Hello, Sunday fans! Sakaki here, and as promised, we're going to talk about the new serializations hitting Weekly Shonen Sunday here on the blog! I don't intend for these entries to be incredibly long, but I do want to convey information that would be difficult to in the weekly threads. Essentially I'll talk about the artist and their background a bit, briefly summarize the first chapter and discuss a little bit of what stuck out to me. This'll be how I handle all of the future serials, and then we'll check back in after the subsequent volume one releases have come out to see how things have developed. Got it? Good.
The Author
Watari
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find much on Watari beyond the short series they did in WSS: Kage to Kage. (or Shadow and Shadow) which ran for three issues in 2021. The series has a lot in common with Erika Funamoto's current sort-of-WSS serialization (Now moving to Webry) Souei Sosho in that it's about a royal protagonist who has a body double --a shield to keep them from danger. That being said, unlike Souei that is less grounded in reality and has a slightly more hopeful bent, Kage to Kage is darker in the portrayal of it's subject and Watari's art certainly depicts that well.
Check out the thread here for more on the first chapter, as we wouldn't want to spoil the twists and turns. Needless to say it was a great effort from Watari deserving a chance to let them spread their wings in a normal serial.
The Serialization.
Tatari
Starting in Weekly Shonen Sunday's #20th issue in 2023 is Watari's first long term serialization, Tatari. I wonder if choosing a series title so similar to their name was a stroke of genius or coincidence? This is the artwork depicted on WSS's site for the upcoming serial, and admittedly it doesn't look quite as impressive as Kage to Kage's did. That carries over into the serialization proper, but I think it's fair for Watari to dial things back a bit for a serialization that for all we know could go on for years. Not to mention this series has a different scope from it's mini-series cousin, so perhaps a more deliberate approach to the artwork is necessary. It's described by Shonen Sunday's editorial team as a "Bizarre Dark Battle manga" though the first chapter while dark doesn't quite seem bizarre yet.
The Premise.
Now to the meat and potatoes of this entry: What is Tatari actually about? First, let's meet our protagonist, Tatari.
Cute little guy, huh? Though don't say that to his face. Tatari thinks rather highly of himself, being a stray cat that doesn't need anyone's pity.
As a side note, the chapter begins with Tatari introducing himself as a cat. Literally, "Wagahai wa Neko de aru." Which seems straightforward enough, but this introduction was made famous by the book of the same name by Natsume Souseki which was a novel with a satirical edge depicting the uneasy merging of West and East culture in the Meiji era (1868-1912) of Japan. The phrasing of this statement in Japanese comes off as very haughty and nobleman-ish despite it coming from a well, normal house cat. The irony is even greater here when you consider Tatari's not even that much, being a stray who was adopted--er, adopted a pair of impoverished siblings. Though there's more than meets the eye...
Here are the aforementioned siblings, Takeru (the boy) and Yuki, his younger sister. Tatari's narration of the duo comes off as if he's just humoring them because they feed him, though it's obvious he has an attachment to the kids.
All it takes is a single act of kindness, doesn't it? Despite how poor he is, Takeru saves Tatari from a nasty situation (though according to him, he could have easily taken down that dog, he was just having a bad day) and the two quickly build a bond. The cat may say he doesn't need help, but needing and wanting are two different things.
Overall the trio have a happy life. They may not have much but what they do have is all they need. These days should have gone on forever, but...
They don't. Tatari shows up as usual to find that Takeru has been killed. The boy who thinks of himself merely as a cog in the machine that is life, and is fine with his place in the scheme of things as long as he can make a better life for his little sister is dead and his death according to Tatari is a messy one. I'll rewind a bit --the reason why the two are alone to begin with is their mother was, as Tatari puts it "More beast like than human" and chased after men. She ended up dying from a disease resulting from her many flings which left Takeru to take care of his sister who was born with a weak constitution. Takeru was doing a great job too, a boy with a work ethic that'd put many adults to shame. So why did he have to die? What will happen to Yuki without him? What's a cat to do?
Become Human, perhaps?
See Tatari isn't just any stray. He's a Bakeneko or a supernatural cat (not to be confused with a nekomata, check out his tail. Bakeneko have one tail, nekomata have two.) Who was a little bit rowdy (his words) back in the day and thus was sealed by a shaman. He only recently gained his freedom after one thousand years of captivity and due to being locked away so long, lost much of his yokai power, turning him into the kitty he is now. It wasn't long after that he met Takeru and the rest is history. Though who would kill a boy who seemingly has no enemies?
