Kaitou Saint Tail

Reviewed: Episodes 1-32 (subbed)

Basic Plot:

Haneoka Meimi is an adorable young girl who has an interesting job. At night, she becomes the mysterious thief (kaitou) Saint Tail! Meimi’s best friend Seira is a nun-in-training, and people often come to her with their worries. When their problems involve precious items being stolen from them, Seira relays the situation to Meimi. As Saint Tail, she steals back the items and returns them to their rightful owners. Saint Tail is a clever thief who uses magician tricks to aid her, but she meets her match in Asuka Jr., the son of the chief of police who is also Meimi’s schoolmate! Being the only person to ever come close to catching her, the mayor grants Asuka Jr. full use of the police, and he’ll stop at nothing to catch her!

Review:

This is the cutest series I’ve ever seen. Really, it is. The animation is simply adorable, with eye-pleasing colors and very nice character designs. I really love the way they draw the eyes. The music is also very good, particularly the first ending theme “Innocence”. It just blows me away. In terms of plot, it’s pretty simple and can get a bit redundant (there’s always someone who needs something stolen back, and Saint Tail always steals it back for them), but it’s the little everyday things that happen in between the heists that will get you. Meimi’s relationship with Asuka Jr. is of particular interest, as it is one of my favorite anime romances. Meimi faces quite the dilemma, as Asuka Jr. has an undying obsession with Saint Tail, but verges on hating Meimi (I think he even tells Meimi he hates her). So what’s a girl to do? Tell him who she is and risk getting herself and Seira in a truckload of trouble? Or keep her mouth shut and continue being jealous of own alter ego?

Aside from that, Meimi is a great heroin. She’s not a princess, and she wasn’t chosen by some higher force or power to do what she does. She’s just a young girl who happens to very clever and also has magician skills learned from her father. She does what she does because she thinks it needs to be done, even if later I think she may be doing it just to get close to Asuka Jr. (^^;). Overall, Saint Tail is a smart, funny, and cute series. It has action, but not the “blowing stuff up” kind of action. It’s Saint Tail performing her tricks and zipping in and out of highly guarded places to steal the items. I saw few flaws, but a major one was the fact that the plot can get repetitive and you sometimes feel like it’s not going anywhere, or that no progress is being made. Still yet, it's definitely worth watching for the cuteness factor alone!