Saint Tail, Volume 2

Ryu (Former Staff) — February 18th, 2002
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The second disc of Saint Tail is better than the first in almost every way. To start with, the viewer now has four episodes of the good-hearted thief to watch instead of three. Volume two continues the pattern set by the first where Saint Tail, junior high student Meimi, commits a theft in the name of God in order to right some wrong. She's assisted by nun-in-training Seira and is constantly pursued by classmate Asuka, Jr. (who also happens to be her love interest).

In fourth episode of the series, Saint Tail has to steal a wedding vow to stop an arranged marriage. The fifth episode finds our heroine foiling the plots of some would-be art thieves as she attempts to recover a young girl's doll. These episodes are amazingly cute and often funny, but follow the exact same formula as the previous.

Fortunately, right before the series could become a bore, a shake-up occurs in episode six - a rival appears. A new girl, Rina, attaches herself to Asuka and decides to capture Saint Tail herself. Rina happens to be taller, faster, and stronger than Asuka (and, according to their classmates, looks like a model). To say the least, Meimi is unhappy! Episode seven returns to the formula, except with Rina running interference, things are a lot more lively (and explosive - literally).

Kaitou Saint Tail continues to use her magic tricks to help her perform thefts and right wrongs. But, what's this? A rival? And she's all over Asuka, Jr.!?! Meimi is not amused...

While the new dynamic has freshened up the series, the makeover done to the transfer is what really makes the disc shine. Everything horrible about the first disc (and there was a lot!) has been corrected.

First, the main menu has had a serious and stylish revision. The screen is in hi-res and even has some animation, but the design elements are just perfect as are the colors. The scene selection screen is well designed with several images from each chapter to help you find your place.

Second, there are openings and closings with the full songs for every episode. There are no more ugly overlays. So, all the fan stuff is fixed.

Finally, the transfer itself seems much cleaner, although not perfect (some scenes have slight pixellation), I'm now proud to show it on DVD. The colors are really wonderful.

This is one of those rare occasions that a company, in this case TokyoPop, really deserves some major kudos. They have basically redesigned one of their releases in the midst of the series simply because of negative fan feedback. If that doesn't qualify as listening to your audience, I don't know what does.

If you were dissatisfied with the first release due to the technical issues, I sincerely hope you'll give Saint Tail one more try. Of course, the same disclaimer applies to this volume as the first: if you can't handle cuteness on a HUGE scale, you might want to stay away. For everyone else, this is a fun time!

Video Quality: B+
Audio Quality: B+
Presentation: A
Content: A
Overall: A