Line #44 Heartwarming/KaitouSaintTail


1	* If Genichiro and Eimi Haneoka are in the same room, [[HappilyMarried there is a good chance that one of these is happening]], such as the mere mention of the engagement ring Genichiro gave Eimi triggering a round of found reminiscence and pet names in Ruby's introduction (chapter 11/episode 3).
2	* Chapter 4/Episode 12:
3	** Asuka Jr.'s reaction to Meimi crying is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, but it's implied to be the first time he really realizes he's starting to hurt her and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone has serious regrets about it]].
4	** The anime version of events has Asuka Jr. snapping at Meimi using some ambiguous wording that could either be read as him favoring Saint Tail over Meimi (how she reads it) ''or'' him trying to defend Saint Tail's honor from someone who, from his perspective, is just making up random accusations about her on the spot. In other words, while Meimi had taken it as a sign of him disliking her that much, he was ironically still doing it because he cared about her, just in a different way.
5	** Right before Seira sends Meimi off, she promises that she'll go with her if she gets arrested.
6	** Despite Asuka Jr. having snapped and insulted Meimi earlier in the chapter/episode, Saint Tail decides to make ThePromise with him despite getting ''absolutely nothing'' out of it (at least, as far as she knew at the time): it would basically increase her chances of getting arrested, all for no reason besides him demanding to have first dibs. He himself even shows obvious self-awareness at how pathetic his request is and is shocked that she'd actually accept, just because it makes that little sense to him. Of course, the actual reason is that she's started falling for him and wants to encourage him that badly, and not only do we find out later in the series that this choice to reach out to him meant a ''[[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe lot]]'' in the end, it also ends up being what saves her when he becomes her CharacterWitness as a result.
7	* The fact Saint Tail "inviting" Asuka Jr. to her capers is framed like her wistfully trying to see them as dates means that her calling cards really can be framed as her asking him out (to the point they really do end up labeled as "love letters" at the end of the series):
8	** The first instance is in chapter/episode 5, during which Saint Tail even says outright that it felt like a date. (It's partially out of her coping out of having wanted to see the clock tower puppets with him earlier, which she sadly doesn't accomplish at the end of the episode.)
9	** In chapter/episode 7, it's in a lunchbox Saint Tail prepared just for him; it's partially out of jealousy from wanting to one-up Takamiya, but it's notable as one of the first overtly romantic gestures she does for him (making a lunchbox for someone is considered a romantically loaded gesture in Japan).
10	** In chapter 11/episode 3, it's via a note sneaked in Asuka Jr.'s book, like a classmate asking him for a date (in a way, it was).
11	** In episode 34, she writes it in the sky with fireworks (albeit partially from a lack of other options), getting even him to comment that she went a bit all-out this time.
12	** In chapter 22/episode 44,Saint Tail sends him her first calling card after Meimi and Asuka Jr. have started dating, and it's... another lunchbox, this time not out of jealousy but because she wants him to eat well, with her having even gotten out a cookbook for it. On the flip side, Asuka Jr. is in an obviously awkward situation with his classmates thinking he's getting a lunchbox from another girl in front of his own girlfriend, while he himself is confused at how he's supposed to be reading this gesture from someone who may-or-may-not actually ''be'' his girlfriend... but a FunnyBackgroundEvent in the manga version indicates that he actually swallowed his HairTriggerTemper so he could eat it, meaning he really didn't want something Meimi/Saint Tail made for him to go to waste.
13	** The one in the final episode/chapter that ''finally'' breaks through Asuka Jr.'s [[ObliviousToLove infamous denseness]] and gets him to realize everything, which also retroactively gets the previous calling cards to click as "love letters" for him. It's also notable in that Saint Tail sending it at a time like this meant she had ''everything'' to lose by going through danger to get him and willingly submitting herself to him to get arrested; naturally, he follows up by protesting that he's not going to sit around waiting for her to "take" him (read: [[AllTakeAndNoGive one-sidedly cater to him]]) this time.
14	* Asuka Jr. protecting Saint Tail from Rina's tear gas attack in chapter/episode 7, pressing her face to the inside of his jacket so less of it reaches her eyes. It's basically a hug. This is implied to be the incident that starts turning "catching Saint Tail" into a DeclarationOfProtection, and the manga even explicitly states that half the reason he was crying wasn't from the tear gas, but from him legitimately being terrified she'd die.
15	* Chapter/Episode 8:
16	** Asuka Jr. tutoring Meimi is very heavily implied (especially in the manga, which executes it with about the subtlety of a brick) to be out of a ''lot'' more than just merely obligation or blackmail. In the anime, he even delivers before Meimi starts on her half of the bargain.
