Explanation
Rakza 7 is one of YASAKA’s high-end rubber series, Rakza series.
Speaking of contract players with YASAKA, Takuya Kami, who won the All Japan Championship second place in 2014, Mattias Falck (Sweden), who won the 2019 World Championship second place, won the World Cup four times as an advisor, and won the Athens Olympics. Ma Lin (Marin, China) is famous. There are also many contract players from Waseda University, including Fumiya Igarashi, who won the Kanto Student Championship, Asuka Sasao, who won the Junior Division of the All Japan Championship, and Yuko Kato, who won the second place in the Kanto Student Championship. Also, there are many sharp contract players with Aida Satoshi who is active in TT Saitama with a different back and forth cut man. Including when he was a student, Kami will be a player who has played an active role using both Rakza 7 and Rakza X of Non Slip Sheet reviewed on this page. Not only top players but also amateur players use Lakza 7 and Lakza X, and I think it is a very famous rubber.
The Rakza series is a very proven series, and in the olden days, the god player mentioned earlier used Rakza 7 when he won the All Japan Student Championship and Rakza X when he won the All Japan Championship runner-up. Also, in recent years, it seems that Kouma Tezuka of Meitoku Gijuku High School, who is a heterogeneous player who makes heavy use of smash, used Rakuza X when he won the championship, and Ryoichi Yoshiyama of Aikodaimeiden used Rakuza 7 when he won the All Japan Junior Championship. It is not a minor rubber, but a rubber series that even top players can get enough results!
Rakza series
The Rakza series is YASAKA’s signature tension rubber series. All Rakuza rubbers are Hybrid Energy type rubbers, which are “combined with the high grip and spin performance of high elasticity and high friction rubber, the high repulsion of tension rubber and the refreshing shot feeling”.
Similar to Butterfly’s Tenergy and Dignics series, the image of the hitting trajectory is posted on the YASAKA homepage and pamphlets. The rubber with the highest arc is the Rakza Z, which was sold in the spring of 2020. This is followed by Rakza X, Rakza 7 and Rakza 9. I think you can think of it as follows when it is compatible with the Dignix series.
Rakza Z ⇄ Dignics 09C
Rakza X ⇄ Dignics 05
Rakza 7 ⇄ Dignics 80
Rakza 9 ⇄ Dignics 64
The Rakuza Z, which will be released in the spring of 2020, is an adhesive rubber, and it is in the same classification as the Dignix 09C. Is this a coincidence, isn’t it?
If you explain the Rakuza series in detail, there are four types of Rakuza rubber, each of which is different in detail. There are two types of Rakza Z, Rakza Z and Rakza Z Extra Hard. The Rakuza X uses Non Slip Sheet (NSS) technology and is said to have a high grip that sets it apart from other Rakuza. In terms of performance values, the amount of rotation is higher for Rakuza 7 next to Rakuza Z. And the fastest in the series is Rakuza 9. Soft sponge is sold in two types, Rakuza X and Rakuza 7. The rubber series, which is very popular even though it has different parts in such small parts, is the Rakuza series.
The Rakuza 7 reviewed this time is an 80 series rubber among the butterfly rubbers, so I would like to confirm the balance and balance between rotation and speed.
Published performance values of Rakza 7
YASAKA’s signboard rubber, Mark V (Mark Five) series is also posted. I think Mark V is basically a highly elastic rubber. You can see that many tension rubbers have better rotational performance than speed, compared to high elasticity rubbers. Surprisingly, you can see that Rakuza 7 is the rubber with the highest spin performance next to the adhesive rubber among the rubbers of YASAKA. I would like to have a deep review of this area.
Rakza 7 sticking and weight
Rakza 7
Top used rubber that stably creates intense spin
Hybrid Energy
・Speed: 11
・Spin: 14
・Sponge Thickness: middle thick, thick, extra thick
・Sponge stiffness: 45 - 50°
・5,000 yen + tax
・68 g (before cut) → 49 g (after cut)I pasted it using YASAKA’s Norisuke, but I think it was considerably heavier than expected due to the weight of the rubber before cutting. Rakuza 7 may be easy to absorb the adhesive.
Three features of Rakza 7
Easy to handle!
It has the same characteristics as Super Ventus, but it was easy to handle as expected! However, I felt that it was similar and different from the ease of handling of Super Ventus and Rasanter R48. Super Ventus and R48 are easy-to-use rubbers that can easily hit high-quality balls and are easy to handle in the sense that the quality of the balls is high on average, while Lakza 7 is easy to put in anyway! It was a rubber that entered the opponent’s coat as much as this one word!
I was able to use it so naturally that I didn’t have to explore the habits of Rakuza 7. I felt that I could drive and meet by catching the ball as I expected without such a strange habit and letting the whole rubber get stuck. However, it was hard to feel that the quality of the ball was so high. In order to improve the quality of the ball, I felt the need to firmly insert each ball into the entire rubber and then fly it while rotating it firmly. Also, even if I intended to rotate it, I felt that the drop of the arc line during driving was a little weaker than that of Dignix 05 and Fastarc G-1. This area may be close to Tenrgy 80.
With outstanding ease of handling, there was no problem with the fore, of course, and I felt that it could be used well in the back! In particular, I felt that Rakuza 7 is the hardness that I feel is quite suitable for me in the sense that I can master the rubber as the hardness of the rubber for the back and that it is moderately hard.
