I like to beat dead horses, so we’re going to induct a yoyo into the S tier today by showering even more praise onto a throw that already has quite a cult following. The Panorama is a yoyo that I would describe as… the best kitchen yoyo ever created? For those out of the loop, a kitchen yoyo (or other …room/location themed yoyos) is the yoyo you just… permanently have stationed in your kitchen, ready to go whenever you need it. I’ll admit it took me a bit to actually get my hands on a Panorama. When it was released, I was initially put off by the low weight and high walls, however after seeing a number of throwers sing praise for the it, I grabbed one. When I first picked it up, I… didn’t fall in love, but just like any great relationship, you come clawing back… repeatedly… (ever heard the argument, “if it was sh** would I be eating it?”) Now it’s either in my hand or out and easily accessible, it’s just that good! I think it’s probably the best high walled yoyo I’ve thrown, and there’s definitely some stiff competition in this area. Some other personal standouts include the mowl High Wall, TRT Isthmus, OD/SC Sudo, OD Diorama, and I have been meaning to pick up a YYR Gopa.
To describe how it plays, I… think you should just watch Tsukasa Takatsu throw it for a minute, he’ll do it way more justice than my words:
So, who is this yoyo for? When ‘evaluating’ a yoyo, I always like to think about the motivation behind the design, and the Panorama is one of the most interesting cases of this to me. If you don’t know Tsukasa Takatsu, he has been one of my favorite yoyo players for years, and coincidentally happens to be the person responsible for the design of the Panorama, Diorama, and YYR Gopa. His philosophy on yoyo is very interesting, since Tsukasa largely focuses on more simple tricks and repeaters and bringing out the depth and beauty in them. The following is a quote from an interview he did with Doc Pop when asked about why repeaters:
Until around 2014, my string was longer, with more of a focus on longer, dense tricks( combos), but I gradually became intrigued by the actual depth of the simpler tricks. Repeater tricks in particular I have felt a similar artistic beauty like found in Japanese Haiku poetry. This really made me want to explore and pursue these types of tricks more thoroughly. I believe it is the simplicity and in a way the structural restrictions that could show the beauty within both the trick construction and the flow even more so.
You can read the whole interview here (for free!), highly recommended: https://www.patreon.com/posts/56349530
After knowing this, my perspective on the Panorama changed a little bit, rather than just being a fun and floaty yoyo, the Panorama over the years has evolved into a yoyo that rewards consistency and artistry by simply being as controllable as possible. The true genius of this throw to me is that it accomplishes all of this while actually being quite forgiving as opposed to other high wall throws. So, if you have bought into any of these ideas so far, you probably will really enjoy the Panorama! I would say the other sticking point for this throw is just the string feel, it’s very unique. You definitely get some heft on the end of the string, but sometimes you’ll forget it’s there when it’s gliding around.
To address any incoming questions from the collectors, yes the Panorama stands apart from the Parlay, the Sudo, and the Diorama. I think it’s my personal favorite out of them, though the Sudo is very close. The Panorama just has a level of float and “feel good” that’s impossible to quantify or communicate with text. Diving into some more specifics, I personally found Ultra Lights to be the only side effect I liked on the Panorama. Legos were okay, but anything heavier than that gave the Panorama a bit too much weight for my liking and tended to hurt the stability of the yoyo. I think the heaviest I could recommend is mini-spikes, you’ll find that side effects have a much more drastic effect on the Panorama than a lot of other OD throws. I really like this yoyo. I think it’s a classic, and I hope you’ll agree with me if you end up picking one up, and if you don’t… there’s always Buy / Sell / Trade .
tl;dr - a must have, easily a top 3 onedrop yoyo for me.