17	** Later, Takamiya threatening to take Asuka Jr. to the same game ends up being what tips Meimi over the edge in a GreenEyedEpiphany, not just out of fear of losing the opportunity to go on a date with him... but also out of remembering how happy he looked and not wanting to lose that. Even better, the manga especially hammers in the implication that the reason he was so suspiciously happy at the time wasn't ''just'' because of the game.
18	** In the manga version of the scene, Asuka Jr. declining Takamiya's offer to Saint Tail's identity to him is heavily implied to be specifically because Takamiya had made it conditional on him ditching Meimi for her, something he refused to do even if it meant losing an opportunity to learn Saint Tail's identity.
19	** At the end of the chapter/episode, Asuka Jr. says that he has "Saint Tail to thank for this", getting Meimi to blush and try to pretend it's from the heat. Notably, Asuka Jr. does not say ''what'' he wants to thank Saint Tail for, indicating it might not be just about the game itself, but also whom he was able to go there with...
20	* Asuka Jr. being completely fascinated by Meimi in a wedding dress in chapter/episode 9, implied to be at least partially out of WhenSheSmiles, and then trying desperately to change the topic (somehow, [[ObliviousToLove this goes completely over Meimi's head]]). Morever, the incident leads into Asuka Jr. deciding to put everything on the line to answer Takamiya's bet, purely out of wanting to protect Meimi from her.
21	* Chapter/Episode 10 has Asuka Jr. stand up for Meimi's sake in front of her own face, leading her to finally give the famous "I'd want to be caught by you" line (something the anime episode title even calls a LoveConfession).
22	* Chapter 12/Episode 11 has Saint Tail follow up on the St. Paulia good luck charm tradition by asking Asuka Jr. for his lock while they're on a caper, which he haphazardly lets her take (albeit mainly out of being too dense with romance matters to understand what it means). The charm is supposed to get a boy to ask the respective girl to dance with him, but the way this ends up actually happening is that Asuka Jr. pulls Meimi away from a boy who'd been invasively trying to force her to dance with him, then berates her for not standing up for herself, thus revealing that he'd actually been secretly worried about her the entire time... and also that [[WhamLine he'd been convinced she hated him]] and thus hadn't been staying away from her out of distaste, but because ''he respected her boundaries that much''.
23	* Following up on this, in chapter 13/episode 13, Asuka Jr. starts getting ''really'' nervous when Meimi seemingly starts showing signs of having fallen for Sawatari, but is self-conscious enough to want to excuse himself... ''right up until'' Sawatari starts invasively flirting with her, immediately getting Asuka Jr. to burst in without hesitation and slam a bucket on Sawatari's head.
24	* Episode 15:
25	** Chiyo's dying wish is to eat a dish made by her true love, a famous chef, whom she had been forced to leave due an ArrangedMarriage. At the end of the episode, Saint Tail "steals" Tsujimoto (i.e. kidnaps from his restaurant and transport to the hospital) from the owner of the restaurant, who'd been functionally holding him and his restaurant in a money laundering scheme, to see Chiyo again. The epilogue shows them opening a restaurant together, and t's implied that being able to see him again actually managed to bring her back from critical illness.
26	** The episode ends on SheIsNotMyGirlfriend moment when Tsujimoto assumes that Meimi is Asuka Jr.'s girlfriend, which immediately prompts a simultaneous denial... before they both genuinely enjoy their lunch together.
27	* In episode 17, Saint Tail uses a misunderstanding to help protect a girl's feelings about her crush, only to accidentally help both of them hook up anyway.
28	* Episode 18 has Meimi dealing with conflicted feelings when Takamiya one-ups her attempt to take Asuka Jr. on a date, leaving Meimi to mope about the insensitive way he'd handled it but also still willing to let him have his fun (she even only sends the calling card out of obligation). On the flip side, not only is Asuka Jr. so bothered by it that he dumps all of his feelings about it to Saint Tail (someone who should supposedly be a stranger to him), he even confesses that he's well aware he's a part of the reason they keep fighting.
29	* At the start of Chapter 14/Episode 19, Takamiya smacks Asuka Jr. with an ArmorPiercingQuestion that leads him to realize how little he knows about Meimi, which leads to... him attempting to clear this up by catching Saint Tail, something that he's now become so desperate about that he even tells her that nothing is more important to him even when a CometOfDoom is supposedly coming to kill them all.
30	* Chapter 15/Episode 23 formally reveals the flower-and-snow CreationMyth, with the surrounding context and Asuka Jr.'s shared moment with Meimi effectively revealing how much she ''really'' means to him and that everything he does for her (as Meimi or Saint Tail) is, knowingly or otherwise, in return for [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe the kindness she shows him]] compared to everyone else.
