| Saint Tail | |
| Ja Kanji: | 怪盗 セイント・テール |
| Ja Romaji: | Kaitō Seinto Tēru |
| Genre: | Magical girl[1] |
| Type: | manga |
| Author: | Megumi Tachikawa |
| Publisher: | Kodansha |
| Demographic: | Shōjo |
| Magazine: | Nakayoshi |
| First: | October 1994 |
| Last: | December 1996 |
| Volumes: | 7 |
| Type: | tv series |
| Director: | Osamu Nabeshima |
| Music: | Hayato Matsuo |
| Studio: | TMS-Kyokuichi |
| Network: | ANN (ABC) |
| First: | 12 October 1995 |
| Last: | 12 September 1996 |
| Episodes: | 43 |
is a manga and anime series. Based on a seven-volume manga by Megumi Tachikawa, the story was adapted into an anime television series by producer TMS-Kyokuichi, broadcast by ABC. Tokyopop translated the manga series, and subtitled and partially dubbed the anime series. The Tokyopop book summary states that it is "Robin Hood meets Sailor Moon!"[2]
See main article: List of Saint Tail characters. Meimi Haneoka, the daughter of a former phantom thief and a stage magician, is an ordinary middle school student by day but the vigilante hero "Phantom Thief Saint Tail" by night. Using information obtained from her friend and classmate Seira Mimori, a sister-in-training, Saint Tail steals illegitimately obtained items and returns them to their proper owners. While Saint Tail gains a reputation as a local hero in her small town of Seika City, Meimi's classmate Asuka Jr., the son of a police detective, condemns her with the words "a thief is still a thief" and declares himself to be the one who will catch Saint Tail; however, when Saint Tail sees him assisting the police during her capers, he acknowledges her honorable motives and even steps in to protect her from physical harm.
Although Meimi is initially offended by Asuka Jr.'s arrogance and insensitivity towards others, she begins to find his genuine sincerity in chasing Saint Tail to be attractive and sends him calling cards to challenge him. Saint Tail agrees to make a promise with him to always send a calling card every time she embarks on a caper, and not allow anyone else to catch her before him.
Eventually, Asuka Jr. had secretly been worried about Meimi's well-being the entire time, but cannot completely express it due to his poor social skills. After one of Saint Tail's capers causes him to suspect that Saint Tail may actually be Meimi, Asuka Jr. realizes how little he knows about Meimi and develops an extreme obsession with catching Saint Tail to learn the truth. Meanwhile, Meimi begins to fear that Asuka Jr. would hate her if he learned about her identity, causing her to go into emotional isolation and withdraw from him further.
After repeated observation of Saint Tail's capers, Asuka Jr. comes to sympathize with her to the point he no longer believes she should be arrested, but still intends to "catch" her in order to protect her from the police or anyone else who would harm her. After concluding that Saint Tail has become an "ideal" who is treated more as a concept than a human being, Asuka Jr. realizes that his current stake in the Saint Tail chase is an extension of his feelings for Meimi, leading to him confessing his love to her. Eight years later, Asuka Jr. carries on Saint Tail's desire to protect Seika City by working as a private detective, and proposes to and marries Meimi.
| Title[3] | Target Item | Notice Method | Air Date |
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Tokyopop licensed Saint Tail for an English-language translation in North America, and published it from April 23, 2001 to December 10, 2002.[4] [5] This translation has since gone out of print.[4]
In 2017, Kodansha held a contest through pixiv for fans of Megumi Tachikawa's Saint Tail to become the artist for the "next generation" version of the manga. The contest asked fans to create the story of a new phantom thief who appears in Seika City.[6] [7]