Hattori Tatsu was the former sensei of Karai.
History[]
Hattori Tatsu is a masked swordsman who was the right-hand man of the Shredder and mostly operated in Japan. While Tatsu was born blind, he had talents that were discovered by Shredder who brought him into the Foot Clan. He was also a trainer of Karai.
Sometime after the death of Super-Shredder, Tatsu started to make plans to obtain the Kuro Kabuto and enlisted some Foot Ninja that left Karai's side when they started to doubt her leadership. After defeating Karai and Shinigami in the first battle, Tatsu knocked aside Fishface and encountered a revived Rahzar who offered him to help bring the Foot Clan back together. Rahzar declined as he was still loyal to Shredder. When it came to the fight at one of the Foot Clan's safe-houses, Karai and Shinigami were assisted by the Turtles, April O'Neil, and Casey Jones. Even though Karai knocked off his oni mask where his backstory was explored, Tatsu managed to badly defeat Casey Jones and Shinigami. With help from the Turtles using Casey Jones' explosive pucks, Karai was able to throw off Tatsu's senses and defeat him. Rahzar showed up with Tiger Claw and Kavaxas. As the Kuro Kabuto was claimed, Kavaxas drained Tatsu of his soul and then destroyed the Foot Clan safe-house. It is heavily implied that he is burned into ashes from off-screen after Kavaxas fires from his fire breathing mouth.
Tatsu's spirit would later appear in End Times after Kavaxas was free of Tiger Claw’s control. But Tatsu ended up getting sent back into the Netherworld by April, Donatello, and Raphael.
Appearance[]
Tatsu is a bald Japanese man with a wide girth. As a blind swordsman, he is blind as it was seen when his masked knocked off. Despite being blind, when Leo uses pinch technique and Karai transforms into snake, his eyes can be hardly seen from bloodshot eyes, as they're green.
Personality[]
Tatsu is fierce and cynical, often commencing misdeeds for precisely his own benefits and self-interests, he is also manipulative, given how he easily swayed Karai's foot soldiers to join him, and wields the Kuro Kabuto after Shredder's death.
Tatsu also has a strong vendetta towards his former pupil Karai, having begrudged her for dispatching Foot Soldiers in an attempt to eliminate him, but that wasn't his only reason. He also despises the fact that she became a mutant and is shown to be very aggressive and towards her, seething any opportunity to strike her down whenever they would fight.
Tatsu is also a ruthless and merciless fighter in combat, striking his opponents with precise pinpoint attacks that leave them stunned for a good period, he shows no qualms of mutilating or severely injuring his foes, such as when he attempted to kill Karai twice, incapacitated Shinigami even badly injuring her, making quick work of Casey Jones, breaking his arm and electrocuting him with his own taser. He has no intent of showing mercy towards his enemies and even applies this to those who follow them, such as when he tells Karai her friends will share her fate after they helped in her attempt to ambush him.
Given his upbringing of being born blind it is shown that he likely resents anyone who dared to mock him, due to the distasteful tone he possesses when explaining his past while fighting Mikey, Leo, Shini and Karai. He does display strong devotion, loyalty and respect for the Shredder, stating that he was one of the few people who acknowledged his talents, unlike the usual mockery he would receive from many others, he would later continue to work for Shredder even becoming his 'Right-Hand.' Tatsu even began to follow Shredder's footsteps after he had died.
Abilities[]
Overall Abilities: Tatsu is an expert swordsman and martial artist on par with the likes of Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Saki themselves, two of the most skilled martial artists. Despite being blind, Tatsu has an enhanced sense of hearing, to the point where he would be often stated to have possessed a sixth sense by others. He also claims he can hear his opponents from a mile away. Tatsu was able to take on the combined efforts of Leonardo, Karai, Michelangelo and Shinigami, all by himself and later, easily dispatches Casey Jones, Donatello and Raphael, the latter even goes so far as to compare to him to Shredder, a further testament to his capabilities. Only by Karai and Leo temporarily throwing off his hearing were they able to defeat them.
Enhanced Speed & Reflexes: Tatsu possesses beyond human levels of speed, being able to swing his sword at fast speeds and has easily evaded and reacted to attacks from the Turtles, Shinigami and Karai on several different occasions. He was able to move so fast he appeared as if he were one with the shadows and was able to attack both Karai and Shinigami without either of them noticing when they first encountered. During his second battle, he struck Shinigami with several swift pinpoint strikes in rapid succession and also struck Leo with a multitude of both punches and combo-attacks in seconds.
