I decided to flip a coin on this doitsu showa this spring. The first two pictures are dealer pictures from February of this year, at 5". The last pictures are today at 9", which is standard growth for my pond, fairly light feeding, and climate.
I'm a bit confused about beni. On the head it looks like it's falling apart, at least partially. But on the body it actually looks to be pretty deep, which is somewhat unusual for doitsu fish. And what's even more confusing is the fact that you can actually see a little bit of white on the head in the original pictures, so perhaps that's just part of the pattern? Probably wishful thinking.
One thing that even Russ wasn't sure was whether the beni will clean up, as it was quite messy in original pictures. Well, it definitely did! So if the beni holds up it will be a good fish for $150.
Update, just because there aren't many doitsu update pictures the fish is super shy and only eats a few pellets at a time, hence veeeeery slow grower. There was a little bit of beni loss on the head, probably will lose more beni on the head, but doesn't look like it's completely falling apart. Sumi has gotten much nicer though!