This thing feels and so works exceptionally well. The balance is right. It's good and rigid for spatchcocking chickens. The handle feels just right. I'm very happy with this knife. I can't say how well it sharpens because I haven't done that yet. I love it, highly recommended.
These are great knives at the price. They're well balanced (heavy-ish), and the steel is of a good quality, that holds an edge well. You need to be able to sharpen your own knives to get the best value from something like this, but they're a top notch budget option.
Had no trouble with easy to cut foods like mushrooms, but this thing had a hard time pushing through an apple. Kinda lame for a so called Japanese knife. It's edges don't even seem to show very much. I'd pretty much give it a 2.5 stars.