I wanted to give this series a 9. I think the plot and themes and some of the characters are worthy of a 9. However while its highs are full of deeply emotional scenes and interesting commentary its lows are truly awful and made me incredibly uncomfortable and upset to the point where I couldnt give Phantom Thief Jeanne the score I wanted to in good faith. This is the story of Maron Kusakabe a high school girl who moonlights as the mysterious Phantom Thief Jeanne. Her mission is to exorcise paintings where demons reside to keep them from taking over and corrupting human hearts. She is the reincarnation of Jeanne dArc Joan of Arc and she was sent by God to keep the Demon Lord from stealing Gods power alongside the minor angel Finn Fish. However it appears that theres another phantom thief Phantom Thief Sinbad and he has his own agenda. The story is one of the strongest parts of Phantom Thief Jeanne by far. I love this take on magical girls and I think I want to find other fresh feeling magical girl series like this one. The war between God and the Demon Lord and the everincreasing lore surrounding Jeanne Sinbad Finn and the angels is intriguing. I cant go into too much detail about the plot because there are a ton of spoilers involved but it was interesting. I was constantly kept on the edge of my seat with all the twists and turns that the story took. Since I cant take as much time to talk about the plot Id love to talk about the themes the story presents because theyre what makes the story so good. Loss mental illness trauma and purity culture are what Phantom Thief Jeanne is all about. Maron is a lovely girl but she never really received love while growing up. Her parents fighting took priority over her needs and they both essentially left her to fend for herself. The only people in her life who are there for her are really her friend Miyako and her family and eventually Finn. Shes not used to healthy relationships or the love of others. Theres so much of the story about her battling her own fears demons and mental health issues. I can see my own anxiety reflected in Maron even if I was diagnosed with a different type of anxiety than she exhibits. Her struggles are the core of this manga and Maron is such a refreshing character. I love her. The way the manga portrays her battles with her fears and the loss and betrayals of those important to her is beautifully done. The way the emotion is evoked is stunning and I love it. Marons interpersonal relationships with her female friends are also spectacularly executed and I enjoyed watching her work past her own trauma and becoming stronger in her own way as well as how she aided other characters with their own traumas and difficulties. The discussion of purity culture is fascinating. There is a lot of duality and how love and purity are not the same and yet they are also intertwined. The discussion of how a woman being raped or having premarital sex doesnt make her dirty or impure is also extremely valuable and an important message for young girls. The message is it doesnt matter if youre no longer a virgin. What matters is the contents of your heart. If your heart is pure you will be pure as well. These messages about purity shared between Maron Jeanne and Finn are super beautiful. However while these messages are great theyre undermined by the obnoxious amount of sexual harassment and assault that happens throughout the manga. Im going to be honest here. All the men in this manga suck except for Zen Kagura Miyakos dad and Access Time to an extent. Chiaki Marons love interest is the literal worst. He constantly sexually harasses and assaults her throughout the manga. At no point when she tells him No does he listen. He tells her at times that he wont listen to her. There are times where I think Oh Chiakis getting better and then hell do something completely awful again and ruin himself. For example Maron almost gets raped well get to that in a bit and it shows how he doesnt know what to do to comfort or help her in a way that he wont mess up and he walks away out of fear. I had some hope for some character development. And then the next day he sees the hickeys from the guy who was trying to rape her gets jealous and tries to make new ones over the previous hickeys because shes his. This is without Jeannes consent too. The best parts of their relationship are when their statuses as the enemy phantom thieves Jeanne and Sinbad put them at odds despite the romantic tension. Unfortunately thats undermined by just how much Chiaki does to Maron without her consent. She never really seems comfortable with him touching her in almost every scene and its hard for me to see their relationship as romantic in any way. Im disgusted that were supposed to see this as romantic. And Maron doesnt really have experience with healthy relationships of any kind so she probably doesnt even understand that his behavior isnt okay. I would actually prefer it if there wasnt any romance since the romance like Tokyo Mew Mew is what seems to be dragging the story down. I feel like magical girl love interests are always lackluster and take over the plot in ways that they dont deserve to. I genuinely think that removing the romance in a few magical girl shows would do them a lot of good. I only want romance if its interesting and done well and thats not the case here. I dont mind a slightly toxic relationship but if it isnt