The Tarot Café

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The Tarot Cafe, one really good manwha, and as I can see, not really popular one. Maybe it's not really revolutional or outstanding in any way, but - for me - it was worth reading, reareading, and in the end, buying it (and of course, reading it again :> ).
If you wonder what made me so excited, the first thing is the feel that you get while reading the manwha. Somehow, it consumes you in a world that is kind of realistic, but still magical and alluring, sometimes creepy and odd, sometimes beautiful and elating. The art even emphasizes the feeling, because ... as you may know (or not), the style of manwhas is really wonderful, full of details, faces are all gorgeous (except for the bad guys, obviously), it gives off kind of a gothic-like feeling.
Like the mangas that The Tarot Cafe is usually compared with (Pet Shop Of Horrors and xxxHolic), we get introduced to the way that the "cafe" works, how Pamela, the main female charachter - the owner of the Tarot Cafe and a fortuneteller - accepts "special" costumers after midnight and we get to know some of their stories.. This draws us into the reading quite nicely. The main story starts late, almost in the middle of the whole manga. It has a few flaws (mostly just beacuse of this late development, it doesn't evolve properly) but it is still special although it leans a lot on western myths/christianity. The thing I liked the most about the story is one of the strangest relationships I ever encountered on in fiction. Although the charachters aren't greatly developed or deep, you still can get attached to them, because of all the intense happening. There is also one big twist in the story, but it was a bit obvious for me.. The ending leaves us satisfied, but it's no cliché, nor corny.
Despite of all the small holes in the story and a bit too quick development, I enjoyed the manwha greatly for its great art, atmoshpere and the story unique enough to make me read it again (and maybe someday, again). Worth a read for every mystery/fantasy lover.
Just a notice: there's a quite a lot of shounen-ai : >
For the ending, for all the number-lovers, I give you numbers ;) ->
Story: 7, Art:9* Charachters: 8 Enjoyment:9 Overall:8
*I give the art a 9 just because the faces of some charachters sometimes seem just too similiar to each other

Tarot Cafe is a rather charming manhwa. The main selling point for me is the abundance of sympathetic characters. Pamela, the tarot reader, has a long and fascinating past. She genuinely cares for all of her clients, regardless of the challenges presented to her personally. The clients themselves are engaging and easy to become attached to as you learn their stories, and some of the tales are genuinely heartwarming. The settings are also gorgeous, everywhere from centuries old Turkey to modern London, mystical forests, and the very depths of hell.

The plot itself is a little lackluster. Although individual elements of the past are enthralling (enough ... so that I was willing to excuse plot issues), when it all gets pieced together something is lost. Also, for the first volume, or even two, the primary focus is not on the plot, but on individual clients that have no apparent relationship to each other. On one hand, it makes a nice little collection of one-shot deals to read at your leisure. On the other, it seems both fragmented and slightly frustrating when searching for a real story beneath it all.

Adding to the frustration is the art. Yes, it's lush and detailed, and both beautiful and grotesque scenes are rendered well. But the character faces fall into only three categories: most noticeably, generic sultry bishies. The only feature I could rely on to tell the male characters apart was their hair. Unfortunately, that's a major flaw in my book.

Still, don't let that scare you away from it. It's still very enjoyable overall. It has drama, mystery, comedy, and a bit of horror. Good characters, pretty (if impractical) art, plot twists galore, fun side stories, lots of demons, and a cute uke werewolf. A bonus - you learn some tarot as you read.

Just a mess.

The tarot cafe is a story about a girl who use tarot cards, owns a cafe and is immortal. She is trying to collect beads to complete her contract. There is also significant amount of fantasy elements and the manga is set in the modern-ish world.

if it feels like the description was really lazy that's because it was. And i've still put in more effort than the author did.

The manga is all over the place. The episodic stories, which last for 2 volumes before the main story starts, are boring as shit. Some of them were so bad i started laughing.

SPOILERS ... FOR 1 EPISODIC STORY AND ITS RIDICOLOUSNESS.

This guy is an alchemist. Can create anything the plot demands him too. He kidnaps this princess and tries to make her laugh. But she is one of those dominatrix woman that get off by killing you. Not knowing this the alchemist creates this ultimate jester who's sole goal is to make her laugh. She tortures him daily. He fixes the doll daily. The alchemist relaizes the women is fucked up as hell and falls in love with there doll and now they have started a weird relationship. The absurdity of it made me laugh for a little too long.

END OF SPOILERS FOR 1 EPISODIC STORY AND ITS RIDICOLOUSNESS.

The rest of the series is also a mess. You can't follow the characters, you can't follow the story. Everything is all over the place. There is also a bunch of weirdo shit in there for no discernible reason.

The characters have barely any development and the ones that do, develop for stupid reasons. The series which is already confusing as it is. Also pulls the fucking Non-linear narrative. Fuck anyone who pulls that shit.

I Honestly can't tell you more about the series since it was so bad. The ending was also very weird and random. The only decent part about the series was when they finally started revealing all the information . and the art. The art is nice to look at.

TLDR: I mean its awful guys. Read a better manga. Every character is overdramatic. Falls in love for no reason. Does stupid ass decisions. And fails at being melodramatic. 2/10