So far from what I could tell this does the typical mushy, mish-mash of story telling you always run into within asian works. It blends together a variety of themes from low fantasy, the victorian -era setting, gothic + goth, dark romanticism and religious symbolism together to tell some kind of deep tale (It pretends to be.) And that's what bugs me so much...
This overshot so hard with it's formula that you shouldn't begin to utter the question "Why isn't it more popular?" Like with any smaller niche, I am noticing a trend of what I like to call "amateurish enthusiasm". People so deep into their own world, they are eager on writing this extremely ambitious story to feel good about having achieved something. WITHOUT, the nuance and compelling ties to the real world, which are needed in order for a wider audience to grasp it.
You just can't throw people into a world with highly specific, highly subjectively tailored lore and expect it to click. It's why I really found a ton of RPGs pretentious, even if they're probably not when you disassemble them to their core ideas and values.
Bleh... All The Tarot Cafe needed was an eye to eye episodic format. Simple and straight forward. We as the readers don't need to know every meticulous detail of each person's tragic life to follow the story nor message. So had it opted for a more abstract and minimal approach with an angle on pseudo-occultic form of divination I would've been very pleased.
Now that I am not, and low on reading material. I guess I will go on another existential tirade.
https://www.graphitecomics.com/title/TOKYOPOP/The-Tarot-Cafe < You can get a feel for it here, the first volume is available for free.
