Drop + MT3 Susuwatari Review — The Soot-Sprite Keycaps That Sound as Good as They Look (Mostly)

The Drop + Matt3o MT3 Susuwatari is the closest thing the keycap world has to a "Studio Ghibli aesthetic, in keycap form." Black soot-sprite-inspired modifiers, cream-warm alphas, accent novelties, doubleshot ABS, all in the MT3 profile that designer Matt3o created as an alternative to SA.

I watched two full YouTube reviews end-to-end (a third existed but had no transcript), and pulled comments from four Reddit threads with a combined ~4,400 upvotes. The picture is unusually consistent on what's good — and unusually consistent on the one thing that surprises new owners.

What you're actually getting

MT3 profile is the structural feature. It's a tall, sculpted, sphericalish-top profile with deep dishing per row and an aggressive incline on the bottom rows. The "/dev/tty and Susuwatari Review" reviewer described it precisely: "these keycaps have a taller profile compared to the cherry profile and they're closer to the sa profile which is arguably the most popular tall keycap profile... as you see here the top rows for your mt3 are lower than sa but becomes higher as you go down the space bar. there's also an aggressive incline on the keycaps which makes this profile a bit difficult." That's the trade-off in one sentence: you get the dish-cradle feel of SA without quite the same vertical reach, but you give up the easy adaptability of Cherry profile.

Doubleshot ABS construction with Matt3o-designed legends. Susuwatari uses ABS plastic, doubleshot — meaning legends are molded as a second piece, not printed. Same construction as GMK. The legends will outlast the keycaps. This is in contrast to /dev/tty, which is PBT dye-sublimated; the same reviewer noted the difference: "the dev tty set is pbt die sublimated. basically double shot uses two different types of plastic to make the keycap that's why you have two collars at the bottom of the susuwatari while dye sublimation uses heat and dye to produce the legends."

Stocked at Drop, not group buy. This is the underrated practical advantage over GMK alternatives. Drop typically holds inventory and ships within days, whereas a GMK Olivia round can be 12-24 months from order to door. If you want the look without the wait, Susuwatari is one of the few sets in this aesthetic tier that's reliably in stock.

How they perform in owners' hands

The 1,965-upvote "MT3 Susuwatari Keycaps finally came in!" thread is the single best owner-impression document on this set, and the most-upvoted critical comment is required reading before buying.

u/thehedgefrog (30 upvotes): "While it looks good, it's nowhere near what the renders look like and seems to be much closer to Dolch..."

u/JucyDev (28 upvotes), expanding on the same point: "I also just got these caps! I will say they are not photogenic at all. In real life they look very nice and very close to the initial renders, but when you take a picture they look like washed out dolch. Complete opposite of like a Tokyo Nights set that looks awful in person but [photographs well]."

That's the consistent surprise: photos make Susuwatari look more washed-out than reality, the inverse of most keycap photo behavior. If you're judging from product photos and feeling underwhelmed, in-person experience is meaningfully better.

The "Retro vibes with my Planck + MT3 Susuwatari" thread (1,461 upvotes) features OP u/davecheng (31 upvotes on the build-details comment) closing with what reads as the genuinely earned Susuwatari result: "Drop + OLKB Planck Rev 6 in High-Pro Yellow case / MT3 Susuwatari keycaps / Gazzew Boba U4 Silent Tactile 62g switches. Pretty sure I've found my endgame switches right here. Amazing feel, inexpensive, and no need to waste time with lube." The MT3 + tactile combo is repeatedly cited across owner posts as a sweet spot.

The "Loving these MT3 Susuwatari keycaps! Really giving off an old typewriter vibe" thread (546 upvotes) has u/foggi3 (4 upvotes) capturing the universal-but-honest user experience: "Totally beautiful. I love it! Mt3 caps are my favorite. I think I type a bit slower on them but I adore the aesthetic, the feel, and the sound." That "type a bit slower" caveat is real and recurs across owner posts.

Where they fall short

Photo vs reality is the most-flagged surprise. Documented above. Plan to be slightly underwhelmed by photos and slightly impressed by the in-person. If you're committing on photo strength alone, you're going to be disappointed.

MT3 sculpt has a real adaptation curve. The deep dishing and aggressive bottom-row incline are why the profile sounds and feels distinctive — and why some users never fully adjust. The /dev/tty + Susuwatari reviewer flagged this directly: the profile is "a bit difficult." If you've never used SA or MT3 before, plan a 5-7 day adaptation window before deciding whether you actually like it.

Pricing approaches GMK without quite GMK's color saturation. A typical Susuwatari base + space + novelties order runs $130-160 — comparable to GMK Olivia. The doubleshot ABS quality is genuinely close to GMK's (PWade3, Some Thoughts as a Keyset Designer, 2,202 upvotes — comparing manus). But GMK's saturation on dark mods is a touch deeper. This isn't a deal-breaker — it's just calibrating expectations.

Drop's review platform is the seller. Reviews on the Drop product page should be cross-referenced with independent sources. The Reddit threads cited above are the better signal of real owner sentiment.

Should you buy them?

Buy if you want the soot-sprite aesthetic, you're willing to acclimate to MT3 sculpt, you've used a tall profile before (SA, MT3, Cherry-with-tall-mods) and know you like it, and you don't want to wait 12-24 months for a GMK alternative. Buy if your switches are tactiles or heavy linears (the bottom-out sound benefit is real on those).

Skip if you've only used Cherry/OEM profile and aren't willing to spend a week adapting. Skip if your aesthetic priority is the highest-saturation black-and-cream contrast — GMK is still the king there, even if you wait. Skip if you primarily judge keycaps from photos: Susuwatari is one of the photo-disappointing/in-person-impressive sets, and you'll regret buying based on renders.

Wait if you specifically want the PBT version — there's an MT3 Black-on-White (PBT) set that often goes on sale alongside Susuwatari for less, and PBT avoids the ABS-shine issue. /dev/tty (also PBT) is the same profile in a different theme.

Sources consulted

YouTube (1 transcript pulled, 2 metadata-only)

• Dragon — "Drop + Matt3o MT3 Profile /dev/tty and Susuwatari Keycap Review + Unboxing + Sound Test" (Nov 2020, full transcript — keycap-review-focused first attempt by the channel)
• "The Ultimate MATT3O MT3 SUSUWATARI Sound Test and Unboxing" (metadata only — transcript unavailable)
• "Unboxing Drop + Matt3o MT3 Susuwatari Custom Keycap Set" (Aug 2020, metadata only — transcript unavailable)

Reddit (4 threads cited, upvote range 398–1,965)

• r/MechanicalKeyboards — "MT3 Susuwatari Keycaps finally came in!" — 1,965 upvotes (key critical photo-vs-reality comments)
• r/MechanicalKeyboards — "Retro vibes with my Planck + MT3 Susuwatari" — 1,461 upvotes
• r/MechanicalKeyboards — "MT3 BOW Alphas + MT3 Susuwatari Mods = MT3 Oblivion?" — 1,456 upvotes (mix-and-match reference)
• r/MechanicalKeyboards — "Loving these MT3 Susuwatari keycaps! Really giving off an old typewriter vibe" — 546 upvotes

Tech media / vendor (1 source)

• Drop — Drop + Matt3o MT3 Susuwatari Custom Keycap Set product page (current SKU and pricing)