Tarot Motifs / Anime & Manga

Tarot Motifs in Anime & Manga.

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• Seen in Assassination Classroom with Lovro's explanation of the Secret Killing Technique. The Chariot represents a powerful opponent, The Fool for the actual technique, and The Moon for an assassin.
• Black★Rock Shooter:
  • Black★Rock Shooter has the characters Chariot (who rides a Spider Tank with Spiked Wheels and has wheels for feet herself) and Strength (a powerful little girl). While not as obvious, Black★Rock Shooter represents The Star, Dead Master represents Death, and Black★Gold Saw represents The Devil. Also, the plots of each episode can be represented by the Major Arcana going in order. The first episode is represented by the Fool, the Magician, the Emperor, the Empress, and the Hierophant. The last episode is represented by the Judgement and the World.
  • Black★★Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall: Several characters were actually assigned Tarot cards to represent them. Black Rock Shooter is Empress, Dead Master was the Devil at first before becoming Death, Strength is of course Strength, Jessica was the Star, Charlotte is Temperance, and Miya is Wheel of Fortune. Though not officially assigned a card, Lunatic is the Moon.
• Cardcaptor Sakura:
  • At least two of the cards were taken directly from the Tarot—Strength and the Lovers. Generally speaking, cards as a tool for magical powers is obviously inspired by the Tarot, as CLAMP admitted in the Cardcaptor Sakura volume of CLAMP no Kiseki.
  • In fact the cards were explicitly used as a Tarot deck in the episode "Two Sakuras" when Kero guided Sakura in a reading to identify the Mirror card (and her target). Sakura still didn't catch on until her doppelganger started mimicking her moves, though.
    Sakura: Shadow moves like a body's twin, Water reflects, and Illusions aren't the real thing... That's it! Clow card, your name is Mirror!
• The first scene/page in both the anime and manga versions of Ceres, Celestial Legend feature Aya getting a tarot reading and the reader freaking out about what she sees.
• Kaori Yuki's Count Cain makes liberal use of Tarot cards. Maryweather is introduced as a Tarot-reading street urchin (who continues to read Tarot spreads throughout the series) and the organization Delilah refers to its members by their card names.
• Day Break Illusion is a tarot themed Magical Girl Warrior series. The main character is a Tarot-reading fortuneteller and the series has Shown Their Work as far as the Major Arcana are concerned (mostly, some small errors may still appear in the post-credit explanations). Note that it's also Darker and Edgier than the standard show of its genre.
• The anime version of Death Note had a memorable allusion to The Tower in the couple of episodes that just went crazy with the symbolism all around—Persephone, Maundy Thursday, the internal symbolism of the bells, and probably more.
  • The front cover of every manga volume can easily be read as a tarot card:
    • Volume 1: Death
    • Volume 2: The King of Swords (unless it's the Page of Swords in a swanky chair)
    • Volume 3: The Devil
    • Volume 4: The Lovers
    • Volume 5: Justice (shippers might say the Two of Cups; Kira supporters might say The Chariot)
    • Volume 6: The Magician
    • Volume 7: The Page of Swords
    • Volume 8: The Knight of Swords
    • Volume 9: The Hermit
    • Volume 10: The Chariot
    • Volume 11: The Eight of Pentacles
    • Volume 12: Judgment
• In Descendants of Darkness during the cruise ship arc, the murderer leaves Tarot cards on or near the bodies of his victims, which serve to reveal the corpse's secrets and explain why they deserved to die. Of course, we find out later Muraki was the killer and he was doing it mostly to mess with Princess Tsubaki's head.
• D.Gray-Man: Briefly, in the anime. The Finder Allen and Kanda were traveling with was doing a tarot reading adapted to a normal deck of cards- and at one of the key points ends up with a Joker.
• The Ending Theme of D.N.Angel shows tarot cards slowly turning around—partially because Risa enjoys telling the future with them.
• Durarara!! has one scene where Izaya is discussing his plans, using tarot cards as symbols of the characters. Mikado is The Tower, Anri is The Star Reversed, Kisane is The Moon, and Shizuo is Strength, though this last one is subverted because it doesn't actually mean physical strength but rather inner strength and calmness, two things Shizuo definitely doesn't have. In fact, his inability to control his temper combined with his inhuman strength is why he's so feared.