Although it is a rubber that is easy to handle, I felt that it is not a rubber that is easy to handle but can hit a high quality ball, but a rubber that can hit a high quality ball according to the corresponding hitting method. Even if the amount of practice drops, you can apply a certain amount of rotation with the feeling of hitting the ball that you have cultivated so far, and the ball will be very stable. Therefore, at least, rather than the rubber amplifying the quality of the ball, I felt that it is a rubber that can easily express the user’s shot feeling, table tennis history and experience as it is. In other words, for a player like myself who cannot secure the amount of practice, a rubber that requires a sense of stability that will surely put in a ball of a certain quality without the delicate angle and touch cultivated by the amount of practice. I felt it was a piece. I think it’s a very good rubber!
The impression of Rakuza 7 is that the rubber that does not graduate from what I can do, ensures that I can be stable, and responds to some extent even if I swing for more power.
Less susceptible to rotation!
As it is a rubber made in Germany, I felt that it was not easily affected by rotation! I think he is not sensitive to the influence of the opponent’s rotation like the Tenergy series, but rather insensitive. Therefore, it was very easy to do all the techniques (almost all hits) that needed to cancel the opponent’s rotation by overwriting.
Chiquita and backhand drive were also very easy to do. I felt that the sponge bite well and it was easy to feel the ball holding, and it was easy to overwrite from the receive with Chiquita or backhand drive. I didn’t feel that the level of rotation and bending of the ball was so high, but I felt that the sense of stability was the most important weapon.
It was also easy to block! No matter what angle the ball was hit, it was easy to feel and feel how much it would repel, and it was easy to adjust immediately. It was easy to fish and lob.
Easy to hit speed drive!
The bite is good, so it was so easy to hit the speed drive that I could aim for the speed drive if I floated a little! Even if I let it bite in, I didn’t feel any weakness that would reach the shot feeling of the racket board, so I was able to bite in with confidence. I was able to feel the goodness of such a high-end rubber.
Each technics review
Forehand
Light hit
It wasn’t hard to hit. I felt it was easy to bite in and very easy to hit.
Drive on long balls and rallies
It was very good that both the method of rubbing with the sheet and the method of hitting it were stable! However, I think the quality is low. There is a sense of speed and stability of the ball, so I felt that I could put more pressure on the opponent.
Drive with open face
This is something I’ve always felt, but it was a very good impression! That is to say, when I used it lightly by a friend, I felt the strength of the core that I could not lose even if I took the plunge into the Rakuza 7 and the Rakuza X that I plan to try out later. The strength of this core is the image of the strength that can be taken to the drive no matter how hard it is bitten. I found it easy to drive with a very open face. It’s easy to do, so even if you drive a lot, it’s unlikely that it will be a drive beyond your imagination.
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin
This was also good! I strongly felt the grip. I think that the grain shape is easy to grip, the grain is thick and the grain spacing is narrow. However, I felt it was a little repulsive. Still, I felt that it was within the range that could be easily dealt with.
Speed drive against back spin
I wrote in the item of drive with open side, but it was very good. However, I think it’s better to let it bite in considerably, so energy is necessary.
Curve / shoot drive
Since it is not a rubber that can easily generate a large amount of rotation, I did not have the impression that it would bend significantly on curves or shoots.
Block
It was easy to do. It is inconsistent with the previous one, but I thought that it is easy to block because the sponge is hard and hard to deform when blocking, so it is not easily affected by rotation.
Counter drive
I think it’s a rubber that is easy to counter.
Stop
It didn’t spin as much as Dignics 05, but it was very easy to do. It was a pity that the amount of rotation was small, but it was easy to do because I was able to capture it firmly with the sheet.
Push
Like the stop, the amount of rotation was small, but it was not difficult to do.
Serve
It was a good impression that I was able to rotate it firmly. You can cut it! It’s a little easy to bounce, so I was worried about that, but once I got used to it, I felt that I could produce a well-cut serve.
Backhand
Light hit
There was no particular strange feeling.
Drive on long balls and rallies
Even if it was a mess, I was impressed with the drive. It’s easy to rotate. I felt that the impact would be a little insufficient, but even so, it was a rubber that I felt was quite easy to use among rubbers of the same hardness!
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin
This was also very easy to do. I will grip it! Like the Tenergy 80, it felt like it popped out before it was fully gripped, but it still gripped well!
Speed drive against back spin
This was also easy to do. I just felt a little hardness and straightness that did not draw an arc. This time I used it by pasting it on Zhang Jike ZLC, but it may not have been there. As an impression, I felt that there was a racket from YASAKA’s popular series Ma Lin series. The outer ZLC racket was a little too straight. I think that a wood-based or inner carbon-based racket that is easy to draw an arc will draw a better arc.
Curve / shoot drive
Even if you curve it, it won’t bend that much. I think the amount of rotation is weak. I think that a pretty good ball will go if you rotate it by pushing it with your wrist.
Block
It was easy to do. I think it’s because it has a good bite but a good ball holding.
Stop
Similar to the fore stop, the amount of rotation was small, but it was easy to do.
Push
Same as stop.
Chiquita
I think the amount of rotation is small, but I thought it was quite easy to do. I think stability is a weapon.
Comparison with other rubbers (personal impressions)
Spin amount (max amount)
Dignics 05 ＞ Tenergy 05 ＞ Rakza 7 ＞ Bryce Highspeed
Speed
Dignics 05 ＞ Rakza 7 ＞ Tenergy 05