| Phantom Thief Jeanne | |
| Ja Kanji: | 神風怪盗ジャンヌ |
| Ja Romaji: | Kamikaze Kaitō Jannu |
| Genre: | Magical girl[1] |
| Type: | manga |
| Author: | Arina Tanemura |
| Publisher: | Shueisha |
| Demographic: | Shōjo |
| Magazine: | Ribon |
| Imprint: | Ribon Mascot Comics |
| First: | February 1998 |
| Last: | July 2000 |
| Volumes: | 7 |
| Type: | tv series |
| Director: | Atsutoshi Umezawa |
| Producer: | Iriya Azuma Kouichi Shitsuden Megumi Ueda Taro Iwamoto Yumi Shimizu |
| Music: | Michiaki Kato |
| Studio: | Toei Animation |
| Network: | TV Asahi |
| First: | February 13, 1999 |
| Last: | January 29, 2000 |
| Episodes: | 44 |
is a magical girl shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Arina Tanemura. The story is about the adventures of a high school girl, Maron Kusakabe, who is the reincarnation of Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) and transforms into a phantom thief magical girl to collect the scattered pieces of God's power, which are also coveted by demons hiding in beautiful art works.[2]
The manga was published by Shueisha in Ribon between February 1998 and July 2000. The individual chapters were collected and published in seven tankōbon volumes. It was formerly licensed for English-language publication by CMX Manga and is now licensed by Viz Media. The series was adapted by Toei Animation as a 44-episode anime television series that was broadcast on TV Asahi from February 1999 to January 2000. The manga was reissued by Shueisha in 2007, with all chapters fitting into only 6 volumes, instead of the original 7; all volumes had new covers.
16-year-old high-school gymnast Maron Kusakabe is visited by the angel Finn Fish, who gives her a task. God's power is scattered across the Earth, and if He does not gather enough by the turn of the millennium, He will die. To block Him, The Devil had sent out agents to gather His power, which is the beauty in human hearts, in the form of chess pieces. With Finn's assistance, Maron transforms into the reincarnation of Joan of Arc in order to hunt Demons hidden within works of art. When Maron seals a Demon, the artwork disappears, and to the outside world it is as if she has stolen it, and she becomes a phantom thief. Maron's best friend is Miyako, the daughter of a police detective in charge of Jeanne's case.
As the series progresses, Maron and Miyako fall in love with new classmate Chiaki, who wants to stop Maron collecting the chess pieces, for he knew that Finn Fish is the Fallen Angel, but apparently in the form of normal angel. Chiaki at first "fakes" falling in love to get closer to Maron, knowing Maron is Jeanne. Later he falls in love truthfully after realising that Maron is worth the effort, even if she does "hate" him. Maron, on the other hand, is confused and does not know what "love" means because her parents abandoned her when she was around ten years old when they were having problems getting along, so no one taught her. As a result, she does not know how to respond to Chiaki's advances.
The manga relates in detail Finn Fish's background, expounding on Finn's relationships with other angels and the events that led to her becoming Maron's partner. This backstory of the angels is not shown in the anime. Phantom Thief Jeanne has often drawn comparisons to Sailor Moon for the magical girl theme and similarity in appearance between Phantom Thief Jeanne and Sailor Moon.
Before the series began, Maron had encountered a tiny female angel named Finn Fish, who gave her a mission from God to seal away demons. These demons attempt to steal the beauty in human hearts, in order to increase the Devil's powers. Maron was given a mystical rosary with a large crucifix, by which she could transform into Phantom Thief Jeanne, the reincarnation of Joan of Arc, who then captures the demons. Her theme color is white.
Finn delivers Jeanne's advance notices that she will steal the painting to the possessed human's house. Then the police and Miyako come. Then at exactly 9 o'clock, from out of nowhere, Jeanne appears. She captures the demon and disappears into the night. Even though Jeanne does some property damage and steals paintings, the victims report neither the property damage nor the stolen paintings because they like the angel paintings more than the demon paintings.
Her crucifix will give off a certain sound when a demon is near. Other than the noise, the possessed human will have fangs — if the person smiles while doing something evil. She even uses it to communicate with Finn when she is not there. Maron finds out that, in chapter 12, her crucifix was to help her be Jeanne, to be invincible, with help from Finn. She actually holds a greater power within her that can make an ocean sparkle and makes the sky turn clear. Then her holy powers awakened. Her ribbon acts as an extra hand. It can help her reach high or far places or items. If Jeanne takes off the ribbon holding her hair together, she becomes Maron.
Even though she has her parents' phone number and address, she is afraid she would once again be "thrown away" by her parents, and thus refuses to contact them. The only time she is contacted by her parents is by her mother, in order to tell her they are divorcing. She is afraid of the night and darkness because her parents weren't there to comfort her loneliness, despair, and terror.