31	* Episode 26 has an easily missable one where Asuka Jr. snaps at Sawatari for writing an article about Meimi's supposed engagement and accuses him of trying to be a tabloid writer; while it initially comes off as just jealousy, it's revealed later in the series that Asuka Jr. ''really'' dislikes the idea of Saint Tail being put up on a pedestal to be gossiped about, meaning he was likely snapping at Sawatari for doing the same thing to Meimi.
32	* Chapter 17/Episode 27 has Asuka Jr. attempt to work past his usual insensitivity to convey his concern about Meimi becoming an idol by appealing to her, using her claim of her ideal type being "someone like her father" to say "if I were your father..." Even despite [[ObliviousToLove not getting the full implications]], Meimi is at least touched by the concern.
33	* Chapters 18-19/Episodes 28-29, or basically MutualPining: The Two-Parter, during which Meimi becomes worried about Asuka Jr. losing his position on the case (both because she knows he wants it that badly and because she wants to see him) while Asuka Jr.'s pent-up protectiveness regarding Meimi spirals into panic and gets him to decide he does ''not'' want the police near Saint Tail, therefore solidifying his need to catch her as a full-on DeclarationOfProtection by that point. The manga version re-invokes the flower-and-snow CreationMyth and names the two-parter "A Serenade for Two" for good measure.
34	* Chapter 20/Episode 39:
35	** The story of Hiromi and his friend Mana the Pearl Dolphin, whom Hiromi adores so much that he goes to the aquarium every day in an attempt to get her back. Bonus points when you take into account that this entire scenario is a metaphor for Asuka Jr. and Meimi, adding even more to the scene in the anime version where Asuka Jr. sympathizes with Hiromi and, for the first time, properly enables one of Saint Tail's capers.
36	** Meimi and Asuka Jr. finally get some proper alone time together (something that was particularly rare in the manga).
37	** Asuka Jr. vocalizes what his motive for catching Saint Tail has become: he doesn't like the fact that he can only see her as an abstract concept rather than the person she actually is. Or in other words, that his constant fussing over "why would Saint Tail do this?" and increasing discomfort over people treating Saint Tail like a [[WorshippedForGreatDeeds disposable name]] actually meant something ''much'' bigger to him than it initially seemed.
38	** Asuka Jr. finally notices enough of Meimi's presence in Saint Tail that he actually blurts out a half-formed LoveConfession at her at the end of the chapter/episode, kickstarting the process of his proper LoveEpiphany.
39	** This is also where the anime switches to the third ED, "Dreaming Melody", recapping basically the entire series up to that point.
40	* Chapter 21/Episode 40:
41	** We're shown the first encounter between Eimi and Genichiro: Eimi, as a thief, was trying to escape the police, and Genichiro had spontaneously decided to hide her in his apartment. She was wounded and he had nothing to treat her, and she was threatening to make him pay if she got caught... but then Genichiro hid her under a mountain of roses conjured specifically for the occasion, [[DefrostingIceQueen and her heart melted]], so much that she [[AndThenWhat realized how meaningless being a thief was]]. Eimi tells this entire story with a FallingInLoveMontage, capped by Present!Eimi having a dreamy and squishy look on her face.
42	** Eimi reveals that Genichiro is ''exactly'' aware of whatever pain she has associated with her former life as a thief and simply isn't saying it out of courtesy.
43	** Having finally gotten an indication that she might ''not'' hate being around him, Asuka Jr. turns out to have done Meimi's homework for her, although he also adds that she should only use it for reference, meaning that it was done out of genuine concern for her education... and also presumably because he felt bad for snapping at her earlier ([[{{Tsundere}} not that he would admit it]], of course).
44	** After having spent too much time suppressing his feelings for Meimi out of self-consciousness, Asuka Jr. finally hits the switch on a LoveEpiphany and decides that Meimi is his "treasure", realizing he does ''not'' want anyone to take her away from him because of how precious she is to him, and goes ahead and gives her a straighftforward LoveConfession.
45	* Chapter 22/Episode 41:
46	** While it's partially to save her pride, ClingyJealousGirl Takamiya decides to be a GracefulLoser about Asuka Jr. and Meimi getting together, claming that they should have gotten together earlier anyway.
47	** Asuka Jr. takes Meimi to a fortune-teller despite absolutely ''hating'' things like fortune-telling, not because he actually believes in it now, but because he's hoping it'll help him figure out what Meimi needs to make her happy. Then, when Maju trash-talks their relationship by claiming it's doomed to fail, he's ''so'' livid at the suggestion that he drags Meimi out and trash-talks Maju's fortune-telling in turn. Bonus points if you take the specific wording of Maju's "prophecy" into account, since she'd just implied that he's such an insensitive jerk that he'd cut Meimi off on the spot for hiding something from him (something we find out to very much not be true when the final chapter/episode comes around).