I thought that would be the entirety of this series, but Watari answers that question right away -- Tatari is able to use his sense of smell to track down the killer immediately. Needless to say this guy is surprised to see the boy he killed sitting in his apartment, but Tatari's not here to wax poetic about karma, no. He wants to know why someone who has such a nice place would kill a boy who had absolutely nothing but his sister and his life.
And there's the Watari from Kage to Kage. Tatari may look like a human now, but he is a wild animal with supernatural powers. This mere human didn't stand a chance. Tatari asks "nicely" why he'd kill Takeru and the answer he gets is filled with intrigue and danger.
A certain Hong Kong Mafia boss is on his death-bed and as such stipulated in his will that his vast fortunes be given to his blood relatives. On that list of many was Takeru's name. See, his mom had had a fling with him one night that resulted in his existence. While Dad tried to do the right thing and leave his kid something after he's gone, that had ironically in turn caused Takeru's death as others in the organization want his proceeds to themselves. The guy who had killed Takeru is an assassin sent by one of them to ensure he can't "collect."
And without mercy, Tatari ends him in the same way he did Takeru. Alone and brutally. Though while he's ended this threat, he knows this isn't the end by a long shot. Yuki could certainly use that mafia money to treat her health conditions which is to say she's also in danger. Heck, even if she weren't on a short list for murder, she's got no one else in this world now.
Yuki doesn't know and can't know that Takeru is dead. She just wonders why Tatari has stopped showing up at their home, so Tatari claims he --the cat version of himself has died, but he'll remain with Yuki. It's as sweet as it is ominous and perfectly illustrated in this page.
Meanwhile in Hong Kong, the man who sent out the hit states his intent to become the king of the underworld using the vast resources left behind by the previous boss. This isn't going to be as easy as killing some nameless kid however as once the former boss passed away a battle royal between seven other leaders has begun. I'm a sucker for the huge gatherings that occur so much in Shonen manga and this is no exception. There's so much character in this page that can be gleaned from just looking at the other competitors in this bloody battle royale.
And it'd be one thing if these were all normal contract killers without supernatural powers similar to Tatari's. It's a whole new dimension of danger when this boss speaks to a woman who outright says that there are yokai involved, and she is one of them. These pages also reveal that this boss has a very rigid relationship with this most likely yuki onna, (snow woman) as he calls her a monster several times and says she works for him. She seems to take this in good humor, not bothered by his callousness which says a lot about them without revealing much. She also glances at the picture depicting Takeru's final moments and all but says she knows "he" isn't dead, but she doesn't mention this to her boss.
The chapter ends with "Takeru" going to school (which gets me wondering just how much does Tatari know about modern conventions like school and such? Putting aside the fact that he's not human, he's also been out of the loop for a thousand years.) In any case, he's putting on a good act for Yuki's sake, and from what we've seen she's going to need all the help she can get.
The Verdict
Over the years it's felt like Sunday or well, Shonen magazines in general have moved away from being tomes of fisticuffs. I buy into the thought that this has been a good thing overall as it leads to much more varied storytelling, but I can't help but miss the days when battle manga roamed the land free and unfettered. I know, I know, I say this as if the genre is extinct, but Sunday generally has been less about those manga and it's even moreso nowadays. Tatari reminds me of series that ran in the magazine like Yoshinori Natsume's Kurozakuro or his other series Togari which were much darker and feral battle manga that didn't fear dipping into darker themes and depictions of violence. Kazuhiro Fujita's works have been mainstays in Sunday over the years so such things haven't disappeared entirely but he felt like the last basteon for that type of story after Natsume and other manga artists either left or shifted to other generes. In that way Tatari feels like a breath of fresh, bloody air in a magazine that is starved for it's next battle manga hit. As I mentioned, Watari's art seems to have stepped back a bit to allow for the storytelling to take focus, but I can see hints of what Kage and Kage brought to the table within this chapter, and in fairness there just wasn't a need to go full in on this chapter that sets up the scenario. On another thought, the premise itself brings back memories of Haro Aso's Hyde and Closer, and maybe a little bit of Makoto Raiku's Gash bell? Oh and I'd be remiss to not mention Rumiko Takahashi's arguably most beloved work Inuyasha. So in short this is a throwback in all the best ways, and I hope Watari's able to make their splash in the manga world with a full on return to battle manga in Sunday as we knew them.
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