After AKARI, KAZEMI, what can we expect from the HANA? (GLSSWRKS)

After AKARI, KAZEMI, what can we expect from the HANA? (GLSSWRKS)

With the release of the Hana coming up soon let's go back and talk about GLSSWRKS past releases and also what we expect from the Hana

GLSSWRKS is launching pre orders for the Hana on November 5th and this will be their third release with the Kazemi and Akari being released earlier this year.

AKARI made its entry to the glass mousepad market with a statement. GLSSWRK’s first project is a combination of the founders love for performance driven peripherals, and also their love and good eye for breathtaking illustrations that breath with character.

Released at a time when the market was oversaturated with overexposed, underdressed anime girls with no persona. AKARI stood out. AKARI was pretty, sexy, sexy in the way you would want to show off to your friend who walks into your room. She’s sexy and tasteful, something you won’t be embarrassed by, something that won’t make your mom cringe with feelings of regret when she walks in on your gaming session.

The colors truly pop, and the Orange dominated theme set the stage of what’s to come. The frontal view hasn’t been applied this well in recent memories on any media forms. The direct and symmetrical perspective perfectly captures AKARI’s neutral beauty.

From a performance point of view, GLSSWRKS truly understood what the market needed, what the enthusiasts wanted. The pad screams quality. From the surface to the base and edges, AKARI ticked all the boxes at the time, either matching or more often exceeding their competitors.

The glide is buttery smooth, with a bit more control than its direct competitors. Don’t get it twisted though, the AKARI is still really fast! For someone who comes straight from cloth, it took me 2-3 weeks to adapt a aim and grip style that allowed me to somewhat do decently well on flick based characters in OW2 like Cassidy.

Tracking is a godsend. We found that the target audience for the AKARI is definitely people who play arena shooters and fast paced games like Apex Legends. Dynamic Direction switching during tracking in fast movement games like Apex Legends can be quite daunting for people who mostly play Tac Shooters, but the AKARI can make that very manageable and smooth out the transition for any CSGO and Valorant veteran.

As an average glass enjoyer, We love the AKARI. However, this next one we would definitely recommend for someone who’s looking for a more balanced, controlled experience on a glass pad.

The Kazemi came in two sizes a 490x420mm size and a 500x500 that was more limited. There were also two color options the blue one and the more muted monochrome version that was super limited as well

Just like the Akari the quality on the Kazemi is excellent which is to be expect for a premium feeling glass pad released in 2024. Has the premium silicone backing so things like flexing or warping isn’t an issue at all on both of these pads. It also acts like a protector for the very high quality and shape design that really pops. And of course it helps the pad from not sliding around on your desk.

To be expected with GLSSWRKS products the designs on these pads are really well done in our opinion. Good use of color and a design that isn’t too overbearing and can fit easily into anyone’s setup.

In my opinion the Kazemi is one of the few pads that feels manageable and I can instantly play at my best with it. While yes it’s still a fast glass pad with a very low point of friction, it still feels really manageable and balanced. Has a nice locked in feeling that doesn’t make the pad feel like an air hockey table and uncontrollable. Has a nice scene of control that makes the feel less slippery and less like you don’t have control over your mouse. While the Akari has a bit more speed and feels a bit more slippery catering to a more speedy surface overall.

One of the very few glass mousepads I can just pick up and continue to perform at my best at with. Loved this mousepad for games like Overwatch, I can utilize characters like Widow Maker that takes more control when aiming and then I can switch over to someone that is more tracking based with faster paced movement like Soldier 76 and still perform really well.

Compared to a lot of the other mousepads the Kazemi is buttery smooth and doesn’t collect dust like the Akari did.

While it is a glass pad you do tend to run into humidity issues causing your skin to stick to the pad, the Kazemi had less of that effect when compared to the other glass mousepad offerings.

So what’s next for GLSSWRKS and what can we expect from their upcoming glass pad release named, Hana.

GLSSWRKS is really good at providing people with mousepads that feel different with a design that pops from the rest of the mousepads. The use of colors on the pads is done really well as well and it has a good contrast of color that doesn’t make the pad overwhelming/overbearing.

With the design of Hana, GLSSWRKS managed to once again surprise and shock our expectations! Kazemi’s design went in a more “anime” direction, however with the Hana, GLSSWRKS opted to dial it back, I would say as far back as surpassing AKARI in realism. 

Tekkusi(Owner of GLSSWRKS) gave HANA that perfect head tilt angle, not only did he finally achieve true balance on a performance level, Tekkusi did the unimaginable. He’s masterfuly balanced that fine line between remaining mom-friendly and HANA-001.

A member of Potent Gaming had the chance to see HANA up close and he was surprised, very surprised at the image quality boost over the Kazemi. While Kazemi was a great improvement over the AKARI for color separation, HANA excels over the Kazemi in sheer clarity.

When comparing the Kazemi and AKARI’s image quality, it’s easy to focus on small details like the font, details in the hair for both heroines. However, for the HANA, the clarity/quality boost is just much easier to spot. GLSSWKRS definitely went all the way and made no compromises for this design.

One concern we have so far regarding the limited information we have for the HANA is the question: “what exactly is Japanese Glass, and how does it boost performance”? Like everyone else, we eagerly anticipate more details surrounding this special mystery glass as the release date approaches.

 POTENT | SNEKXS

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