Publication Facts and Rating (0 to 5 stars) "At-a-Glance"

Publisher: Movic (Japan)
Publication Year: ??
Number of cards: 22
Quality of artwork -- 3 stars
Usefulness for meditation/pathworking -- 1/2 star
Readability (Divination) -- 1 star
Symbology -- 1 star
Value to Collectors -- 3 stars

General Commentary
To be honest, I am probably not the best person to be reviewing a deck like the Weiß Kreuz tarot. If one were to categorize the different sorts of Asian tarots available, this deck would definitely fall into the "anime tarot" category. There are a fair number of these types of decks produced at present, each based on a Japanese animated cartoon show. And, as it so happens, I don't actually watch any Japanese cartoon shows. At least, not at the present time.

An interesting fact about Japanese cartoons (or "anime"), however, is that there are apparently several series where tarot use is occasionally or regularly part of the stories. Perhaps it is the presence of tarot in these cartoons that naturally led to the creation of tarots based on those cartoons. Ergo, we have decks like the Weiß Kreuz tarot, which takes characters, places, and situations from the cartoon and attempts to align them with traditional tarot symbology.

The story behind the Weiß Kreuz (which is German for "White Cross") anime series involves a real-life "J-Pop" group of the same name. While the opening and closing themes of the show are apparently performed by the group, the actual storyline of the series has nothing to do with pop music. Instead, the four members of the group become characters in a story wherein, by day, they work as florists, and by night, they work as assassins. The presentation of any additional information about this series is probably best left to its fans; a web search on "Weiss Kreuz" should turn up any number of pages devoted to the show. (If you're just looking for a brief overview, you can quickly hop over to one fan site I found by clicking here.)

In any case, the question remains: is any of this truly tarot-related, or is a deck like the Weiß Kreuz deck simply designed as a collectible for fans of the T.V. show? The answer is almost certainly that this tarot was created for anime enthusiasts, and not for tarot lovers. It is published by a Japanese company called Movic, which apparently specializes in anime products. As far as I've been able to determine, the tarots published by Movic have all been based on anime or manga (comic book) sources.

This isn't to say that the Weiß Kreuz tarot is not without its possible appeal to tarot collectors. The cards are packaged in a very nice, padded, bookshelf-style box with a silver-embossed outer slipcover. They are printed on a good quality, gloss cardstock. The images are colorful, and are well-executed in the anime style (if you like that sort of thing, which personally I do).

The peripheral symbolism appears quite simplistic and stereotypical, however, and is therefore not very interesting for purposes of reading or study. For example, the Wheel of Fortune card simply shows a female figure standing in front of a circle containing Hebrew letters along its circumference. Without knowing who the female figure is, there is little here to enlighten us or spark our imaginations. So, with the possible exception of its use by any tarotists that are hard-core fans of the show, the Weiß Kreuz deck is almost certainly worthless as a reading tool.

Still, for those collectors who like to include more unusual tarots in their collection, the Weiß Kreuz might make a good addition to the mix. I have not rated this deck as high as I might have on the dimension of "collectibility," as I expect that there are a fair number of collectors who have no interest at all in this type of "novelty" tarot. On the other hand, the fact that many collectors might "pass over" a deck like the Weiß Kreuz may, in the long run, mean that the Weiß Kreuz will prove to be quite a "catch" for the more eclectic collector.

As with most Asian tarots, the Weiß Kreuz deck appears to have very limited distribution in the U.S. One source I have found, however, is an anime-specialty importing outfit called Doki Doki Station. Doki Doki will accept special orders for the Weiß Kreuz and other anime-related tarots, and may actually have some available in stock at any given time. I can attest to their customer service as being outstanding.

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Guest review copyright 2000 by Jeannette Roth
Used with permission