The final piece actually looks a lot different from my first attempt lol. I initially wasn't happy with the background and left it on my computer for a few months.
I ended up scrapping the entire background and redoing it with a different painting style lol. I like it a lot better.
If you're interested in an explanation of my design choices (It's a bit of a read by the by), it's under the cut:
Despite the name, The Fool doesn't actually depict someone who's stupid or unintelligent. Rather, The Fool is naive, innocent. They're young and full of adventure-- willing to take risks and follow their heart.
Their place as the 0th card is significant. The main arcana symbolizes the journey one goes through to become a better/whole person. The Fool, on the other hand, hasn't even begun their journey yet. They have an infinite potential, not having yet made any decisions that would cut off any life paths. This means that they can choose to be whatever they want, but unfortunately, that level of freedom can be dangerous.
The Fool hasn't experienced life enough to consider the consequences of the choices they're making or simply are unable to do so, due to a lack of knowledge. This is most obviously shown by The Fool being a couple steps away from walking off a cliff. They're too caught up in their sense of adventure to simply look down and avoid serious injury.
I thought Y0 Kiryu fit this description really well. Honestly, the entire game is about him 'becoming' yakuza.
He begins the game with a very simple understanding of how the yakuza culture works. He thinks leaving the Dojima family would clear his father's name when in fact, it does literally nothing. Kiryu's trying to play fair while everyone around him is cheating.
Throughout the game, Kiryu's youthful innocence about the way the world works is taken from him, violently. He sees the power of money, but also how it can hurt people. He gets himself into an almost impossible situation and decides that the only way out is to literally die. He learns how one mistake can completely change the course of his life.
But we still see hints that his journey has only just begun. Not does Kiryu retain his kindness, naivety, and willingness to help others, but he also has a symbolic 'rebirth' at the end of the game. He's wearing his iconic suit now. He's back in the Dojima family. He's ready to use the lessons he's learned to enter adulthood.
Now let's talk symbolism!
In the original Rider-Waite-Smith card (which is what I largely based my design off of), The Fool is accompanied by a dog. The dog is standing on its hind legs and almost beckoning to its owner. Whether this is in encouragement or warning would largely depend on your own personal interpretation.
In my version of the card, I chose to replace the dog with Kazama reaching out to Kiryu, although it's a bit difficult to tell in the actual card.
I was originally going for Kazama warning Kiryu not to go down the yakuza path. Kazama tries numerous times to lead Kiryu down the path of an 'honest' life because he knows Kiryu isn't cut out to be yakuza.
But as I continued working on this card, I also thought about the ways in which Kazama encourages Kiryu to go down a destructive path. Not only is Kazama the one that brings Kiryu and Nishiki into the yakuza world, but his meddling after Kiryu quits the yakuza just brings him deeper and deeper into a life he claims he doesn't want his son to pursue.
Kazama is the one that tells Tachibana to work with Kiryu. He's using his son to not only keep Dojima from gaining more power, but also, to secure Kazama's own place in the Dojima family. Kuze, while obviously just trying to manipulate Kiryu, wasn't totally wrong in his summation of Kazama. He's a crafty bitch.
He's almost a blending of the dog encouraging and warning The Fool.
He's a double bind.
Kiryu's also holding Kazama's pocket watch. I honestly just needed him to hold something in his hand like The Fool was carrying his bag. But I wanted it to be something important to Kiryu, not just some random weapon or something. So I settled on the pocket watch.
Kiryu is traveling to Kamurocho from Sunflower orphanage. I'm not sure if Sunflower was in a super rural area (considering Haruka could get to the city by taxi), but I'm taking creative liberties, okay? It's about the juxtaposition. You've got the lush, green, comfortable feeling of home, compared to the cold, industrial city.
" i'm a delicate maiden like freshly fallen snow, a fragile flower too shy to blossom. i could never hurt a fly. you believe me, don't you, caelus ~ ? "
:^)
As if the idea of second thought had to conjure in his mind in any capacity. There's a fire in his eyes, a knowing of the devious devil tail set in that romanticism this Angel of the Ether presences. Even before her divine glories of that scintillating light, he'd step regardless, daring to face this raw definition of confidence within that instant as she plays upon the whims of innocence. Now, just how exactly should he play into the picture her creative words painted?
All while she redefines a cult classic known as the Mona Lisa. Even Caelus, for all his experience can't deny the goddamn way she snatched his breath away in this fleeting moment. Intent roars through his very being despite the firm reign his spiritual grasp keeps upon Trailblazing instinct. "Now there's a world of things I can imagine with you. ..But is this a fairy tale you tucked close? Being that maiden synonymous with innocence?" An amused brow quirks at the note, all while those burning golds focused upon her.
Through a touch of Preservation, raw heat pressure ignites from the souls, gravitating him towards that dominion of her covenant, arms fixed upon those metallic wings as he dared to peer right up to this new definition of divinity.
"But hurting? I'm not so sure, don't a delicate lady like you have her share of edges she's showing off here?" From the razor like wings of her angelic hubris, a singular finger draws across that lethality personified, soon working shameless direction across the course of that silken clad thigh.
"Don't you know how many wars you'd start with radiance like this alone? All in your name?"
