The Tarot Cafe

The Tarot Cafe is a beautifully illustrated Manhwa by Sang-Sun Park about a fortune teller named Pamela who deals with special customers after midnight. These customers can range from a wish-giving cat to a vampire to an alchemist (and so on and so forth), all of them with problems that only Pamela can help with... for a price. The particular price Pamela asks from these peculiar customers of hers just so happens to be a bead from Berial's necklace. The reasons as to why she's gathering the beads is something she prefers to keep to herself, but these are revealed during the course of the story.

The manhwa starts out as a series of one-shot stories but eventually is revealed, through the mysterious beads Pamela collects, to be connected in a complicated plot that covers Pamela's life, from the time when she was a very small child to an adult, and is a mix of horror, comedy and drama. Despite the unreliable narrative (is it Ashes or Axis? Berial or Belial?), it's quite an enjoyable read, with humor lightening an otherwise dark story.

Now has a Character Sheet.

Tropes associated with The Tarot Cafe:


 * Abusive Parents - One of the later stories deals with this.
 * Several do, in fact.
 * Anachronism Stew - To a point, at least - there are modern fashions and the internet in a time period where there wasn't any.
 * And I Must Scream -
 * Attempted Rape - Victor does this to Pamela.
 * Berserk Button - Just try saying Pamela's name in front of Alecto. Go on. We dare you. To a more humorous extent, Pamela does not like being called an old lady.
 * Beware the Nice Ones - Inverted with, who is not as nice as he initially seems. Ashes turns out to be quite frightening when he's angry. This also applies to Aaron (to an extent), since he's a werewolf.
 * Bishonen - Almost every guy who shows up is this, but especially Belus and Ash.
 * Bi the Way - Almost everyone.
 * Blessed with Suck - Seeing the future isn't all it's cracked up to be.
 * Break the Cutie - Everyone.
 * Cats Are Mean - Very much subverted with Butterfly.
 * Chained to a Bed - A male-on-male example, with Alecto kidnapping Ash and chaining him to a bed. Played seriously at first, with Ash being angry and afraid at the situation... only to be played for laughs later, with Ash teasing Alecto and flirting with him and Alecto getting hot and bothered about it.
 * Costume Porn
 * Food Porn
 * Scenery Porn - Let's face it, the art is gorgeous.
 * Cursed with Awesome - Pamela and Ashes immortality can be seen as this. Belus even makes a statement to Pamela that many people hunt dragons for the immortality they provide.
 * Dark-Skinned Blond - Akrasia
 * Deal with the Devil - Also,  makes this with   because he's tired of living.
 * Technically
 * Death Seeker -
 * Depraved Bisexual - Victor also counts as this, as he admires Ashes' beauty even while trying to kill him.
 * Disappeared Dad - Pamela's father is never mentioned.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending
 * Evil Plan - Pretty much the whole plot was arranged by, who wanted to keep Pamela forever because she amused him. Another example is
 * Face Heel Turn -, in the form of the spiteful and manipulative . Later becomes a Heel Face Turn, with him able to move on and live a normal, happy life.
 * Fallen Angel -
 * Fate Worse Than Death -
 * Foe Yay - both loves and hates Pamela.
 * Go Mad From the Revelation - Inverted with  who goes temporarily insane and becomes utterly broken when Alecto  tells him he's just a clone.
 * Heel Face Mole - Played around with. forgets just who  is, so his plot comes as a complete shock to her.
 * Heroes Want Redheads - A gender-inverted example, with Pamela and Ash.
 * Heroic Sacrifice - Many, but especially, who is killed trying to warn Pamela.
 * Ho Yay - Lots.
 * I Am Who? - A non-heroic example, with turning out to be the reincarnation  of, , and Aaron is strongly implied to be the reincarnation of
 * Love At First Sight - Pamela and Ash both deal with men who falls for him just by looking at him. Neither of them are particularly sane or nice about it.
 * The Masochism Tango: This turns up a lot. A lot of minor characters in the one-shot stories get this, along with.
 * Mayfly-December Romance - Ashes and Pamela. There is also one between a vampire and a human  in one of the earlier stories.
 * One story deals with.
 * A one-sided one takes place between a girl and her intelligent, wish-granting cat.
 * Mind Control -  with shades of More Than Mind Control attached to it.
 * Murder the Hypotenuse -
 * My God, What Have I Done? - is implied to have one of these  and apologizes to Pamela. It turns out later that his apology was made for a very good reason.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast - The Prince of Pandemonium.
 * Noble Demon - has traces of this.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity - to the point where he even manages to fool the devil.
 * Our Dragons Are Different - Dragons are described as "divine, immortal beings" who pass their immortality onto the person who touches the first drop of their heart's blood.
 * Our Werewolves Are Different - Werewolves are described by Nebiros as demons, and the natural ones take on the forms of beautiful women who can shape-shift at will.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old - There are several examples of this.
 * Satan -
 * Shape Shifter - The dragons, demons and especially.
 * Scary Black Man - Justified in that Alecto, the aforementioned scary black man, is actually a scary black dragon.
 * Stalker with a Crush - Victor.
 * Sympathy for the Devil - Despite all he's done to her, Pamela still feels this for and even befriends him upon recognizing his loneliness. To a lesser extent, Pamela is able to realize what  has gone through and forgives him.
 * Taken for Granite - You do not want to piss Nebiros off.
 * Taking the Bullet - Belus does this when
 * Tarot Motifs
 * The Fair Folk
 * There Are No Therapists
 * The Reveal - In a (somewhat) lighter example, the story is revealed at the end of the series to take place.
 * Tsundere - Pamela and Alecto are both examples of this.
 * Villainous Breakdown - has one of these at Alecto's  revelation, and  has one in the decades after his plans are foiled. Both get better and undergo Heel Face Turns.
 * Waif Prophet - Pamela.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy - Belus, who is shown on one of the covers as having silver hair.
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl - Cora.
 * Who Wants to Live Forever? -
 * Yandere -
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl - Cora.
 * Who Wants to Live Forever? -
 * Yandere -