This 44 episode TV Series, Kamikaze Kaitou
Jeanne (Divine Wind Thief Jeanne) is basically another
shoujo anime. The main character is Kusakabe Maron, a 15 year
old high school girl who happens to be the reincarnation of Jeanne
D’Arc. Being the reincarnation Of Jeanne D’arc, Maron
has powers and the ability to change into Kaitou Jeanne, a person
whom the whole town considers a thief. However, that is not the
case. Maron is helping an angel named Finn to seal away demons
that occupy beautiful objects and people who have beautiful souls.
When Kaitou Jeanne seals away a demon in an object, whether they
are paintings or statues, the object disappears, hence the name’
Kaitou Jeanne’ (Thief Jeanne). If being thought as a thief
wasn't bad enough, Maron’s best friend Miyako is unaware
that Maron is actually the thief that her father, policeman Toudaiji
is after. For also some reason, Miyako is very determined to catch
Kaitou Jeanne and constantly comes up with ingenious plans to
try and trap her thief. Other problems arise for Maron when she
has to compete with a mysterious man ‘Kaitou Sindbad’
in sealing away the demons. The new classmate, Nagoya Chiaki is
Maron’s new neighbour, Miyako’s new love interest
and an absolute flirt. However, Chiaki seems to pay special attention
to Maron, which doesn't make life any easier for her!
Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne is your
average anime series. It is nothing spectacular and the storyline
is not that original. You can find various similarities with another
shoujo anime Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. The
transformations, the guardian that chooses you to help seal away
demons, the mysterious guy who helps you…I could list a
whole bunch of things that it has in common with Sailor
Moon. However, having said that, I did enjoy watching
it. Some episodes I must admit were not that great, but it all
fitted in with the story. As with Sailor Moon,
after watching dozens of the same transformation sequence over
and over again, it can really, really start to irritate you. Some
skipping is recommended on some of the transformation scenes.
The animation is pretty good in Kamikaze
Kaitou Jeanne, except in some shots you can really notice
how ‘off’ some of the characters look. The use of
colour is good, a pretty bright anime.
Music wise, the opening song ‘Piece
of Love’ is fairly catchy though too much of it could
be lethal. The ending theme is ‘Haruka’ which
is also an average song.
All in all, I did enjoy Kamikaze Kaitou
Jeanne. It enjoyed it a lot the first time I watched
it for it was the relationship between Chiaki and Maron that kind
of hooked me. Second time round it though, it was not as enjoyable.
The characters just don’t pull you in and basically I was
skipping a lot of scenes. Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne
is a light and entertaining anime, series that would probably
appeal to young girls more than anything else.