Enhanced Stamina and Endurance: As a result of his hard training and skill, Tatsu has high levels of stamina and endurance. Being able to fight consecutive battles without showing signs of fatigue. Which was pleasantly demonstrated when he fought Leonardo, Michelangelo, Karai and Shinigami then later fought, Casey Jones, Rapheal and Donatello, all while remaining steadfast. He was also able survive a flurry of consecutive snake bites and attacks from Karai.
Enhanced Strength: Tatsu possesses a considerable amount of physical strength. He was able to effortlessly pull both Michelangelo and Shinigami by their weapons and kicked them with enough force to knock them both into a nearby pool, even knocking the latter unconscious. His strikes could send Leonardo tumbling, he was able to break Casey's arm with little effort and hit Raphel and Donatello hard enough to where it took them a while to recover. He also knocked Karai down by simply clashing with her.
Tactical Intellect: As an expert swordsman, Tatsu is a skilled tactician especially in battle, being able to easily sense and notice Karai and Leo despite them hardly making a sound, he was able to lead his own foot soldiers.
Enhanced Hearing: Tatsu has heightened levels of hearing to the point where it is by far the most reliable out of his five senses, to the point where others claimed he was given a sixth sense. His hearing also compensates his blindness. Additionally, his hearing is also a huge contributor on how he fights and makes him a deadly opponent, due to his evolutionary hearing he proclaims to be able to hear his opponents coming from a mile away, and is also able to predict, analyze, and read his opponents movements, without even being struck himself. However, Tatsu's hearing can also be used against him, given whenever louder sounds, such as explosives go off in conjunction with his opponents' movements it becomes much harder for him to sense them, given how he was almost hit by Karai after she started moving in sync with explosive pucks used by Leonardo, and was also rendered completely defenseless when Leonardo got in close enough to use a technique that would momentarily disable his hearing.
Relationships[]
- Oroku Saki/The Shredder - The Shredder took him in after finding out about his accurate sense of hearing and Tatsu became well-respected blind swordsman of Shredder. After the death of Shredder, he intended to take over the Foot for his fallen master, but his plans were thwarted by the Ninja Turtles.
- Hamato Miwa/Karai - Karai was Hattori Tatsu’s former pupil. After Karai took over the Foot, Tatsu bore resentment towards her and became aggressive towards her when she revealed herself to be a mutant. Karai found it difficult to defeat her former master, but with Leo’s help, Karai was able to defeat him. Disowning her master, Karai coldly shuts him down, when he bitterly badmouthed her. Despite her newfound hate towards her former master, Karai was genuinely shocked, horrified and even somewhat concerned to see Kavaxas snuffing out her master’s life by draining him of his soul.
- Chris Bradford/Dogpound/Rahzar -
- Ninja Turtles - Tatsu finds himself attacked by Leo, Mikey, Shini and Karai, but was able to severely injure and defeat them. Even when Donnie, Raph, Casey and April, Tatsu had no problem in defeating the Turtles. It is shown that none of his adversaries were able to land a blow on him. The only one who was able to land a blow was Leonardo. When Leonardo finds out that Tatsu’s only weakness is louder sounds, Karai distracts him long enough when Leo made his strike. After jumping at Tatsu, Leo delivers a greatest blow on Tatsu by striking him with nerve attack, Karai was able to defeat Karai. Despite their dislike for Tatsu, The Turtles were horrified by his death at the hands of Kavaxas.
Trivia[]
- "Tatsu" translates as Japanese for "dragon".
- The mask of Tatsu looks like a mask briefly seen in "The Super Shredder".
- "Tatsu" was also the name of Shredder's loyal right-hand man from the first two live-action films, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. He even bears a resemblance to Toshishiro Obata, the actor who played him.
- His surname "Hattori" comes from the historic ninja Hattori Hanzō.
- Tatsu's enhanced senses and lack of eyesight maybe an intentional similarity to Daredevil. Like Tatsu, Daredevil is blind but has superhuman senses that allow him to perceive the world around him. Daredevil was an inspiration for the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics and was in many ways a basis for the original mythos of the TMNT. Tatsu's mask even bears a slight resemblance to Daredevil's cowl, as both sport a pair of ornamental horns.
- Tatsu's mask is a traditional Hannya mask often used in a Noh play for a jealous female demon. The Hannya mask is often synonymous with the ninja due to both if them having ties to Noh theatre as well as many myths of a ninja having super natural abilities like a demon. A Ninja master or Jonin as often seeing wearing a Hannya mask in many pop culture movies and games.
Gallery[]
- Hattori Tatsu/Gallery
- Hattori Tatsu/Animations