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

Publisher: Privately published (Japan)
Publication Year: 2000
Number of cards: 24
Quality of artwork -- 2 1/2 stars
Usefulness for meditation/pathworking -- 1/2 star
Readability (Divination) -- 1/2 star
Symbology -- 1 star
Value to Collectors -- 3 1/2 stars

General Commentary
Do you like the Japanese "anime" tarots?

Do you like collaborative tarots?

If you answered "yes" to both of the above questions, then you'll most likely enjoy the UTENA tarot.

(And if you answered "no" to both questions, well… you can probably just skip reading the rest of this review.)

The UTENA tarot is a collaborative deck, created by artists who are fans of the anime show known as "Revolutionary Girl Utena." Like other tarots based on Japanese anime and manga (such as the Weiss Kreuz and Ah! My Goddess tarots, both reviewed earlier), the UTENA tarot may be little more than an interesting curiosity to those persons not familiar with the underlying story itself. Most readers will almost certainly find this deck useless for cartomantic purposes, except perhaps in the case of one UTENA fan doing a reading for another UTENA fan. And it is doubtful that even an UTENA fan would find this deck particularly useful for any sort of meditative study or pathworking.

But for the collector, there are a several reasons to recommend the UTENA tarot. First, it is somewhat of an oddity among anime tarots, in that it is an unauthorized fan publication. Most (if not all) of the other anime- and manga-based tarots published in Japan are officially licensed products, as one would expect items based on a commercial television show to be. Second, the fact that it is a collaborative deck makes the UTENA doubly unique, as Japanese collaborative decks of any sort are apparently rare (at least ones that are made available on this side of the Pacific, anyway). Third, the artwork is, for the most part, quite good -- although there remains both a variation in card quality and an unevenness of style as one would expect in a collaborative deck.

But to some extent, I am admittedly "out of my element" in reviewing a deck like the UTENA. I confess to experiencing a rather odd "mental paradox" with such tarots -- while I am drawn to the anime art style, I do not possess an accompanying interest in watching/reading the anime and manga stories themselves. So whether or not an anime tarot succeeds in the one thing it truly sets out to do, finding the archetypical parallels between its story and universal tarot symbolism, is not a judgment that I am typically prepared to make. In doing some research on the "Revolutionary Girl Utena" show, however, it would appear that the character choices for most cards are satisfactory; at least, in the opinions of the UTENA fan discussions I have read. The story itself concerns the interrelationships (and duels, literally) between a group of junior high school students. I expect that there are more subtleties involved in the stories than I was able to glean from the episode synopses that I read, so for those who are interested in more information, here's one informational site you can visit: http://www.goldensenshi.com/becka/bshb/.

However, I'm always happy to share my opinions on the quality of a tarot's artwork. And, on the whole, the various artists have done a more-than-satisfactory job in capturing the look of the UTENA characters in grand style. The most notable exception is the Star card, which looks as if it was somewhat hastily slapped together using diluted watercolor paints. The artwork on the rest of the cards ranges from pleasing to engrossing. For example, in the "Strength" card (titled "La Force"  for some reason, the text and titles of this Japanese deck are given in French), we see Utena herself, apparently preparing for a duel. While her opponent is not shown, there is a shadow of a lion on the wall behind her; the image of Utena's own shadow is shown conquering the lion, foretelling her victory. While many other cards, such as the profiled character and his car found on the Chariot card, do not contain the same interesting subtleties as the Strength card, their elements are interestingly composited, making them very enjoyable to look at.

Another interesting feature of the UTENA tarot is its inclusion of two Empress and two Death cards. Presumably, as with many collaborative efforts, these were cases where two artists ended up being "assigned" to the same card. In each instance, however, the same characters are used (a character named "Nanami" for the Empress, and one named "Souji" for Death), so either agreements were made beforehand as to which characters would be assigned to each card, or the correspondences were so strong that both artists instinctively made the same selection.

Also, three cards, the Emperor, the Hierophant, and Justice, were created by a 14-year old artist, who manages to hold his/her (?) own very well in the company of the older (and presumably more experienced) contributors.

The UTENA tarot deck shows up on eBay from time to time, but is otherwise quite difficult to find. The Japanese importer through whom I purchased my copy of the UTENA last year appears to be out-of-business, and I have no alternative recommendations.

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Guest review copyright 2001 by Jeannette Roth
Used with permission