Review of Tenjho Tenge: Vol. 3

Introduction

Much as I like anime, there are genres that even I don`t find appealing. The fighting anime is one of them. Characters facing each other, building up their stats and unleashing special effect laden finishing moves, it all seems barely one step above the console games that inspire them. While the younger audiences are catered for with card swapping mayhem like Pokemon, older viewers need something a little more adult with their combat. As well as adding some bone-crunching violence and free flowing blood, there is a fair bit of sex as well, with mini-skirted vixens with ample breasts that would be excessive in a Russ Meyer movie, getting into the fist fighting fun. Tenjho Tenge has all of this, yet the first two volumes succeeded in winning me over, as it also has an interesting story, characters that go beyond the usual anime clichés, and a sense of irreverence that occasionally borders on the parody. To put it succinctly, it was fun, and I find myself hoping that the series continues in the same vein.

Souichiro Nagi and Bob Makihara have built a reputation of ruling the roost of whichever school they are transferred to. They do this through using their fists relentlessly against whoever stands up to them. This has been going on for some time now, but the 100th school they attend is a wholly different prospect. Todo Academy`s mission statement since its founding has been to resurrect and promote the Martial Arts. The students there are a completely different prospect, and Souichiro and Bob will not wind up at the top of the pile as they so casually assume, quite the reverse in fact. In the second volume, having tried to make their mark at Todo they were taken under the wing of Maya Natsume and the Juken Club. Their training had barely begun however, when the school`s Executive Council decided to punish them for their intractability. That meant a showdown in the local bowling alley, where Council President Mitsuomi Takanayagi decided to take a personal hand in dishing out the punishment.

In the four episodes in this third volume, we learn that there is more than just Martial Arts rivalry at stake in the confrontation, and that Maya Natsume and Mitsuomi Takanayagi have a past…

9. Enforcement
The inevitable confrontation between Souichiro and Mitsuomi Takanayagi, Masataka`s estranged brother occurs. Souichiro barely remains conscious long enough to realise that he is totally outclassed. Even still, Mitsuomi realises that he may have bitten off more than he can chew. The result inconclusive, both sides retire to lick their respective wounds. But dealing with the aftermath of the battle may be even more nerve-wracking, especially for Maya Natsume, who must come clean about her past.

10. Memory
Set the wayback machine for two years, as we enter a series of flashback episodes that reveal the background of the current tensions in Todo Academy. Maya relates the story of her past and the relationship she had with Mitsuomi. They were both freshmen at Todo Academy when her brother Shin served as president. Back then Maya was brash and looking to pick fights just to prove her ability. When she picked one with Mitsuomi, it made a lasting impression on them both. A harbinger of trouble, Mitsuomi also made an impression on Shin`s girlfriend Kuzunoha. But Shin had bigger fish to fry, as a mysterious assailant was attacking his Katana gang, and thoroughly defeating them all one by one.

11. One With An Unusual Talent
Mitsuomi is getting in deeper with Kuzunoha, while Shin`s right hand man Bunshichi has almost tracked down the Katana hunter. Shin is curiously unconcerned about these developments, and is more interested in `letting off steam`, with unfortunate consequences for those who stray into his path. There`s more to Kuzunoha than meets the eye, and when she presents Mitsuomi with a video record, he learns a shocking truth about Shin, and what his duty as one of the Takanayagi clan is.

12. Darkness
Mitsuomi`s destiny is revealed, as is the reason behind the Katana attacks. It all boils down to Shin`s dark past, and a confrontation seems inevitable, especially after the remaining Katana members are attacked. Bunshichi is looking for vengeance, but forces behind the scenes are orchestrating events.

Video

Tenjho Tenge gets a clear, sharp and exceedingly colourful 4:3 transfer. By and large the transfer is excellent, with few if any artefacts or colour banding. The animation is something of a mixed bag. The character designs are excellent, but the dynamic opening sequence isn`t mirrored by the show. This is one of those static animations where everything remains static except the lips in dialogue scenes. It also lacks visual depth, it`s very obviously a CG 2D animation, and it feels very much like an animated comic book. That is except for the action sequences, which are dynamically realised, with the fights accomplished with flair and impact.

Audio

You get a choice between DD 2.0 English and Japanese, with a further choice of translated English subtitles, signs or nothing at all. The dialogue is clear throughout, and while as usual I prefer the Japanese track, I spot checked the English track and found little to complain about.

Features

The bare minimum again, with just a jacket picture, Line Art Gallery, and trailers for Samurai 7 and Le Portrait de Petite Cossette.

Conclusion

What a difference a volume makes! At the end of volume 2, I was wavering between continuing with Tenjho Tenge and finding something more fulfilling to do with the time. A multi-episode arc devoted to one, admittedly epic, fight in a bowling alley, laden with anime clichés and eye-candy explosions of chi would normally have been a turn-off for me, were it not for some wry comedy and subversion of character to balance things out. As it was, while I enjoyed the last volume, I didn`t hold out much hope for any improvement in the third volume. How wrong I was…

For the third volume quickly dispenses with the aftermath of the fight, and starts filling in the background of the situation that exists between the Executive Council and the Juken club, and it does so with a Rolf Harris sized canvas and brushes. So far, we have been presented with a school rivalry as well as a mythology, and it`s been easy to choose sides. The Juken club are the underdogs, the Natsume family the good guys, and the Executive Council and their lackeys villainous in the truest sense of the word. With President Mitsuomi Takanayagi pumped up like a strategically moulded beach ball, wearing evil looking latex and dispensing justice from up high, it`s no surprise that we are rooting for the apparent cannon fodder that is the Juken Club, and hoping that they can build up enough chi to emerge victorious come the end of the series, and that the Natsume sisters can avenge their brother`s death.

Then Tenjho Tenge turns that all on its head by taking us back in time two years. Mitsuomi is a gentle, kind boy with the weight of destiny on his shoulders. He`s smitten with Maya Natsume, who is a brash obnoxious kid who insists on picking fights. Maya is a far cry from the diminutive sensei character we know and love, and is actually a bit unlikeable. Her relationship with her brother Shin isn`t the healthiest, and indeed Shin`s character is far from the martyr that I assumed he was early in the series. On the contrary, despite his happy go lucky exterior and his obvious love for his younger sister, he very much has a villainous heart to him, and isn`t above the odd manipulation. What we learn of him as the flashback episodes progress colours perceptions greatly, and by the end of this volume, Mitsuomi is looking far from the blackheart that was first introduced, and the motives behind the rivalry between the Juken club and Executive Council become highly suspect.

It`s an ambiguity in the story that greatly livens things up, and gives the characters much needed dimension. There is also the added aspect of forces behind the scenes moving events, and all of a sudden Tenjho Tenge needs greater attention paid than just a simple fighting anime. By the end of this volume, I was wondering what Maya`s motives were in standing up to the Executive Council, whether Masataka, Bob and Souichiro were being duped into siding with her against Masataka`s elder brother, or had the Executive Council gone power mad in their tenure, and now needed overthrowing for the common good. Also this volume raises the intriguing question of whether Aya is starting down the same dark path that claimed her brother.

Tenjho Tenge is still a fighting anime, and the combination of mythology, and high school soap opera, interspersed with bone crushing violence will be familiar to many. But this series appears to be taking the familiar genre in a refreshing direction, and the blurring of the good guy bad guy dynamic, hinted at by the antihero figure of Souichiro really comes into its own in this volume. Where earlier I would have said this was a nice frivolous show, ideal for having on in the background, now I`m actively interested in what happens next. Tenjho Tenge leaves me wanting more, and that`s an astounding accomplishment for a show of this genre.