Merry Month of (Shojo) Manga: PHANTOM THIEF JEANNE

Today's shall be a two-for: a magical girl story and yet another attempt at finding an Arina Tanemura manga that I like.

PHANTOM THIEF JEANNE (Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne), by Arina Tanemura.  First published in 1998 and first published in North America in 2005.

PLOT:

Maron is an ordinary girl by day, always busy with schoolwork, clubs, and her tempestuous friendship with her neighbor/classmate Miyako.  By night, Maron is the Phantom Thief Jeanne, a reincarnation of Jeanne d'Arc who saves the world from demon-possessed paintings with the help of angel-in-training Finn Fish.  Jeanne is pursued by Miyako (who is the daughter of a detective), but also by a mysterious boy with similar powers calling himself Kaito Sinbad.  Does this Sinbad have anything to do with the handsome, mischievous boy that moved in next door? And is Sinbad an ally or an enemy?

STORY:

Once again, I find myself faced with a popular Arina Tanemura manga, and once again I find myself completely frustrated with the whole thing for the usual reasons: it's a simple premise with too many other ideas and concepts cluttering it up.

The premise is perfectly fine.  Combining magical girls with phantom thieves?  Great! Saint Tail did something similar and I love that series!  But Tanemura mucks it up by adding all sorts of disparate ideas that don't really tie together.  There are angels, thanks to the presence of Finn Fish and her quest to regain her full angel-hood by demon-fighting.  I guess that at least vaguely ties into Maron being a reincarnation of Jeanne d'Arc, with her being a saint and all.  But then there's the "possessed painting" angle, not to mention that Jeanne's method of attack combines darts, chess pieces, and rhythmic gymnastics, and from there the whole divine theme just sort of falls apart.

For two girls who are ostensibly supposed to be best friends, the relationship between Maron and Miyako is a shockingly antagonistic one.  The two can't seem to stop fighting with one another, particularly where boys are concerned.  I wonder if the two of them would hang out at all if not for the fact that Maron's parents have gone to a farm in the country the wormhole where the lost socks go  work overseas, leaving her home alone.  That's not even taking into account that Miyako is herself the daughter of a detective and takes it upon herself to hunt down Jeanne, in proper phantom thief tradition.

More conventional is the dynamic between Maron and Chiaki/Kaito Sinbad.  He's your typical shojo manga love interest: smug and teasing one moment, tender and caring the next, guaranteed to leave the heroine completely confused about her feelings for volumes at a time.  He's not quite at full tsundere levels of mixed messages, but it's enough that I can understand Maron's frustration (not to mention the fact that he forces not one but two kisses upon her).  Any reader with a few brain cells to rub together will quickly recognize that the two boys are the one and the same, but more interesting is the fact that he not only possesses a mini-angel of his own, but also knows about Maron's dual identity.  It's not immediately clear where his alliances may lie (if he has any at all), and as of the first volume it's the most compelling thing this series has to offer.

ART:

The artwork is what you expect from Tanemura at this point: flat but incredibly ornate, with everyone sporting enormous, limpid eyes and costumes full of layers and ribbons.  Her pages are packed to the brim as always, with panels draping over one another frequently.  The panels in turn are positively gaudy from all the effects and flourishes added:  swirling hair, ribbons, sparkles, flowers, and loads of flashy screentones.  It's not so cluttered as to be unfollowable, but it's a lot of shojo aesthetic at once and it's simply too much for my tastes.

PRESENTATION:

The original CMX included some omakes that fill in details about things like Jeanne's cross pendant or one of Tanemura's assistants talking about making the manga.  Having only glanced at the Viz rerelease, I can't say with certainly if these were retained, but it definitely benefits from better image quality and a cleaned-up translation.

RATING:

Phantom Thief Jeanne will definitely appeal to fans of classic magical girl stories as well as those intrigued by the phantom thief angle, but I found myself wishing for a little more focus, some more positive relationship dynamics, and a little less visual excess in this manga.  Maybe next time I'll find the Tanemura manga that appeals to me...

This series is published by Viz, and formerly by CMX.  This series is complete in Japan with 7 volumes available.  All 7 volumes have been published; the single CMX volumes are out of print, and the 5 Viz omnibuses are currently in print.