• Fairy Tail plays it so straight it's obviously Mashima's intention from the start. The cards magic Cana uses is formed of tarot cards and the cards, combined or alone, produce attacks relating to their intended meaning.
• Hyouka has the main cast discussing which cards represent them best after dealing with a fellow student with the nickname "Empress". Eventually they decide that Chitanda is The Fool, Satoshi is The Magician, Ibara is Justice, and Oreki is Strength.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The third part of the series, Stardust Crusaders, has the protagonist, Jotaro Kujo and his allies, including DIO Brando and his legion of followers that all have fighting spirits called "Stands" themed and named after the Major Arcana. Most of the Stands' users display personality traits indicative of the Tarot cards their Stands were named after. Jotaro's name is even a play on the word "tarot" and their Family Theme Naming.
  • Jotaro's Stand is Star Platinum. The Star card has many positive connotations associated with heroism, such as hope, good omens, and peace before the storm. This tells the audience that, despite Jotaro's angry outward appearance, he is still the virtuous hero of the story, not to mention being the "Star" of Stardust Crusaders.
  • Joseph Joestar's Stand is Hermit Purple. The Hermit card represents wisdom and sharing knowledge with others, symbolizing Joseph's role as the Older and Wiser Supporting Leader of the group.
  • Muhammad Avdol possesses the Stand Magician's Red. Avdol displays many positive aspects of the Magician card — initiative, confidence, manipulation, and realizing one's potential. Avdol also represents the Magician being Tarot I, as he is the first person to properly use his Stand, the first person to start a fight in Stardust Crusaders, the first to meet DIO, and the first of the group to die. Appropriately enough, he wears a red robe over white/beige clothing along with a matching headband, matching the Rider–Waite Tarot card design.
  • Noriaki Kakyoin uses Hierophant Green. The Hierophant card represents intelligence, leadership, guidance, education, and tradition — which are all aspects present in Kakyoin's characterization. He's an honor student that respects rules and traditions, and presents multiple characteristics that belong to a leader despite not being one. The Hierophant also represents interpreting mysteries and uncovering obscure secrets, and this is exactly what Kakyoin does in his final moments, allowing his fellow Crusaders to figure out the secret of DIO's Stand.
  • Jean-Pierre Polnareff's Stand is the Silver Chariot. The Chariot card symbolizes that one is goal-driven and determined to achieve victory; Polnareff is driven by his determination to avenge his sister's murder, and this leads him to defeating many enemy Stands that he comes across by himself.
  • Iggy wields the Stand known as The Fool. The Fool card indicates a desire for a new beginning, as well as being enthusiastic, if a bit unrestrained and reckless. Iggy is introduced as a new party member once the Crusaders finally step foot into Egypt, which indicates a new chapter in their journey to defeat DIO. Iggy is known to be stubborn and self-sufficient, not needing anyone else's assistance for anything besides food. The traits of no restrain and recklessness are encapsulated in Iggy's tendency to chew people's hair and fart in their faces, and The Fool Stand itself is rather unhinged in how violent it can be, as well as being a literal sand construct. Interestingly, most art for The Fool card depicts a dog in the corner, and Iggy himself is a dog.
  • Starter Villain Gray Fly uses the Tower of Gray. The Tower card is associated with destruction, crisis, and sudden change. Gray Fly has a history of causing accidents and killing people for their valuables, and the appearance of Tower of Gray changes the Crusaders' journey into a more perilous one than before.
  • The impostor Captain Tennille uses the Dark Blue Moon. The Moon card symbolizes betrayal, lies, and trouble in water. The faux Captain Tennille is a sea captain who impersonates a trusted ally of the Joestars in order to get close to them and kill them.
  • The Stand known as Strength is used by an orangutan named Forever. The Strength card symbolizes primal nature, confidence, and hidden potential. As an ape, Forever is the first non-human Stand user to be shown in the series, and as such, nobody expected it out of him. Likewise, its Super-Empowering ability also fits the "hidden potential" aspect. Reversed, the Strength card also represents hedonism and lack of self-control (both of which are represented by Forever's perverted lust toward human females), as well as a lack of courage; shown when he immediately surrenders after Jotaro headshots him with a button.
  • Devo the Cursed uses Ebony Devil. The Devil represents entrapment, which Devo figuratively does by letting himself get wounded by Polnareff to give his Stand the power to take revenge. Then his Stand literally entraps Polnareff by tying him to the underside of the bed and torture him. The Devil also tends to be a primal male figure, which Ebony Devil evokes by making multiple references to male genitalia.
