Manga Review: Tenjou Tenge

Tenjho Tenge is a manga created by the author Oh! great who is known for his other work "Air Gear". The manga first began in 1998 and is still ongoing with 20 volumes. The animation studio Madhouse widely known for it's animes like "Hellsing OVA", "Beyblade" and "chobits" decided to make Tenjho Tenge into a 24 episode long TV Anime Series. The Anime Series began April 2004 and ended September 2004. March 2005 2 OVA's were released called "Ultimate Fight" were created to be episodes 25 and 26 of the TV Anime series. Finnally an Animated Film was created called "The Past Chapter" in March 2006 which aimed to tell the story of the flash back arc in the manga.

"The plot begins with Souichiro Nagi and his friend Bob Makihara going to their first day of high school at Todo Academy. They had intended to rule the school by beating up anybody that got in their way, as they had done at their previous schools. They soon learn that Todo is no ordinary high school with ordinary students, but is a school that was founded to teach and integrate different fighting styles. Its students are skilled in the various arts of combat with some students possessing supernatural abilities, such as pyrokinesis, precognition, and superhuman strength based on the abilities to use their "spirit" or "ki" in Japanese. After an altercation with the Executive Council, Souichiro and Bob join the only surviving club that opposes them, the Juken club. As the storyline develops, both groups find they are becoming increasingly involved in a long enduring conflict that was left unresolved from the Japanese Feudal era by some of the characters' ancestors."

I admit I copied and pasted that from Wikipedia, however that was only because I was unsure what the plot of Tenjho Tenge was about. Now you might be thinking, if I can barely remember the plot then, the plot must be bad. Well you are kinda right, the plotline started real simple and you could easily follow every turn of events and such. However in the current arcs, the manga has become very, very confusing. Essentially all the characters in Tenjho Tenge all share a bond, and that is all of their ancestors have interacted in the past. So if we break down the story there is a great war in the past, and some evil villians are aiming for one thing, and the good guys are trying to stop him. Now those events are happening again in the present which these characters are currently fighting. I will admit the plotline is very thin, however I always say though if the fights are good, then reading the manga can be made bearable! Also the sword pictured above is my favoruite sword in all of fiction.

Souichiro Nagi: The main character of Tenjho Tenge, who starts life out as a school delinquent who goes from school to school and fights the schools strongest fighters. One day when going to Todo Academy he gets demolished and sent to hospital, because Todo Academy is the number 1 fighting school in japan!. However Nagi undergoes training under the Natsume sisters in the school dojo and while his strength he realises changes undergoing in his body. He is not an ordinary person thats for sure, he is the heir of the Demon Exorcist family. His family's supernatural power is called the Dragon's Fist. Later in the manga when he uses the dragon fist it is one of the most destructive attacks in the manga which is capable of killing the greatest of fighters in one blow. His ancestor seems to be key to all the events in the past and present.

Shin Natsume: Shin is Maya and Aya's older brother and the greatest fighter of the family. However he is dead now, and dead way before the start of the story. He was the best fighter in the school, and with his power he was the president of the executive council controlling all the fighters in the school while also being head of the Juken Club which now belongs to Maya.  He possessed the family's supernatural power called the Dragon's Eye, which allowed him to have such abilities as precognition, clairvoyance, and clairaudience. This allowed him to essentially see all the moves an oppenent makes before he even attacks making him almost unbeatable. However his abilities had awakened far too early and he was struggling to control them. In the end his abilities drove him to insanity and he was recklessly killing people so he had to be killed himself.

Maya Natsume: A third year at Todo Academy and the leader of the Juken club. Early in the series she appears in the form of a little girl, however this is a special body manipulation skill where she spends most of her time to gather ki. However she can revert back to her original form for battle. Maya is an extremely gifted fighter and master swordswoman easily the best in the school. However in terms of school ranking she proberbly ranks 3rd with Nagi second and Aya fourth. For some reason Maya even though being apart of the Natsume family does not possess the dragon eye and thus with no abilitys she has not been driven to insanity like her brother Shin. That is why her father intrusted her with the sacred sword Reika which is the central character in the Tenjho Tenge story. This is because Reika is a cursed sword to those with abilities.

Aya Natsume: She is a first year student at Todo Academy and the youngest of the Natsume family. When she first meets Nagi, which happens to be when Nagi falls through the roof of the showers after being slammed off a building by Maya, she proposes to him to become her wife, while she is still stark naked. Anyway so we have a love intrest at the start of the manga already, it is not uncommon. Aya being apart of the Natsuma family and unlike Maya she does have the dragon eye ability and is suffering the same mental illness and insanity which drove her brother Shin to his death. However she is having a much better time controlling the insanity, although with this problem she is able to use the dragon eye ability. Thus when she uses the cursed sword reika to control her Ki flow she is able to become a very powerfull fighter.

If you have ever read Air Gear which is the same Author for Tenjho Tenge then you will realise that the art style is simple off the scale. The Art style is way more detailed in Tenjho Tenge then it is in Air Gear because the manga consists of lots of fight scenes. The scenery and backgrounds are drawn fantastically! the double page spreads are even way more awesome! Not just that all the lines are drawn very clear, the tones are done very softly in some scenes, but sharply in others to convey emotions. However the art style is also drawn in many different perspectives and not just your average 2D character one a piece of paper. Ussually in fight scenes the art style is elevated higher then the rest of the manga, however in Tenjho Tenge's case the art style is always at the highest quality available which promises to always stun and suprise you! I really love this heavily detailed art style because you can see everything.

Oh boy, if there is one thing I will always remember from reading Tenjho Tenge, and that is just how damn ecchi the manga was! Air Gear done by the same author Oh Great! was pretty ecchi, however in Tenjho Tenge with the age of the characters pretty much the same in Air Gear, they are involved in alot more sexual activites. All the girls in Tenjho Tenge are drawn in revealing clothes, or no clothes at all, actually that is a key thing there is alot of nudity in the manga, and I mean there is a double page spread just ofa female characters chest. Well anyway there is way too many sexual references or alot of sexual innuendo. However it get a 10/10 on the ecchi scale why? because there is several pages of sex scenes, which I do not fully understand why it is necessary, maybe it is to appeal to the male readers, but it does not fit i the plot anywhere. If there is a single sex scene shown in the manga, then this manga is rated 18+ or atleast mature.

Now I was talking about how thin the plotline was, well I still do admit it is weak. It shares the same problem with Air Gear which is the manga started out good being simple and easy to understand, but currently it is very confusing and is gradually becoming worse. However even with this in mind the fight scenes in the manga are really excellent! indeed they are some of the best I have ever seen in manga's and properbly the main reason why is because of the art style. Tenjho Tenge alongside Air Gear has some of the best art style shown in a manga that you will ever see, the art style alone makes up for how bad the plotline is. How do I discribe it, its like your watching a bad film, but if your having a massage while watching it, then it is okey right?! well anyway the art style is one of my all time favoruites, but it is over top on the ecchi scale, though if you don't mind the manga might be a good read for you.