Thanks again to Ron and the folks at Pen Chalet for sending this bottle of Sailor Souten over for review. Souten is the "replacement" for the now-discontinued Sailor Sky High, the light blue ink that everybody loved and now mourns. Well, I'm here to tell you that for most people, Souten will be a perfectly satisfactory replacement, but those who loved Sky High for the "red sheen" it left as it dried might be disappointed. Some of the sheen remains with Souten, but it's more subtle. Personally, I'm agnostic on this issue.
What you have with Souten is a very well-behaved, bright mid-range blue. I've seen some reviewers describe this ink as too light for daily use, and even washed-out. I did not find this to be the case in any way whatsoever. It's similar to Iroshizuku Kon-Peki, but cheaper (even with the new pricing from Sailor) and doesn't feather and bleed as much. You can see from the writing sample below that I really layered the ink down on Rhodia (which is high quality, but will feather and bleed in extreme cases), and did not see a bit of bleed-through.
A comparison with Miruai and Yama-Dori, great colors all around.
This scan is a pretty faithful reproduction of the colors shown above, but as with most scans, the colors probably "pop" more in real life. The photos below capture that.
Pen Chalet carries the full line of Sailor Ink and Pens. In the interest of full disclosure, I received this ink free of charge for review purposes.