  • Rubber Soul's Stand is Yellow Temperance. The Temperance card usually represents balance, open-mindedness, and the merging of different energies. But it can also represent inconsistency and an inability to commit. Yellow Temperance absorbs organic matter into itself, Rubber Soul himself flip-flops between submitting to Jotaro and trying to kill him, and his unpleasant personality prevents him from committing to his disguises for long.
  • Hol Horse has The Emperor as a Stand. The Emperor card, when facing upright, symbolizes being your own boss and making your own rules for others to obey. Hol Horse has a rigid policy about letting his partner take charge, as he believes taking charge himself puts him in danger. By sticking to this policy, he exhibits traits of the reversed Emperor; poor leadership and lack of energy.
  • J. Geil possess a few traits of the Hanged Man card for which his Stand is named. In a twisted sense, his teamwork with Hol Horse represents putting others first and waiting for a better opportunity, as he would wait for Hol Horse to set him up before attacking. When reversed, the Hanged Man can represent the inability to change, which is shown by how J. Geil is an unrepentant Serial Rapist and Serial Killer who gloats about his misdeeds to Polnareff, the older brother of one of Geil's past victims. Finally, the card depicts a man hanging upside-down by his leg, and he dies in a similar fashion when Polnareff finally catches up to him and sends the bastard off to Hell.
  • Nena's Stand is The Empress. The Empress is a symbol of beauty, nurturing and giving birth/parenthood. The Stand user's initial appearance is that of a beautiful young woman, and the Stand itself is, ironically, a parasite, which mocks Joseph by referring to him as its "father" since it came out of his body.
  • ZZ's Stand is the Wheel of Fortune. The Wheel of Fortune card symbolizes change and maneuvering through life. As a Stand, Wheel of Fortune is a Sinister Car with the ability to shapeshift, repair itself, and traverse different kinds of terrain, even up mountain cliffs.
  • Enya Geil uses a Stand named after the card Justice, of which Enya has a very strong yet twisted sense, as shown in how much she believes in the "righteousness" of DIO's cause and how badly she wants to avenge her son. Justice also deals with seeking the truth, which her Stand conceals using a dense fog.
  • Steely Dan's Stand is Lovers. The Lovers card stands for making connections with someone or something. The Stand connects Steely Dan to his victims so they can feel the pain he inflicts on himself.
  • The Sun is a card that represents happiness and good times. Arabia Fats' Sun materializes as an actual miniature sun to burn the group and has them trapped in a small hiding. Ironically, the group bursts into hysterics after discovering his weak spot.
  • Mannish Boy's Stand is Death 13. The Death card deals with new beginnings, and Mannish Boy is only an infant. Additionally, the Death card can mean facing your fears, referring to the Crusaders being trapped in a nightmare world by the Stand, and seeing the truth in a situation, which is what Kakyoin is desperately trying to get the others to realize.
  • Cameo's Stand is known as Judgement. The Judgement card refers to the Last Judgement in Christianity and depicts a scene of people being resurrected from the dead, which the Stand user claims he has the power to do. Additionally, when reversed, the Judgement card can represent being unable to let go of the past, which is what Polnareff is feeling when he asks to resurrect his loved ones.
  • Midler's Stand is High Priestess. The High Priestess represents the subconscious and the unknown, and Midler's Stand can disguise itself amongst normal objects, being able to imitate anything made out of minerals. The fact that her face is never shown in the anime or manga is also illustrative of that.
  • Big Bad DIO's Stand is The World. In addition to being the highest-ranking card in the Major Arcana, representing that DIO is the biggest obstacle the Joestars face, it symbolizes fulfillment, completion, and achieving what we desire most. Dio is constantly striving for perfection and completion in everything he does. When the card is reversed, it can symbolize being incomplete (meaning that he has not yet reached the perfection he strives for), and isolation (symbolizing how Dio holes himself up in his mansion and lets his minions fight for him).
• In the first season of the anime Kaleido Star, Fool, the Stage Spirit, can read the future using tarot cards.
