is an ongoing Japanese manga authored by Ito "Oh Great" Ōgure. The story primarily focuses on the members of the Juken Club and their opposition, the Executive Council, which is the ruling student body of a high school that educates its students in the art of combat. As the story unfolds, both groups become increasingly involved with an ongoing battle that has been left unresolved for four hundred years.
Tenjho Tenge was serialized in the Japanese magazine Ultra Jump published by Shueisha. It was adapted into a twenty-four episode anime series and aired on TV Asahi in Japan between April 1, 2004 to September 16, 2004. A two-episode original video animation was also made and aired on March 16, 2005. Both versions of the series have been licensed for release in the English language by two different companies. The manga has been licensed for publication by CMX, which came under criticism by fans for editing its sexual content.[1] The anime series has been licensed and is being released by Geneon Entertainment.
Plot
The plot begins with Souichiro Nagi and his friend Bob Makihara going to their first day of high school at Toudou 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.
Tenjho Tenge is an organizational story that uses a character-driven plot. The story uses a dramatic structure in the form of story arcs, which is common for this medium. Oh! great often employs the literary techniques of flashback and back-story for long stretches of the storyline. These techniques are used to enforce the notion of determinism, which is used throughout the story. Much of the combat used in Tenjho Tenge encompasses many philosophical and strategic concepts that is used in Japanese martial arts, such as kiai, aiki, and maai. Both the manga and the anime follow the same storyline, though there are differences. One of these differences is that both the CMX manga and the anime toned down the sexual content and profanity of the original Japanese manga. Another disparity is that the hair color of some of the characters in the anime does not match their hair color depicted on the colored covers of the manga.
Characters
- Shin Natsume (棗 慎 Natsume Shin)
- Maya and Aya's deceased older brother. He once was the president of the Executive Council and the founder of the disbanded Team KATANA and the Juken Club. He possessed the family's supernatural power called the Dragon's Eye, which allowed him to have such abilities as precognition, clairvoyance, and clairaudience. Because his power was awakened when he was still a preadolescent,[2] he could not control his powers and was driven insane by them.
- Maya Natsume (棗 真夜 Natsume Maya)
- A third year student and the current leader of the Juken Club. She is very skilled in various martial arts, but does not possess the Dragon's Eye like her siblings. For this reason her father entrusted her with the cursed sword Reiki. Early in the series, she would use a body manipulation technique to revert herself into her childhood form to conserve her ki.[3]
- Kagesada Sugano (Asshat-kun) (菅野 影定 Sugano Kagesada)
- A third year student and a founding member of the Juken Club, though he was forced to join.[4] Even though he is arrogant, he is considered to be the weakest member of the Juken Club and most of the time he prefers to hide instead of fighting.
- Masataka Takayanagi (高柳 雅孝 Takayanagi Masataka)
- A second year student and Mitsuomi's younger brother. Most of the time he has an easy going personality and is somewhat shy, but his demeanor changes when he becomes angered or serious. When this happens, he becomes a very formidable combatant.
- Aya Natsume (棗 亜夜 Natsume Aya)
- A first year student and the youngest of the Natsume family. Like her brother Shin, she has the power of the Dragon's Eye. Although she has problems consciously activating it, she seems to have better control of the power than her brother.
- Souichiro Nagi (凪 宗一郎 Nagi Sōichiro)
- A first year student and self proclaimed hoodlum. He is the heir of the Demon Exorcist family. His family's supernatural power is called the Dragon's Fist, which gives them the ability to take supernatural powers from others and use it as their own. This power is often feared and misunderstood by others which caused Souichiro to be socially rejected.[5]
- Bob Makihara (ボブ 牧原 Bobu Makihara)
- A first year student who is of African descent. He has been friends with Souichiro since elementary school.[5] He is athletic and practices the Afro-Brazilian martial art of Capoeira.
- Mitsuomi Takayanagi (高柳 光臣 Takayanagi Mitsuomi)
- The current president of the Executive Council and of the head of the Takayanagi family. He is a third year student and the top ranked fighter of the whole school. He is a highly skilled and dedicated martial artist. Because of an incident with Shin and the Dragon's Eye, he is only able to use his formidable abilities for about three minutes at a time.[6]
- Emi Isuzu (五十鈴 絵美 Isuzu Emi)
- A third year student and the current vice president of the Executive Council. She has the ability to manipulate the fat of her overweight body,[7] which allows her to look slender and gives her places to hide throwing knives or other small objects.
- Bunshichi Tawara (俵 文七 Tawara Bunshichi)
- A twenty year old third year student and the Executive Council's advisor. Most of the time he prefers to avoid fighting and the school's politics. When he does fight, he utilizes street fighting techniques and is deemed to be highly dangerous considering he was the former top ranked fighter of the school before Mitsuomi overtook the position.[8]
- Shirō Tagami (田上 士郎 Tagami Shirō)
- A third year student and the current third division leader of the Executive Council. He prides himself in following the Bushidō code of conduct.[9] He is a practitioner of the martial art Bōjutsu, in which he uses a hybrid bō that can be unlocked into a sansetsukon.
Anime
The Tenjho Tenge anime was directed by Toshifumi Kawase, animated by Madhouse Studios, and produced by TV Asahi and Avex. The twenty-four episodes were originally aired weekly on TV Asahi in Japan on Thursdays from April 1, 2004 to September 16, 2004.[15] These episodes where made into eight volume DVD box sets. Two additional episodes were broadcast by TV Asahi in Japan on March 16, 2005 and released in the form of an original video animation named Tenjho Tenge: Ultimate Fight.[16] The anime follows closely to its source material up to the manga's eighth volume with the exception of the sexual content which was toned down.[17] The anime has been dubbed into English, French, German and the Tagalog language.[15] The anime series has been licensed for the English language by Geneon Entertainment, and has released all episodes except the DVD special named Tenjho Tenge: The Past Chapter, which is the back-story told through flashbacks in the second half of the TV anime condensed into the size of four episodes.[18] Although not mentioned on the Geneon Entertainment (USA) website, or the Tenjho Tenge mini-site,[19] the OVA is available on the last volume, sometimes listed as Episodes 25 and 26. In Australia and the UK, the series was released over seven volumes, and include the OVA on the seventh disc.[20][21]
[edit] Music
The anime's music, including the background music and theme songs, were composed and performed by various artists, such as m.c.A·T and Aiko Kayo whom provided the opening and closing themes songs of the anime. In 2004, Avex record label released the Tenjho Tenge soundtrack and a single.[22][23] In 2005, Avex released two character collection albums.[24][25]
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