Anime/Asian style Tarot and surprises

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 04 Feb 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Cerulean	04 Feb 2004
I have the RG Veda anime tarot, a Chinese language version that has 78 pictures. While it is not very close to a Rider Waite style, it was a twenty dollar novelty and design style that looked great to me for many reasons--and there are English translations coming out in 2004 for the cast of charactes. Anyway, if you have an anime tarot or close proximity--some of the Asian shows like to use 'tarot' to add a 'Western' flavor to their offerings--- want to post a title, finding or curious notion? Are you reading with any? My odd experiments found a way to match the numbering scheme and first Asian character so I can tell suits, courts and majors. And one unlikely surprise, the five of Swords actually in comparison to my Universal Tarot (DeAngelis) showed a somewhat close pose to my RG Veda tarot five of swords. As a design variant and visual suggestion for me, this is great....but you are talking to someone who really liked the Ukiyoe Tarot by U.S. Games, a real variant on 'Marseilles' styles. So this includes Roots of Asia, Ukiyoe and forthcoming Asian flavors you might be looking forward to or have...Buddha Tarot by Robert Place and Royal Thai by U.S. Games included...

WolfyJames	04 Feb 2004
I would like to put in my wishlist a nice traditional looking asian tarot deck. I find their cultures fascinating, even though I don't know much about them. Does anyone has suggestions for me? I've heard of a deck who has a ghost as The Hanged Man. I have looked through eBay and, once, I saw a tarot based on a anime that seems to interest me, it was based on Angel Sanctuary. The images were dark and twisted. I've search through the Internet, and it seems to be an interesting anime as well, with wars against angels and demons and against God itself, twisted and complicated story. I'll try to catch it next time. The deck was entirely in Chinese though, hard to know which card is which card. And I don't know if it counts, but the tarot I'm working on is based on a serie of japanese horror games: Silent Hill. There are a lot of bathrooms in the games, and apparently, it has something to do with horror stories that they have about children disapearing in the hole.

Cerulean	04 Feb 2004
1. I do know about the tarot deck that you saw once--it's the Chinese Tarot by U.S. Games and it's very pretty. All cards are under "Chinese" in this page: http://www.tarot.com/about-tarot/decks/browsedecks.php 2. Angel Sanctuary -- I found a large sci fi and anime fan site called Elfwood with lots of galleries and search capabilities where fans of Angel Sanctuary have posted art samples. Might be a good resource for you? http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/loth/c/a/cataldo/cataldo.html http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/google.html After my class tonight, I'll look for RG Veda references -- so your question might have uncovered a resource for me as well. 3. I'll have to look at Silent Hill. Thanks!

WolfyJames	04 Feb 2004
There is a good site on Silent Hill here: http://www.silenthillheaven.com/Site/Main/Main.html By the way, this chinese tarot deck is pretty, I think I'm going to put it in my wishlist.

WolfyJames	06 Feb 2004
I finally got a hold on one of the version of Angel Sanctuary Tarot deck, this version is fully illustrated (the minors), as said in Tarot Garden, because there are three versions. I even bought on eBay the complete Manga on CD (in English), to help me understand the characters on the deck. It will be fun. The most fun part though will be when I'll try to know which card is which card, because the deck is in Chinese. ;) By the way, Mari, I saw your deck and it's pretty. :)

Cerulean	06 Feb 2004
I sorted the decks by the Roman numerals first. Numbers 11-21 will be the majors, 0 will be the Fool. All the minor aces on my deck is named Ace. From 2-10, you'll get five sets of 2s, etc, through 10. If you check the Chinese character, the first one will unique, but also be the same character design on 2-10 for the suit it belongs. From there, I looked at the pictures. In mine, there's so much red and blue, it was hard to tell sometimes just by the picture colors what the suit is...so I had to keep looking for details such as swords (swords) or plants (wands?) or water (cups) or a round circle of some sort for coins/pentacles. Still absorbing the pretty designs, so I like this. Over time, I'll learn the storyline when the English manga comes out, but right now its a pretty design look at an alternative. Mari Mari H.

WolfyJames	07 Feb 2004
Thanks for theses advices Mari! :) I'm eager to get the deck, but unfortunatly, it won't happen before March-April. The guy is in holidays now and only comes back in March, but he promised to save a deck for me and to pay him when he'll be back. In the meanwhile, the manga will keep me busy, and at the price, 8$US, worth it.

The Anime/Asian style Tarot and surprises thread was originally posted on 04 Feb 2004 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.