Saint Tail, based on the manga of the same name by Megumi Tachikawa (released by Tokyopop in the early 2000s and now sadly out of print), has had a tough time of it in English release. Before Discotek rescued and released it in this Blu-ray collection, the series saw four dubbed VHS tapes and five dual-language DVDs come out in 2001-2002, with the remaining single disc releases canceled. In 2003, a collection of discs six through eight were released, but lacking the English dub. The series then languished for twenty years, which is a shame because Saint Tail is not only a good story on its own, but it also holds up surprisingly well for a title from the 1990s.

Like Phantom Thief Jeanne, Saint Tail follows a teenage magical girl who transforms into a mysterious (phantom) thief to steal items previously stolen from their rightful owners or harmed in some way. In her daily life, she's Meimi Haneoka, a middle schooler at a Catholic institution. Meimi's mother was a phantom thief back in her teen years, and her dad is a stage magician, both of which position her uniquely to be able to transform herself. With the help (and, one suspects, urging) of her best friend Seira Mimori, who is training to be a nun, Meimi routinely helps the deserving while embarrassing a police force who can't seem to catch her. The son of the lead detective on the case, Asuka Jr., becomes obsessed with being the one to capture Saint Tail, and she plays along with him…which naturally feeds into a romantic subplot that both Asuka Jr. and Meimi spend three-quarters of the series trying to ignore, even as events show us that they can't. It's a classic magical girl story and, frankly, a whole lot of charming fun.

Historically, Saint Tail is a clear influence on Arina Tanemura's later title and owes a lot to 1985's Magical Emi, the Magic Star. Even if we discount the names (and the fact that Meimi's mom is named Eimi), there are some distinct similarities, mainly in how that stage magic factors into Saint Tail's transformation and powers. There's a very blurry line in Meimi's world between stagecraft learned from her father and actual magic, and that seems to cross over into her barely hidden identity – the ponytail she takes her name from seems to be the key portion of her transformation that keeps "Meimi Haneoka" hidden from view. Emi passes real magic as stage magic in her story, making an interesting comparison. Meanwhile, Tanemura's Phantom Thief Jeanne draws a lot from Saint Tail, from the religious themes to the fact that she's stealing back rather than just taking what she wants.

While the show is largely episodic, with the only overarching plot being Asuka Jr.'s determination to catch Saint Tail and a mild romantic rivalry between Meimi and Rina, the developing relationship between the two leads gives it a sense of continuity. As early as episode thirteen, Asuka Jr. has more-or-less figured out that Meimi and Saint Tail are the same person, and from that point on, it becomes an issue of him not wanting to see the truth rather than not knowing it. By episode twenty-three, Meimi is worrying about hiding her truth from Asuka Jr. and whether that's an okay thing for her to be doing. Their relationship drives their decisions, with things coming to a turning point in the series' only two-parter across episodes twenty-eight and twenty-nine. All of this makes the finale hit harder, and unlike many episodic series, this one feels well put together as you're watching, and even more so upon reflection.

That's not to say there aren't moments when the story drags. The episodes numbered in the thirties are the weakest of the collection, possibly because they draw the least from Tachikawa's original manga. (The anime could have been catching up with the manga during their original airtime.) The plots aren't nearly as tight across these episodes, and many feature anime-only content that doesn't have the memorable antics and characters of the rest of the series. (And it's always obvious which character designs are for the anime original characters.) It's also worth noting that Seira is occasionally a difficult character, both to like and in her construction. She is essentially betraying people's trust/confidentiality regularly to direct Saint Tail's work, and while it always turns out just fine, that's a tricky moral line to navigate. She also gets jealous of Meimi being friends with other characters (especially the way Saint Tail and Asuka Jr. protect each other) and often comes across as very self-righteous. Rina, Meimi's romantic rival, can also be difficult to take, but she's much more of a stock rival character and has less screen time than Seira. Asuka Jr.'s romantic rival, avid photographer Sawatari, is also a pretty standard character and feels designed to be kind of annoying. Other than that, the only real complaint is that the series opted for more filler episodes rather than expanding on the storyline that ends the series, about Saint Tail's fight against her mother's old rival.

This release includes as much of the existing English dub, and it's interesting to listen to. It's not terrible, especially for its age; although the Japanese track is more robust, it's an excellent example of early dub doctoring. The narration shifts from third person in Japanese to first person in English, and all references to God and religion are carefully removed, which frankly feels disingenuous given Seira's nun outfit and the obvious prayer poses. Besides that, it does a decent job, and it is too bad that the dub cuts off at episode fifteen. Along with the dub, extras include clean versions of both opening themes and all three ending themes (the second, "Upside Down," is my favorite), as well as commercials.

Whether you saw this in its first release or not, Saint Tail is worth your time in its rerelease. It's a classic phantom thief magical girl story and is generally well put together with good theme songs and an engaging romance-rivalry plot. It's a delight to have it all in a single good-looking Blu-ray collection, and now I have only to dream that someone will rescue and rerelease the manga, too.