This past year I made the jump to Carbon Steel Japanese knives, for myself at least.
I bought a basic set of petty knives, and a mid-range Yanagi and Deba. I take pretty good care of them, but to be honest you REALLY need to watch them because the tips are brittle. Broke the tip off my Yanagi last week just accidentally tapping a mug on the counter.
THAT SAID: No German style knife can get this sharp. I use Norton Ceramic stones to sharpen these and theyre excellent.
As you can see, I also have some cheaper Victorinox knives for the misses to use (she doesn't like the work involved with the carbon steel) as well as a Chinese style clever that while cheap, is great for breakdown and especially for whacking open gourds and such.