• The Kindaichi Case Files case Tarot Hut Murder Case has, as might be expected, a Theme Serial Killer who leaves relevant cards behind at the crime scenes, and positions the bodies in ways based on the card art. The meaning of most of the Tarot motifs chosen are explained by Dr. Yuuki:
  • The first victim, obnoxious Paparazzi Goro Itami, is found with a bloody Wheel of Fortune nailed to the door of his room, prompting the cast to search for him and eventually find him tied to the windmill that had previously been noted to look like the card. The Wheel of Fortune can signify chance encounters that change people's fate. Not only does Itami's death change the stay at the cozy ski lodge into a murder case, but Itami himself was only trapped at the hut by chance, but his own actions kickstarted everything by realizing his murderer's dark past and attempting to blackmail him over it.
  • Next to die is Mitsuhiko Akama, the director of Reika Hayami's production company, killed by a hairdryer tossed in his bath that leaves his body twisted the same way as the man falling from The Tower nailed to the wall next to him. In addition to the tower on The Tower and Akama both being destroyed by electricity, The Tower symbolizes destruction and upheaval. Akama was a 52 year old man who regularly used the Casting Couch on young idols, a man primed for a well earned fall.
  • The final victim is Reika's father, Yuichiro, the owner of the Tarot Hut and the one who killed Itami and Akama, the latter on the orders of the true mastermind, who was also responsible for moving Itami's body and leaving behind the cards. Yuichiro is found hanged in a locked room with a Hanged Man card on the wall. Dr. Yuuki, assuming suicide, gives the meaning of The Hanged Man as "achieving peace by letting go of your position". However, the card more generally represents powerlessness and self sacrifice. Yuichiro is sent from one blackmailer to another, unable to escape being made into a murderer for the sake of protecting his daughter.
  • With three people dead, Kindaichi senses the presence of the mastermind behind the case, who he dubs The Hermit. An unconventional choice for an antagonist, but the culprit certainly demonstrates great wisdom and intelligence, demonstrating skill at manipulation, coming up with a clever locked room trick, and recognizing Kindaichi as a serious threat and attempting to kill him, all despite not even having been planning murder before arriving at the hut. The Hermit also represents loneliness, fitting for the culprit, who was driven to kill by the murder of their father and the disappearance of their younger sister.
  • The real irony to it all is that all the symbolism behind the Tarot was pure coincidence: the culprit didn't know anything about Tarot cards. Kindaichi realizes who the culprit is when he notices that The Hanged Man is upside-down and remembers that there's only one (still living) person in the hut who hadn't been present for a Tarot reading and thus wouldn't realize that The Hanged Man is hanged by the foot. The Hermit originally moved Itami's body just to give Yuichiro an alibi so he could escape suspicion long enough to kill Akama, then left the Wheel of Fortune so no one would realize the real reason the body was moved and the other cards just to keep up the illusion. The reversed Hanged Man can symbolize that self-sacrifice would be pointless, which lends a tinge of irony to The Hermit's defeat: killing Yuichiro themself lets Kindaichi track them down as a murderer, while if they had just sat back and waited, Yuichiro likely would have been arrested for the murders^*  Kindaichi realized that Yuichiro was a killer soon after the first body was found and had built up an extensive case against him by the time of his death and The Hermit would likely have gotten away, since not even Yuichiro himself had the slightest suspicion against them.
• Sendou Daiki from LBX: Little Battlers eXperience tries to have this, but it appears that he never found out what any of the cards actually mean. For example, he tries to intimidate Ban with Death, but in reality the card means change instead of actual death.
• In Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Celestial Being uses Tarot-based codenames for various things. The main character's Gundam, Exia is also known as The 7 of Swords (which isn't all that symbolic, considering it actually carries seven swords: four beam, two vibrating a Swiss-Army Weapon with a blade the size of a bus) for instance.
  • More straight example can be found in the side stories Gundam 00P and Gundam 00F feature prototype of Celestial Being's Gundams and each Gundam named after things associate with arcana. Gundam Astraea named after goddess Astraea of The Justice. Gundam Sadalsuud named after Sadalsuud of constellation Aquarius, associate with The Star. Gundam Abulhool named after sphinx in The Chariot. And finally, Gundam Plutone named after Pluto is either Death or Judgement.
  • While Mobile Suit Gundam Wing doesn't explicitly use tarot imagery, an official tarot deck was released for the show, featuring characters and mobile suits. You can see it here.
• Nobunaga the Fool titles and themes every episode after tarot cards. Once per episode, Da Vinci has someone draw a card as a sort of divination and it is invariably the title card, sometimes reversed.
