Wow. Cheesy, and a bit predictable. Why is it so damn good?
Either I am really softening up to cheesy, shoujo animes, or my tastes have always been this way - I thought this series was really impressive! Every day I got more and more eager to grab episodes of this anime, and despite the sadness of it being over, I feel satisfied with the story it told.
Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne captures the essence of one emotion: loneliness. I find it spectacular that as the sequence of events played out, despite all of the "typical shoujo stuff," the entire time that emotion was being displayed. It's not subliminal or anything of the like, but rather the addiction to the series comes from the amount of dedication the producers had to the original storyline.
A thief? A martyr?
Maron, a lonely high-school cutie, has secretly begun to take on the lifestyle of a thief. She claims herself to be the reincarnation of Jeanne D'arc (Joan of Arc), here to rescue the world from demons. However, in order to get these demons, she must "checkmate" them, by stealing precious, human creations they invade. Her best friend, Miyako, intends to capture Jeanne...but she doesn't have a clue what Jeanne's true identity is.
The opening sequence took me a number of episodes to appreciate. As for the first episode, I liked it. However, the best part of this anime comes around episode 15; the romantic aspect begins to really take shape, and the story really starts to get addicting.
I should mention that the ending is positive, since the foreshadowing of the story always tends to suggest something else. Quite a bit of the story follows the same atmosphere as Joan of Arc's life: very turbid, regretful, and altogether lonely. This feat of the series gives it the charisma it needs to interest anyone who can empathize with Maron. I personally feel that the story attacked me like Angelic Layer did, consuming me gradually with every episode.
Great characters, great music.
It's really easy to look at Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne with skepticism, but really difficult to appreciate the characters through it. Miyako looks at first very difficult to figure out, but later on in the series she becomes repetitive and somewhat unimportant. In contrast, it seems easy at first to figure out Chiaki, but towards the end he's a completely different creature. The shift of character personalities is incredible - and they never seem to be irksome changes as well. Maron/Jeanne develops very recklessly, since many of her character flaws get beaten to death by repetition.
However, I loved her twisted attitude, especially the loneliness bit. I really could feel Maron's solitude as the series progressed, since on many occasions it would show her day, where she would always be by herself. It's interesting how her character fits extremely well into the environment she has, and her inability to trust others gradually begins to make sense, despite the reckless development on it. Overall, I am impressed by her progression and her completeness in the series, since her role was to give it the life it truly earned.
The music doesn't exactly touch me, but it does give an interest to the series. The 1st opening Piece of Love is a cute tune that, once again, takes a couple of times to really reach the watcher. The 1st ending is okay, but the 2nd opening and 2nd ending didn't interest me too much.
I love the BGM, especially the one when Maron transforms into Jeanne during the first season. That little beat stuck in my head since the first episode, and I plan to grab it as soon as an OST is available.
The seiyuu do an incredible job! I really, really liked Fin's seiyuu,
Kumiko Nishihara. Her voice worked so perfectly for the part, making Fin cuter, tinier, and funnier. Maron's voice fits fairly well in all contexts, and Chiaki is pretty good, too. Everyone else does a good job as well, although they are too many to even try and number.
Annoying transformation sequence. -_- That's all, though.
Yeah, it has a vexing transformation sequence, as well as reused frames for "capturing demons" during the 2nd season. I didn't like this sort of cheapness in this anime, even though I was able to put up with it in various series beforehand. Also, the animation avoids animating certain action scenes, sometimes to the point where it's a still life picture with dubbing behind it. I found this a bit frustrating as the series wore on, but it didn't bother me enough to stop watching.
I would recommend you DON'T watch this if you get impatient watching transformations...especially ones as cheesy as the ones that happen in this series.
Other than that, the animation is really quite appealing. Maron looks as cute as she really is, and Miyako is as brazen as she is, too. Chiaki looks like a bishounen, although Sinbad looks a little too fearsome to really be him on some occasions.
Overall: Daisuki.
Big deal if it has a few scratches, it still is good. Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne really grasps on Maron's loneliness, and as a whole carries the series through a repetitive chain of events up to a simple conclusion. This is a simple anime, made to stimulate the emotions and entertain them - and I love the way it does it.
I recommend this to anyone who has seen DNAngel.. These animes are identical in so many ways - the Heaven/Hell concepts, the thieving methods, and the love stories. I'd consider DNAngel to anyone who has seen this anime as well.
Last of all, this anime is extremely fragile. Many of the concepts behind it are ridiculously easy to question (like Jeanne warning the police of what she is going to steal.) I think it takes some willpower on the watcher's part to put up with the phenomena and let the anime function. Sometimes needless imitations make things more interesting.
