The Tarot Café
Publisher: Korea Sigongsa English: Tokyo Pop
Writer: Sang-Sun Park
Gender: Horror, Romance, Mythology in comics
Volume length: 7
Plot Summary: Pamela is the owner of the tarot café- and is also a powerful clairvoyant willing to tell fortunes for a price. She carters more than your average high school student though. After midnight she reserves customers whom are far from normal. From vampires to fairies and all sorts of supernatural beings, come to her to hear their futures and reserve advice about the situations. While Pamela is good at giving others advice, she must will someday deal with her own dark secret before she can move onto the next life.
I remember hearing about this series by a manga sneak peak from Tokyo Pop back in 2005 I reserved when I bought some mangas from Son Coasts. When I read the manga in the sampler it left me hanging and wanting for more. So I ran and bought the first volume, I have to say I really enjoyed the whole series.
The story is unique and captivating, slowly revealing what is really up with Pamela. She runs a tarot café reading to both normal humans and creatures of the supernatural. In the first volume we see a blind vampire seeking advice from Pamela as to what he should do with his problem. I have to say each and every story from the costumer is unique in its own way which is not boring at all, and just when you’re itching to know more about Pamela’s past the story delivers. The manga is read from left to right which I found it quite strange to read at first (been that it was my first Korean manga I read) but that was just me.
Art wise, given that the author is Korean the art is completely and amazingly different from the Japanese counterparts. The texture of the hair is so…sparkly… Sometimes we see the surroundings like buildings and cars, as if they were pasted there from a picture, but it does not overpower the art itself. Some architecture hand drawn is neatly detailed and nearly perfect, which I liked a lot.
Overall, this was a joy to read. The story behind it, I found it quite unique and interesting. Although they do leave your in a cliffhanger in almost every volume, you don’t have to kill yourself waiting for the next volume to come out since they are already all out. (If you can’t find it at your local bookstore then like we say here “Eso son otros 20 pesos” That’s another 20 bucks)
Evaluation:
Story: A+
Art: B
Characters: B+
Overall: A
