Review: Saint Tail

Not everybody believes Saint Tail's purposes are entirely innocent, however. Her classmate, Asuka Junior, is the son of the main detective on the case. He realises that she only ever steals "for good", but she's still a thief, and he's determined to catch her.

Add a rival in the form of Takamiya, who is a little smarter than Asuka, and not as convinced of Saint Tail's good intentions - not to mention being a rival to Meimi for Asuka's affections... and life for Meimi looks like being very complicated.

I must confess some bias here. I found the main character endearing to an extent I haven't found since I developed an odd crush over Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid over a decade ago. Meimi is cheeky, feisty, but above all kind-hearted. Not to mention just plain cute. :-)

Yes, I have no life. I know it. Don't hassle me. :-)

The basic plot for each episode is similar: opening with "school stuff", then discovering some injustice (usually by way of a confession to Seira as trainee nun). Saint Tail/Meimi warns Asuka Junior of the upcoming caper, using some note delivered in an unlikely manner; he waits for her. She outsmarts him, takes what she's after, then disappears, usually teasing Asuka as she departs. Then, usually, a small coda back at school or showing the return of the "stolen" item to its original owner.

At some point during the caper Saint Tail uses one or more magic tricks. However, despite the link to her father as a stage magician, Meimi's tricks are frequently more spectacular - creating a gale of cherry blossoms is not in the repertoire of the average stage magician.

It's formula, but it's good formula. Basically good, clean fun - a bit of action, a bit of relationships, and a bit of ethics pleasingly mixed. The only real problem is how astoundingly thick Asuka is. :-) As Meimi's foil this is pretty much what you would expect, however.

The English dub is fairly close to the subtitled translation, except for occasionally excising religious elements. (References in the original to "May God be with us as we do good deeds" become "May good fortune smile upon us", for example.) Voices fit their parts quite well - nobody seems out of place.

Volume 1 is missing lyrics to the opening credits in the English dub track, which is irritating. This is fixed in volume 2. In general, I quite liked both the opening and closing songs.

Animation is pretty good. There is some use of stock footage in each episode (her transformation sequence, obviously; bounding from rooftop to rooftop; the "It's showtime!" sequence as she does her trick.) This is rarely an issue.

Normally I don't dwell on the menus, but these need a mention. Think ultra-cute, then add pink. Then make it cuter. The interface - particularly on the second DVD - is almost offensively little-girl cute. It is not unattractive. But if you are a guy, do not expect to be regarded as macho if your friends see these menus.

Packaging is fairly standard DVD cases (a button arrangement).