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No one would ever compromise a small piece of metal for convenience and easy work, at some point you'll have to work more time because you are missing a handle which is like 2$ of metal, this will lead to extra effort and time put in making a knife without a handle, cost efficient will be lost because you'll need to have extra tools and use specifically hard methods to forge a knife where you can't have a grip on it to work on it. https://www.messerforum.net/fotoalbum/data/838/Haiku_Kurouchi_santoko_009.JPG
watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4CRH8CO4X0 if you really want to know why it looks like a weld, that is because its one piece of metal which one part of it is hammered heavily to make an extra long piece for the handle - that's a "Tang". 1:27 is the point where the tang is being made.
I know not everyone agrees, and that's fine, but I still think there's more than just hammer marks on some of the pics I've seen. Just my opinion. And again, I'm not saying they're made by welding a tang on, the conversation got derailed into that. (And I don't mean any offense, but you're wrong about that being something that is NEVER done by anyone, you just are. It's been seen and discussed plenty, but as I said before, in stamped and material removal methods, not fully forged blades) But that's still not to say it might not be a repair. Metals warp and crack from time to time, it's a fact of smithing, the question is what the smith does with it when that happens. Some will discard the blade, some will sell them as seconds, some will just sell them as is at full retail. I know in my head that a GOOD weld on the tang of a kitchen knife is stronger than any pressure were going to put on it, and in the grand scheme means nothing.....but you won't ever see me pay full price for one, if i buy it at all.
I'm also familiar with the video you posted. I own a gyuto made by that man....he knows how to make an excellent knife at a better price point than the ones we're talking about here. I will gladly be buying more of his work in the future