Phantom Thief Jeanne Volume 1
Story and Art by Arina Tanemura
Maron Kusakabe is a 16-year-old high school gymnast with a crazy secret: she is the reincarnation of Jeanne D’Arc, warrior for god. At night, Maron transforms into a spiritual warrior who vanquishes demons out of paintings. Things aren’t smooth for this nighttime vigilante – her frenemy is dead set on discovering the identity of Jeanne, and a handsome young man collecting demons for an entirely different purpose.
The first volume does a great job explaining the “rules” of this world. Maron, as Jeanne, must destroy paintings with demons in them in order to save people’s hearts from being moved by the beauty of the painting. God thrives on the beautiful hearts of people, a commodity that the devil aims to hoard to vanish god. Once god disappears, so will the human race. Needless to say, Maron must take her job seriously. There is a touch of villain-of-the-week going on, but Tanemura does a great job connecting the chapters together as Jeanne learns the identity of Phantom Thief Sinbad, a newcomer to the painting-stealing business.
Phantom Thief Jeanne was originally published in 1998 and carries many of the same elements of shojo manga of that time: magical girl, pretty-eyed boys, and intricate transformations. There is a heavy dose of nostalgia when reading Shojo Beat’s reprint of the series. The illustrations in Phantom Thief Jeanne are intricate and beautiful, especially those of Jeanne’s costume. There is also an anime based on the series from 1999! For fans of Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura, Phantom Thief Jeanne is your new favorite manga.