Maron is very close with her best friend Miyako, though she still holds her at a distance. In the beginning, she sees Chiaki as merely a playboy, and refuses to trust him as he had always seemed to be hitting on her. However, after the incident when Maron was told of her parents’ divorce, Chiaki found Maron alone in tears, and he encouraged her to believe in herself. This was a turning point for Maron: Chiaki's kindness helped her trust others, and it also sparked romantic feelings toward Chiaki. At first, she was surprised and dismayed about Chiaki's/Sinbad's identity, but she came to fall in love with him even more. Throughout the series, she tries to confess to him, but something always happens. She ends up not confessing before because if she did, she will hurt Miyako's feelings. Finally, in the second-to-last chapter, she confesses to him that she loves him and they sleep together. Seven years later, Maron is 24 years old, married to Chiaki, and has a daughter named Natsuki who is the reincarnation of Finn.
Maron ends up going through a time slip in chapter 22. She meets the real Joan of Arc and dragged Noin with her. With her final breath, Jeanne gave Maron her power and transformed in chapter 23. She doesn't need a pin to seal the demon, instead, her "courage" brings forth a sword.
Maron gives up her reincarnation power to have Finn reborn. She stops being a thief. She finally sees her parents (remarried to each other) again in chapter 30.
Her punch is so strong that she can crack a chalkboard and even break a brick wall.
Jeanne has some different physical features from Maron, and also possesses certain supernatural powers.
In chapter 29, Maron learns that her first reincarnation was Eve.
Chiaki, too, is accompanied by a small male angel, Access Time, who gave him the power to become Phantom Thief Sinbad. Like Jeanne, his crucifix helps him transform and is used to communicate with Access. It is eventually revealed that Chiaki had been attempting to stop Maron, because he knew of Finn's being an agent for the Devil, rather than for the God, and was using Maron to help him. He had wanted to seduce her in order to make her stop, but he began to find himself blushing each time Maron smiled to him, which he tried to lie to himself by telling himself that it is just "false affection" (in the manga), or that he was being moody (in the anime). After Maron discovers he was also Phantom Thief Sinbad, and that he was just trying to seduce her to make her stop being a Phantom Thief, he realizes his affection for her, and fights to regain her trust. His theme color is black.
If the bandana around Sinbad's head is undone, he returns to Chiaki. From his cross, he can summon multiple pins. He learns that his previous self was Adam.
His heart was manipulated by a demon that possessed Miyako in chapter 27. When Maron freed Miyako, he stops being manipulated but he was teleported to the Devil's palace.
In the second-to-last chapter, he is overjoyed when Maron confesses her love to him and confesses to her, and they sleep together. Seven years later, Chiaki is 24 years old, a doctor in training, married to Maron, and has a daughter named Natsuki who is Finn's reincarnation.
Because of her personality, she was once accused of stealing the class's lunch money. No one believed that she didn't steal it but only Maron did, and it was the teacher who had it. It then became a habit for her to say the opposite of what she felt. She depended too much on Maron's tenderness and didn't notice her sad tears. When she first started high school, she learns of Jeanne. Her female classmates think that Maron is very similar to Jeanne. Since she knows how it feels to be suspected, Miyako decided, from then on, to catch Jeanne to prove Maron's innocence and to protect her smile. It was revealed in chapter 27 that Miyako knew all along. If her father or the other police caught Jeanne, Miyako would pretend to mess up and let her go. Then they will let it go since she is too young for police work. Miyako knew that Jeanne wasn't there for the money. In the anime adaptation, Miyako is unaware that Maron is Jeanne and is deeply hurt when Maron is forced to transform in front of her. The pain allows Finn to use Miyako to attack Maron, but Maron is eventually able to wake her up.
Stubborn and with a fierce temper, Miyako notes during the series that even with her, Maron is sometimes distant and that it bothers her. She drops rhythmic gymnastic balls on top of Maron during unsuspecting moments. She was possessed by a demon in chapter 27. Maron was able to seal the demon. Maron told her everything in chapter 27. Miyako suspected that she was Jeanne since the beginning.
Miyako is initially in love with Chiaki, and is jealous of Maron, but later accepts Maron's and Chiaki's growing relationship. When Yamato confesses to her, Miyako thinks he's only joking, as Yamato had long been in love with Maron. He eventually convinces her of his sincerity and at the end of the series Miyako and Yamato marry, and have a son named Shinji who is Access's reincarnation.
Before she went to the human world, her wings became pure white. She became a pure angel of high standard. Her green hair is even more powerful than angels with white hair. Her former self was of pure heart that stayed until death. Sagami cuts off her hair to weaken her but it had the opposite effect. Her power became uncontrollable and exploded in a large radius. She killed many humans and Sagami in the process. Then she was banished from heaven and sentenced to death. Before she entered the Gate of Destruction, The Devil offered her salvation in return for her to become his servant. Then she became a fallen angel.