• One of the endings for Pani Poni Dash! has different characters as tarot cards each episode. Sometimes they fit, other times they're tangentially related at best.
• Miho, the Oracular Urchin in several episodes of Ranma ½, used a tarot deck for her fortunetelling.
• Rebuild of Evangelion had its own tarot set. Most notably, it had Rei as The Fool although this one was shared with Rei I and III, The Star, and The World;^note In her Lilith form Kaworu was The Hierophant, The Moon, and Death;^note In this case, he wielded two scythes Shinji was Justice and Asuka was The Empress.^note Though for now she's only a princess
• Tokito from Samurai Deeper Kyo has a deck and often reveals a significant card to her interlocutors while they speak. This also extends to making a prediction to all the heroes as they're about to enter the Crimson King's Tower, though this time no specific card is shown.
• Chikage in Sister Princess uses a tarot deck for fortunetelling, although any explicit symbolism in the cards was unintentionally subverted by turning the reading into Stock Footage that showed the same five cards over and over again.
• Symphogear:
  • Each of the Autoscorers in GX represents one of the four tarot suites via a weapon or ability:
    • Leiur uses coins, representing the suit of coins.
    • Phara uses a sword, representing the suit of swords.
    • While most of the Autoscorers can drain memories from people, Garie can transfer them to others, representing the suit of cups.
    • Micha can use large crystals in battle, representing the suit of wands.
  • Roundabout example with Elfnein: Her name is Gratuitous German for "no eleven". She is a homunculus who Carol views as the "unneeded card of justice", and in the Rider-Waite deck, the eleventh card is Justice.
• In Tokyo Ghoul, hidden numbers are scattered within the artwork. These correspond to the Major Arcana, while certain characters are heavily associated with a certain card.
  • Kaneki Ken: The Hanged Man (XII), The Chariot (VII), Temperance (XIV), The Hermit (IX)
  • Juuzou Suzuya: The Fool (0), Death (XIII), The Hanged Man (XII)
  • Touka: The High Priestess (II)
  • Hide: The Magician (I)
  • Itori: The Lovers (VI)
  • Seidou Takizawa: The Devil (XV)
  • Arima: Justice (XI), Wheel of Fortune (X), Death (XIII)
  • CCG: The Hierophant (V)
  • Sasaki Haise: Strength (VIII)
  • "Torso": The Empress (III)
• Trinity Blood had its own tarot deck released with the DVD box sets, with illustrations by Thores Shibamoto, who also worked on the novels.
• DVD sets of Umineko: When They Cry contains tarot cards (Major Arcanas of course) of the characters. Good luck getting all of them.
• The Vision of Escaflowne used a lot of Tarot symbolism, including to name each episode. Rather than using the traditional Rider-Waite Tarot, Hitomi's deck uses the Merlin Tarot (a deck released in the late 1980s based on Arthurian mythology). The difference, however, is that Hitomi's cards are titled in Gratuitous Italian and the Minor Arcana cards have their titles changed to one of their associated keywords (for example, the "Warrior of Beasts" is renamed "[The] Ambition").
• In the case of CLAMP's X/1999, the creators themselves released a tarot deck. The major arcana art was clearly created with this purpose in mind, but the minor arcana art is mostly recycled from art books. Still, a beautiful (and often pricey) piece of functional art.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • In the first season of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Bakura's deck contains some tarot-themed cards. He uses "Lady of Faith" (The High Priestess) in his duel with Yugi and later uses his cards to tell Pegasus' fortune—of course, it's his death. Cue the ancient Egyptian laser beams!
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Saiou uses a Duel Monsters deck based on Tarot cards, called "Arcana Force". Not only does he duel with them, he also uses them symbolically just like real ones, to represent the character traits of people he's facing. Several characters have specific cards that are associated with them in Saiou's predictions.
    • Judai is The Fool.
    • Edo is The Hierophant.
    • Manjoume is The Hanged Man.
    • Saiou himself is The Devil.
    • Kenzan is Strength.
    • Asuka is The Sun.
    • Prince Ojin is The Emperor.
    • Dr. Eisenstein is The Hermit.
  • Z-ONE from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds has a few cards with some obvious Tarot-based symbolism, such as "Empress's Staff" and "Magician's Adage".
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V introduces another archetype that uses the Tarot motif known as Prophecy. Used by Yuu Sakuragi, it is based on Spellcasters and have a supporting archetype based on Spellbooks.

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