acknowledged as toxic in any way its one sided and theres no improvement from the toxic party thats when it becomes a problem for me. And the other guys are various shades of bad. Noin who was in love with Jeanne dArc in the past is a whole other level of creepy. Hes in love with Jeanne still and he equates her and Maron as the same person due to Maron being her reincarnation. And to add to the creepy factor hes a student teacher at her school and he seems to have been observing Maron since she was a baby. And hes the guy who tries to rape her. The scene wasnt graphic but it was horrible to watch. He even gets redeemed in the end despite him doing nothing that should earn his redemption. Maron even brushes it off since it was a onetime thing and he could have done it when she was unconscious so he must not have really wanted to rape her. Its just awful that the author is including something like this and then brushing it aside like its nothing despite all the trauma that he inflicted on Maron. I just hate him with every fiber of my being. Other minor male characters arent much better. Chiakis father is really creepy. Hes a doctor with his own personal torture dungeon which he uses while possessed by demons. Hes also constantly getting married and divorced because he wants to find Chiaki a replacement mother and theres even a joke that hed marry Maron which is... yikes. And then theres Minazuki who started out a bit rough due to being possessed by a demon and then he became normal. Then he started hanging out with Chiaki and he started to get more aggressive with Miyako and Maron which was awful. He obsessed over Maron which was weird and married Miyako at the end out of the blue due to plot convenience despite the two of them never showing romantic interest in each other. I did like the rejection scene with him and Maron but then he ruined himself for me as the men in this series tend to do. Enough about the trash men. Lets talk about the beautiful stunning female characters that Phantom Thief Jeanne has blessed us with. Ive talked a bit about Maron earlier on in the review so I wont talk as much about her down here. I love her. She is a gogetter. She knows what she wants and shell do what she needs to do to make the things she wants to happen happen. Even in moments where shes more of reluctant hero like Usagi from Sailor Moon shes easier to put on the right track. Despite her anxiety fears and trauma shes a strong and dependable person. Finn and Miyako are both complex characters in their own right. Miyako is a very pushy and abrasive character but unlike the men in this series she never pushes Marons boundaries in ways that make her feel uncomfortable. Shes pushy in positive ways. Shes a career focused character who does have an interest in the policeforce even outside of Jeanne which makes her character being a housewife at the end feel a bit odd. Shes a bit of a tsundere and she constantly finds herself saying the opposite of what she really thinks and feels though everyone else in the cast can tell what her true feelings are. She is devoted to Maron since Maron was the one person who stood up for her and believed she had good intentions when they were children since Miyako is very easily misunderstood and she puts Marons happiness above her own. Shes such a great character and I love her. Finn also has a motherly role towards Maron and alongside Miyako make up her entire support system. Finn is the one who takes up the mantle of Marons family and even when her actions become a bit twisted she never forgets who she is. I cant talk as much about her without giving spoilers so Ill live it at that. The art is really beautiful. Arina Tanemura seems to have a tough time writing romance but she does a spectacular job with her art. The flowing hair the huge detailed eyes and her stunning costumes make the series much more enjoyable. I have a friend who read Full Moon and had a challenging time telling the characters apart but I didnt have that problem with Jeanne. I honestly really enjoy the art even though huge eyes arent really my style. Id want to look into her art pieces more. I love Phantom Thief Jeanne I really do and I appreciate its highest points like the Zen arc and the Finn Fish arc. However I dont think I can give it a higher score than a 7.5 in good conscience. This is especially when I take the target audience into consideration. Phantom Thief Jeanne ran in Ribon magazine which targets 814yearolds. I genuinely cant see girls of this age reading this story and taking in the good parts without taking in the bad such as the romanticized sexual assault. I love the story and themes but there was too much of this to not affect my score. While the female characters are lovely and strong the male characters are some of the worst Ive found in shoujo. Id say its up to the reader and what they can handle and feel comfortable reading when it comes to this series since theres a lot to love but theres also a lot to hate and some trigger warnings attached to this series. Ive heard that the anime is very different from the manga which is criticized but from what Ive heard about the differences they are more positive such as making Chiaki less horrible removing Noins attempted rape of Maron and emphasizing Finn Fish and Marons relationship. Im actually looking forward to watching the anime and I hope I can give it the score that story deserves.