48	** Having realized she may have pushed Meimi too far into SamaritanSyndrome, Seira tells Meimi that if her capers ever become too painful, she can go in her place as "Saint Seira". Meimi doesn't take it seriously, but she appreciates the gesture.
49	* Chapter 23/Episode 42:
50	** Rosemary and Maju are framing Saint Tail for their thefts... And yet Asuka Jr. ''knows'' she's innocent because she didn't send any calling card, therefore becoming [[CharacterWitness the only person defending her against the class]] when he'd originally been the only one in class to despise her. All because he took ThePromise really, ''really'' seriously.
51	** After finally having Saint Tail's identity forced in his face, Asuka Jr. is absolutely ''livid''... at Rosemary, because he's now thinking about the fact that this means his own girlfriend is in terrible danger and he can't do anything about it.
52	* Chapter 24/Episode 43:
53	** Takamiya conforting Meimi (in her own unique way) when Asuka Jr. is found missing.
54	** Meimi decides to get Asuka Jr. back, not because she'll get anything out of it (and, in her view, is about to ''lose'' everything), but because she just really wants to bring him back.
55	** In a twisted way, Rosemary's willingness to renounce her revenge against Saint Tail if she'll join her and Maju into stealing their way to prosperity. That, and the reveal that she adopted Maju: given she was already a talented enough thief to catch Rosemary's eye at her young age, she probably didn't have a good life beforehand. This is followed up by Saint Tail's reply: Asuka Jr. is her jewel, and Rosemary ''must'' give him back.
56	** Asuka Jr.'s head is so full of Meimi that as soon as he realizes she's sent him a calling card, he clearly wants to see her ''right away''.
57	** Asuka Jr.'s reaction to Maju pointing out that Saint Tail's calling cards are "love letters" and realizing what exactly Saint Tail had been doing for him leads him to angrily yell that he's ''not'' going to let her "take" him without him getting a say in the matter, or in other words, that he's sick and tired of her slowly destroying herself for his sake.
58	** Asuka Jr. finally fulfills his side of the promise by catching Saint Tail, [[ExactWords quite literally]], which in the manga is accompanied by the snow from the flower-and-snow CreationMyth, representing his feelings of understanding the full truth of what she'd been doing for him and finally getting to do something for her for once. Literally ''seconds'' after he grabs her, he clamps his hand down on her head and shields her with his body as much as possible, like he'd been wanting to do this his entire life, and once he calms down a crying Meimi by holding her tightly, the manga even has him say that he's "so happy he might die".
59	** Rosemary seeing the above scene and renouncing her revenge, a bit envious of both Meimi and her mother having met someone who would love them no matter what.
60	** The final scene, set eight years later:
61	*** The main cast is revealed to all still be good friends, with Asuka having decided to join up with Seira, Takamiya, and Sawatari in helping the town together [[TakeUpMySword in Saint Tail's name]] so that Meimi won't have to carry the burden herself anymore.
62	** Asuka being revealed to have attained FirstNameBasis with Meimi and proposing to her, [[ImportantHaircut who has cut her hair as a sign of retirement from being a phantom thief]].
63	* From the manga bonus chapters:
64	** Meimi's investment in Asuka Jr. turns out to have had its roots in their first meeting before the series even started, because she wanted him to open his mind a little bit.
65	** When Meimi and Asuka Jr. go to see a movie with IWillFindYou as a trope, Meimi remembers Asuka Jr. chasing her and thinks of it as attractive... while Asuka Jr. sees it as an OldShame because it reminds him of his past arrogance and the fact he'd been treating his future girlfriend like a prize object.
66	** Despite all of Meimi's fears of Asuka Jr. seeing her as worthless compared to Saint Tail, Asuka Jr. is ''so incapable'' of seeing any difference between them now that he can only distinguish them via "whether she's wearing a ponytail or not". Oh, and he thinks she looks really cute in it.
67	** Instead of physically going to fetch her like Meimi had wanted, Asuka Jr. proves that "Meimi" means more to him than just "a worse version of Saint Tail" by making an [[SayMyName absolute huge scene]] yelling at her to get back, thus also letting her know that he does actually have faith in her to take care of herself to some extent. Meimi finally accepts his feelings by coming back as Saint Tail one last time to drop by his window and kiss him.
68	** Asuka Jr. calls out Meim's behavior by calling it "meaningless" in [[IronicEcho the exact same way]] he'd labeled stage magic as "meaningless" in their first meeting, indicating that Meimi's influence on him had gotten him to understand what was actually important, moreso than even Meimi understood herself.
69	** Sawatari learns that Seira has never gotten a Christmas present in her life and feels so bad about it that not only does he take her out on a date, he also gives her candies one by one to compensate for the presents she never had.

Context Heartwarming / KaitouSaintTail