Among the various titles from the new generation of Shonen manga, Black Clover has been the best at carrying forward the Shonen spirit. The seemingly simple plot has been adorned with great characters, with a generous sprinkle of optimism. But Black Clover wasn’t Yuki Tabata’s first work to be published in the Weekly Shonen Jump.
Tabata created a series titled ‘Hungry Joker’ that got cancelled before it even reached the 1 year anniversary mark. The cancellation was a result of the manga’s poor performance. Tabata speaks about his learnings from and his thoughts on Hungry Joker in an interview.
Yuki Tabata on his Experience With Hungry Joker
Published for the first time in November 2012, Hungry Joker was the story of a scientist named Haiji. Suffering from amnesia, with only the memories of a mysterious black apple and glowing corpses left, Haiji wants to unravel the truth behind these two enigmatic memories.
The plot of Hungry Joker was intriguing but Yuki Tabata didn’t feel much connection with it. In an interview, Tabata was asked about the origin of Black Clover. He shared (via franceinfo), how his previous manga was very serious and it didn’t resemble him in any way.
It talked about science in a very serious way, but it didn’t resemble me. I wanted to do fantasy, and my friends advised me to create a character who resembled me a little.
He shares how he wanted to create a dark character and that was his idea of Haiji. He was a quite character, the exact opposite of Tabata’s personality. Whatever Tabata was working on at that time, he used to share it with his editor. Even though the editor wasn’t certain about Hungry Joker, it was published anyway.
A mismatch can be felt while reading Hungry Joker. The story is set in a world that resembles our own, the seriousness of the setting clashes with the misplaced humor. As the story progresses, this asymmetry becomes more apparent. Contrarily, the art only got better with subsequent chapters in the manga. While the manga might not have been a success, Tabata seemingly learnt a lot from it.
Hungry Joker was Worlds Apart from Black Clover
The overarching idea of the manga was great but the characters failed to appeal to the fans. Everything that didn’t strike a chord with the fans and all the criticisms Tabata received, were significantly improved upon in Black Clover. He decided to go with a fantasy setting and it worked well for him. He excellently portrayed the Shonen spirit, and one thing that he did better than both his predecessors and his contemporaries was creating great female characters.
Additionally, he didn’t completely leave Hungry Joker behind. He incorporated numerous concepts from the manga into Black Clover. Many characters in his two creations share identical similarities. When asked about what he’d say to a potential reader to make them give his manga a try, Tabata captured the essence of Black Clover with his words.
I try to draw an exciting manga. For me, it’s a manga that has a soul.
Tabata is known to be an optimistic person and that optimism gets reflected in every page of his manga. Black Clover is nearing its end and despite the ups and downs in its final arc, it’s great that Tabata is fulfilling his vision at his own pace. As for Hungry Joker, it might not have been a great manga, but it worked wonders as an effective learning curve.
Black Clover is available to read on MangaPlus app and website.
