How would you rate this manga?
Spotlight Manga: The Tarot Café MAL Series Information Page: The Tarot Café MAL Score - 8.03 (by 1498 users) Ranked - #839 Popularity - #717 For the next week I would like to have a discussion about the series that focuses on the key elements that we here on MAL use to critically rate a manga: Art, Characters, Story, and Enjoyment. I would like everyone to approach this thread as if you were going to write a review and structure your initial post like this: Art - insert rating Characters - insert rating Story - insert rating Enjoyment - insert rating Art - discuss any pros and cons of the art styling used in the series, try to include some specifics. Character - describe any of the things you liked or didn't care for in regards to specific characters in the series etc... If you are having trouble writing up a review or coming up with specific pro's and cons, please don't worry. Just do the best you can with it and if you can only write two or three sentences about any of the 4 elements then that's OK. Not everyone here is currently at a level which will allow them to articulate their thoughts and opinions. After your initial post is made you can feel free to civilly discuss issues of contention. I am sure there will be many opinions expressed here that some of us will disagree upon and criticize and it is for that reason that this entire club exists. So I hope everyone has fun and I am really looking forward to seeing how this discussion will develop. |
NavyCherubJul 13, 2012 8:01 AM
| "My tables-meet it is I set it down That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain." |
| This was a decent read with some interesting characters. I think its best features are the settings and the detailed art. However overall this had a lot of flaws, most noticeably the shaky plot and the fragmentation/episodic nature of most of the story. Definitely not worthy of induction, although I'm quite glad to see more manhwa being spotlighted here. |
| Because of an oversight on my side, a new thread was made for this manga, while an existing one was already in place. Please find the old thread here. For the sake of convenience, I'll re-post my earlier comment below. -=- A manga starring an immortal originating in mediaeval Scotland. Anyone else expecting a bit of swordplay, shouts of 'There can be only one!' and a few outdated special effects? I admit starting this manga expecting very little: The tags and description given it here on MAL would have one believe that this is one of those thirteen-a-dozen romance stories flirting with a few supernatural elements to spice things up. In effect, that is exactly what we get here: All the stories in the series are essentially simple stories of love and revenge, the gimmick being that most people populating the pages aren't exactly human, the graphics as usual mainly focusing on the characters taking on somewhat contrived poses while being somewhat removed from their backgrounds. If, thematically, The Tarot Café isn't anything special, it manages to surprise and outdo the competition stylistically. In contrast to most such series, the supernatural isn't so much blended with or imposed on the mundane world, but is shown as a world of its own. The legendary might be very real, but it hardly influences the world as a whole. This gives many of the tales a strikingly fairytale-like aspect, in turn allowing for the more outré elements to be perfectly acceptable within them. Moreover, most of the stories are kept very simple, with very little in the way of twisting and mulling, as is appropriate to fables. What even more enhances the fairytale feel is the art, which flits through many different styles, giving the impression that some scenes must appear otherwordly to the characters themselves: Different historical art styles (mediaeval, Oriental, even Jugendstil) are used when appropriate and contrast sharply with the relatively standard shoujo-type drawings of the protagonists and the photorealistic images of many buildings and landscapes - which are often repeated a few times to mark space - and which all are kept remarkably empty of life. Interesting, too, is the composition of the panels. Some of the grand appearances of characters, for instance, are presented in page-sized panels that employ a lot of horizontal symmetry, while such symmetry is also apparent over multiple panels at times. An interesting device used is to employ many small panels in a chessboard-pattern when drawing out discussions, each white-coloured one containing a drawing, each black-coloured one a text balloon. Through it all, though, in marked contrast to most shoujo books, the lay-out of the page remains remarkably clean and the order of the panels is always clear. The Tarot Café is a very quick read - each book taking about 15 minutes to get through - which ensures that its failures aren't as grating as in most series. Certainly there are a few downsides: The overall story, as said, is in the end rather clichéd, the character designs are little better and the overall design style reeks at times too strongly of crowd-pleasing. A few remarks have been made in the comments on how it implicitly - and, rarely, explicitly - throws in a bit of boys' love, which is apparently done for no better reason than to reach a certain audience, at the same time probably turning off others. Which is unfortunate, as here we have a manga that is quite original and an interesting experiment, if not so much in terms of content as in terms of style. It is easy to recommend it both to readers wanting a standard shoujo and to readers who are looking for a series that plays with its artistic styles. All in all, to my own surprise, a 'Yes'. |
| You do not beg the sun for mercy. |
| While I did find the illustrations and the world that the author constructed to be enchanting, the work itself lacked characterization and above all, solid writing. Though the combination of numerous mythological characters effectively crafted the story's world, this came at the cost of relying too much on them to drive the plot forward. Specifically, the resolution to a lot of conflicts were simply due to magic saving the day. Considering there wasn't sufficient world building present to give these elements any logical explanation, these came across as being nothing more than deux ex machinas. The characters themselves were quite intriguing by design alone and the main cast did receive some interesting development. However, due to half the work being composed of episodic short stories, this created an awkward set up for when the main plot kicked in towards the end. Normally this would be fine if the messages or themes from the short stories tied in nicely to the main conflicts, but all we got at the end was a brief 1-2 panels of connection. As for the episodic stories themselves, they did provide a neat little peak into numerous side character's stories; many of which were borrowed from mythology. Unfortunately, a lot of these stories weren't paced very well with the resolution occurring almost immediately after said character's back story was introduced. The Tarot Cafe is certainly an intriguing piece if only for its characteristic art style and melding of a wide variety of mythology. The illustrations alone are enough to draw one into its world and leave a strong impact on the reader. However, due to the emphasis on this aspect, it becomes a question of "style over substance". And though it may breath a nice breath of fresh air, the core aspects of the work such as the writing and characters are enough to warrant a "no" from me. |
Don_Don_KunJul 23, 2012 5:23 PM
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