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Hello, and welcome to my Tatsugiri Shrine! If you're looking for anything Tatsugiri-related, then you're in luck! On this section of the page, I'll be talking about why I like Tatsugiri enough to make a whole shrine for it (tl;dr, the autism won XXP), but other sections will have things like extensive, objective information about it or my collection of real-life items resembling it!
No matter what you're here for, whether it's something specific or just curiosity, I hope you enjoy your time here! Tatsugiri means a lot to me, so I hope I can share this feeling with others! ::3
Why Tatsugiri?
Honestly, it's a little bit complicated, and I honestly don't entirely understand why I latched onto it so much.
Since I started liking Pokémon when I was around 8 or 9, my favorite always changed. I would go through different "phases" of having different favorite pokemon. Some I can remember off the top of my head are Bayleef, Sandslash, Noibat, Marowak, Chinchou, and more. So many more.
It's important to note that I am an avid Pokémon leak enjoyer, and frequently look at leaks of new Pokémon whenever a new game is close to release. Around the time of Scarlet and Violet's release, I was also starting to enjoy different types of sushi more. I especially liked (and still do like) nigiri, which is a cut of fish or something else on top of a small amount of rice.
One fateful day, In November of 2022, I was browsing Twitter (back when it was still called that...) and I saw Tatsugiri. In all its glory. I immediately got so excited, one because it looked like nigiri, and two because it was perfect.
It had all the archetypes I like in a Pokémon- small, cute in a somewhat non-traditional way, kind of weird looking/niche, Dragon type, and the autism gaze- it was truly perfect. I knew in that moment I needed it on my team immediately once Scarlet and Violet released.
...And, of course, it was only found in a late-game area. Great. BUT I PERSEVERED!! And I got my very first Tatsugiri: a Stretchy-form named Hamachi.
I named her Hamachi because that's the Japanese name for Yellowtail, which is commonly served as nigiri, and because I caught her before I realized that the Stretchy form was based on tamagoyaki nigiri (made with a sliced Japanese sweet omelet). Oops!
I have a Curly and Droopy form as well now, named Sake and Toro respectively (though, the Droopy form more accurately represents maguro than toro in my opinion, and the Curly form... well, it does NOT look like sake (salmon) in the slightest).
I have yet to obtain a shiny Tatsugiri of any of the forms, though. I tried doing a hunt for one with a sandwich, but I ended up finding a shiny Dratini instead??? I mean, I'm not complaining, I like Dratini quite a bit, but it makes me wonder whether it would be better to make a sandwich for Dragon type or Water type next time...
Colorations
I would put this in the Pokédex section, but since nothing has been confirmed (to my knowledge), this information is moreso subjective rather than objective, so I felt it wouldn't be a good inclusion to that section.
The image on the left can be organized by columns and rows. The rows are representative of different forms- showing the Curly, Droopy, and Stretchy forms from top to bottom- and the columns organize the shiny and non-shiny forms, with the shinies being on the right.
My interpretation of these 3 forms is how I typically refer to them, and is as follows:
Non-shiny Curly form: I struggled to understand this form for a while, but there seems to be a common consensus that this form represents ebi (shrimp) nigiri, and I would agree. The coloration and patterning of the body of this form and that of a cooked shrimp. This, and no other common type of nigiri that I've seen really matches this form in both color and pattern. It also curls like a cooked shrimp does, which even though that's not how ebi nigiri looks, is a pretty cute detail. ::3
Non-shiny Droopy form: This form is (in my opinion) quite easily and obviously recognizable as a type of tuna nigiri. I believe it is specifically maguro (lean tuna) nigiri. I originally believed this form was supposed to be some kind of toro, which is a fattier cut of tuna, but the coloration of this form doesn't match toro as well as it does maguro.
Non-shiny Stretchy form: Before I saw this form's disguise (being stretching itself out over its inflated throat sac, I honestly had no idea what it was supposed to be. I named my Stretchy form Hamachi, but that wasn't a callback to the sushi it's based on as much as it was just me thinking "hm, well, it's yellow, so I'll name it after yellowtail". However, after I saw it do its disguise for the first time, I immediately realized it was supposed to be tamagoyaki (Japanese sweet omelet) nigiri (also called tamago nigiri). However, tamagoyaki nigiri typically has a strip of nori (seaweed) horizontally down the middle to keep it together, which cannot be seen in this form. This may have contributed to my delayed recognition of the intended design.
Shiny Curly form: I was lost on this form for years. The only vague idea I had was maybe ebi tempura nigiri, but that was such a reach that I just forgot about it. However, while making this page, I revisited the design and I came to the conclusion that it was meant to represent unagi (eel) nigiri. This is still just a guess, though, but it's the best I have. The darker marking on the top part of this form is (I believe) supposed to be eel sauce, which is typically put on the top of unagi nigiri when served.
Shiny Droopy form: This form was the most immediately obvious to me. It's meant to represent ika (squid) nigiri. It could be interpreted as another white-meat fish, but those tend to have a slight tint of red or yellow, which squid meat does not have, and is not present in this form, so I believe it's highly unlikely that this form is not squid.
Shiny Stretchy form: Similar to the unagi design, this one was lost on me. When I was making this page, I looked into it and came to the (unconfident) conclusion that it was sake (salmon) nigiri. Is it a stretch to say it looks like salmon? A little, yes. Does this form look like any other type of fish? Not really. To me, it looks too bright orange to be salmon, but I digress. The lines on the back are meant to be the lines of fat typically seen in raw cuts of salmon. I feel like the lines are a little too yellow to properly convey the idea, but again, I digress.
