need to prove it in any way. There are so many other companies that offer great products. If you have any questions about other planners, journals, etc I will gladly share my experiences.
Great video
It’s really frustrating that there’s such inconsistency given how expensive it is. I’ve seen worse ghosting and bleeding with highlighters from other people posting on Reddit and that’s what’s putting me off ordering. I highlight a lot so I’d be crushed if I couldn’t in my planner after shelling $60.
Interesting video
I also love reading my Bibles I have a world Bible school study edition Bible and a catholic life Bible and a children Bible as well and 2 mini Bibles can I write in them with a regular pencil ❤
My big problem as been with fountain pens. Complete bleed-through, mostly with my 5 year. There was solid bleed-through, not just spots where the ink pooled. Which is super disappointing, as I will have that for 5 years, and I also bought one as a gift for my son, who got me into fountain pens in the first place...
There have been so many people that ended up with the bad batch of paper in their 5yr notebooks. I'm sorry that happened to you.
And it’s odd because I have zero bleed through with my fountain pens - from cheap to expensive. But I’ve seen some truly horrendous examples from others
@@elsbells4841 The inconsistency of this year's release of Hobonchi isn't due to TRP-S being "bad" paper. It's because there has been a few bad batches of the TRP-S released. It's not just hobonchi that received the "bad" batches, some other brands of Notebooks and planners have as well.
If anyone does want to go down the rabbit hole of Tomoe River Paper it's very interesting. Most pre-pandemic fountain pen users could even tell the difference between the specific machine number that made the paper they were using.
I actually use a lot of TR S paper (I’ve tested PTD, T&P, Midori Hibino, SI, Hobonichi) , even have some blank TR S inserts for my rings planners. The Sanzen paper seems to have more tooth to it than the paper used in the ‘23 (and previous - my experience dates back to ‘14 Techos) Tomoegawa editions., although I personally find the Hobonichi ‘24 and ‘25 to be smoother to write on, with inks drying faster - which seems to point at the inks being soaked up quicker than with the old paper. Annie’s test on smudging seems to supports this theory, too. There have been many comparisons between Sanzen and Tomoegawa and in most of them the bleedthrough appears more pronounced on the Sanzen paper, so for now, like Annie, I’ll stick to my less-saturated pens and markers - and keep my fingers crossed! I’ll probably test out my Karin markers (the wettest ones I have) and my less-consistent fountain pen inks on one of the empty daily pages soon though. Just because I’m curious like that 😅
@@hkm424 Thank you!
I don't need much from a paper planner so I only wanted a hobonichi because of the FOMO created by social media.