There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
Regarding to the shape of the blade, normally I will say apply Kiss principle (Keep It Stupidly Simple), so stay a way from weird shapes because normally they are not practical to use or maintain (some time the weird shapes make very difficult repair or put an edge)
and lastly, a good consideration is be sure that had full tang, means the blade and the handle is made on one piece.
Saying that, I will advice to go to the skeletoniced version of the knife with the normal shape blade, in that way you will be sure is made for last, practical and your friend could personalize the handle in any way he want.
Hope that help.