She manipulates Maron into gathering the chess pieces for the Devil. Later, Finn explains that she really wanted to live so she could see Access again, because she had always loved him. In the manga, since she has a relationship with an angel, it is a total betrayal to Maou so she is to disappear. Access cut off his hair and gave her his power. It only helped a little bit. Celcia and Toki gave their powers to her and Finn was able to escape from banishment. But Access, Celcia, and Toki turned back into dark angels.
During the final battle with the Devil (chapter 30), Finn realizes her wrongs and sacrifices herself to save Maron. Maron gives up her reincarnation power to save Finn. In the manga epilogue, years later, she is reincarnated as Natsuki, the daughter of Chiaki and Maron. Natsuki remembers Access and rejects Shinji's advances in hopes of reuniting with Access. However, when she learns that Shinji is Access's reincarnation, she returns his feelings. In the anime, Finn was kidnapped and brainwashed by the Devil, and did not realize she was working for him until all of the demons were collected.
When Finn is killed by The Devil, Access gives Finn his black earring as a memento, so that the two would meet again when she reincarnated as a human. He himself becomes a semi-angel and also dies. He is reborn as Shinji, the son of Miyako and Yamato. When Shinji is four years old, he recognizes Natsuki as the reincarnation of Finn by the earring she was holding after she was born, and proposes to her on the spot. Shinji has remained in love with Natsuki ever since, even stealing her first kiss when she was 3 years old. He frequently professes his love to her, even though she continues rejecting him. However, when he confesses that he is Access's reincarnation, she confesses her love to him.
Five hundred years ago, he was a French knight who assisted the original Joan of Arc and was in love with her. They became lovers. Jeanne's power to seal demons and save the world can only be done by a pure virgin. He hated God so much since he can't touch her and inevitably attracted demons. Unable to protect Joan of Arc from death, he gave his soul to the Devil, and vowed to fall in love with Jeanne's reincarnated form. His human heart, which was possessed by a demon, evolves into a stronger demon and can't die. He was asked by the Devil to separate Jeanne's and Sinbad's relationship and in return, transform into a human. After he confirms Maron is Jeanne's reincarnation, he does fall in love with her and tries to interfere with her collecting, culminating in his attempting to strangle her as she can't transform.
When Maron travels back in time to meet Jeanne d'Arc during her final hours in chapter 22, Noin goes with her and regrets what he had done. He remembers who had him possess his past self in chapter 24. His future self had a demon possess his past self. He let it repeat during the time travel because he wants to meet Maron. In the anime adaptation, he dies protecting Maron, and is reunited with Joan of Arc.
In episode 40, by getting her rage, Myst confronts Noin that she cannot let the Queen have Jeanne and she eats more of her candies turning her into a monstrous-demon trying to kill Jeanne with her vengeance. As her defeat by Jeanne with her attack, Myst retrieved her Candy Box and saying by her last words to Jeanne and she disappeared and never to be seen again.
Phantom Thief Jeanne is written and illustrated by Arina Tanemura. It was serialized in the monthly magazine Ribon from February 1998 to July 2000. The chapters were later released in 7 bound volumes by Shueisha under the Ribon Mascot Comics imprint.
Beginning July 2007, Phantom Thief Jeanne was republished in 6 Japanese: [[kanzenban]] editions with new cover illustrations. Later, beginning June 18, 2013, Shueisha republished again in Japanese: [[bunkoban]] editions under Shueisha Bunkoban imprint.[3]
Phantom Thief Jeanne was initially licensed in English for North American distribution by CMX Manga in 2004, where it was published under its original transliterated title Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne.[4] After CMX Manga became defunct, in August 2013, Viz Media announced they had acquired the English license and began republishing the 2013 Japanese: bunkoban reprint for North American distribution, with the first volume published in March 2014.[5] [6]
Under the pseudonym "Meguro Teikoku", Tanemura has also self-published unofficial dōjinshi of the series and sold limited copies exclusively at Comiket in August 2014.
In June 2000, Shueisha published an artbook for the series entitled .[7]
A light novel adaptation written by Shuka Matsuta was released under the Shueisha Mirai Bunko imprint, with illustrations by Tanemura.[8]
See main article: article and List of Phantom Thief Jeanne episodes. Phantom Thief Jeanne was adapted as a 44-episode anime television series that was broadcast on TV Asahi from February 13, 1999 to January 29, 2000. The series was directed by Atsutoshi Umezawa, written by Sukehiro Tomita, character designed by Hisashi Kagawa, chief animation direction by Katsumi Tamegai, music by Michiaki Kato, and animation produced by Toei Animation. The anime starred Houko Kuwashima as Maron Kusakabe/"Phantom Thief Jeanne". The opening themes are "Piece of Love" by Shazna for episodes 1–27 and "Dive into Shine" by Lastier for episodes 28–44, and the ending themes are by Pierrot for episodes 1–27 and "Till The End" by Hibiki for episodes 28–44.[9]
The series was broadcast in most countries includes Disney Channel In Italy, Canal J in France, RTL II In Germany and The Anime Network in the United States