Saint Tail

Saint Tail
怪盗 セイント・テール (Kaitō Seinto Tēru)
Genre	Magical girl, Kaitō
Manga
Written by	Megumi Tachikawa
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	Tokyopop
Demographic	Shōjo
Magazine	Nakayoshi
Original run	October 1994 – December 1996
Volumes	7
TV anime
Directed by	Osamu Nabeshima
Studio	Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Network	ABC
Original run	12 October 1995 – 12 September 1996
Episodes	43 (List of episodes)
Anime and Manga Portal

Saint Tail (怪盗セイント・テール, Kaitō Seinto Tēru^?), is a magical girl manga and anime series. Originally a twenty-four part manga by Megumi Tachikawa, the story was brought to television anime by producer Tokyo Movie Shinsha, with forty-three episodes and one short, broadcast by ABC. Tokyopop translated the manga series, and subtitled and partially dubbed the anime series.

Video Games were released for the Sega Saturn and Sega Game Gear in Japan, and are considered collectors items by Saint Tail fans.

Story

The story of Saint Tail follows a simple formula: school girl Meimi Haneoka transforms into the mysterious thief Saint Tail, and steals back what was stolen or taken dishonestly. She's assisted by a classmate and sister-in-training, Seira Mimori, whose position in the church after school each day allows her to hear the troubles of those who have been wronged and have come to pray to God.

While Saint Tail steals to right the wrongs done to innocent people, she's a thief to the police force. Her classmate Daiki Asuka Jr., called Asuka Jr., and son of Detective Asuka, is hot on her trail. Saint Tail delivers notices of her planned capers to Asuka Jr., to give him a fair chance to catch her.

Characters

Main article: List of Saint Tail characters

Meimi Haneoka / Saint Tail (羽丘芽美 / セイントテール, Haneoka Meimi / Seinto Teiru^?)

Voiced by: Tomo Sakurai (Japanese), Mela Lee (English)

The main character of the series. Meimi is a typical cheerful orange-haired fourteen-year-old student at St. Paulia's Private School. By night she transforms into the mysterious (yet magical) thief, Saint Tail. In this guise, she takes back what bad people have stolen. She is given information by her classmate, and nun-in-training, Seira, of misdeeds.

Daiki Asuka Jr.(飛鳥大貴 Asuka Daiki; アスカＪｒ Asuka Jr.)

Voiced by: Kousuke Okano (Japanese), Joshua Seth (English)

Daiki Asuka is a detective boy fourteen-year-old student at classmate of Meimi, and is a top student in his class.

Seira Mimori (深森 聖良, Mimori Seira^?)

Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (Japanese), Anjuli Cain (English)

Seira is a quiet and mature, fourteen-year-old student classmate and best friend of Meimi. She is a nun-in training at the school's church. she is the only person who knows the real identity of Saint Tail.

Media

Anime

Main article: List of Saint Tail episodes

Dub variations

Only the first fifteen episodes and the short were dubbed into English, although all of the episodes were released on DVD (with English subtitles).

The first seven dubbed episodes were loosely based on the original dialogue and, perhaps in an act of political correctness, removed references to God. (This is especially awkward because the story follows students in a private religious school, and because Saint Tail's stealing is sinful to her religion, she always asks for God's forgiveness before a caper).

In the Italian dub, when Asuka Jr. reads a notice from Saint Tail, rather than display the notice written in Japanese, a short scene of Saint Tail running in the dark is shown while her voice reads out the notice's message. The notice scenes are cut from the Korean dub, presumably due to the Japanese text. In Korea, several episodes were cut entirely (they had not been broadcast) because there was so much content with Japanese culture or text. The 12th episode was broadcast just after 3rd episode to match with the real Christmas season when it was broadcast in Korea.

Title names in dubbed versions

Language	Title
English	Saint Tail
Italian	Lisa e Seya, un solo cuore per lo stesso segreto (Translated as Lisa and Seya, a single heart for the same secret)
Japanese	『怪盗 セイント・テール』(かいとう せいんと・てーる) (Translated as Mysterious Thief Saint Tail)
Philippines	Sweet Tales of Saint Tail
Portuguese	A Ladra Meimi (translated: Meimi, the thief)
Russian	Грабительница Святой Хвост
Spanish (Los Angeles)	Las Aventuras de Saint Tail (Translated as The Adventures of Saint Tail)
Spanish Re-dubbing (In process)	La Misteriosa Ladrona Saint Tail (Translated as Mysterious Thief Saint Tail)
Korean	천사 소녀 네티 (translated literally Angel Girl Neti <pronounced Neh-ti>)
Chinese	怪盗 St. Tail (Translated as Mysterious Thief St. Tail)

References

External links

• Official English Saint Tail manga site
• Saint Tail manga review at Mangareviewer.com
• Kaitou Saint Tail Korean Fan Cafe (Korean)
• Saint Tail (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Saint Tail (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia