Review of Tenjho Tenge: Vol. 5

Introduction

Fighting anime, a genre that would normally have me heading for the hills. 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. Yet Tenjho Tenge, which has all of this, has thus far managed to win me over. 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`s fun, and I actually find myself looking forward to seeing how the series progresses.

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. They are taken under the wing of Maya Natsume, who sees promise in their abilities, and she trains them as part of her Juken Club. The problem is that the Juken Club stands for everything that is anathema to the school`s Student Executive Council.

The curse of anime on DVD strikes early on for Tenjho Tenge. Episodes numbers rarely come in multiples of four, which usually means that there is the odd disc with fewer episodes on. This usually occurs at the end of the series, but for Tenjho Tenge, we`re only at volume 5 when it happens. Three episodes only this time I`m afraid (The odd thing is that Tenjho Tenge is a 24 episode series, it`s just that there are bonus episodes to add on.). At the end of volume 4, Maya had completed her trip down memory lane, and was awaiting punishment from the Executive Council for her actions. These three episodes see the aftermath of that punishment.

17. True Motive
Aya Natsume has got hold of her brother`s sword, but she has no idea what lethal power she is trifling with. She`s determined to overturn her sister`s expulsion though, and heads for the Executive Council. She doesn`t know that Bob and Souichiro have put their own plan in motion, which involves beating as many people up as possible. They`re about to run into the brick wall named Bunshichi however, and Souichiro will confess something that will devastate Aya. The Juken Club is on the verge of falling apart.

18. Sympathy
Bob and Souichiro are still `guests` of the Executive Council, but with Aya wielding her brother`s sword, President Mitsuomi has a more pressing problem. He`s even teamed up with Maya to track her little sister down before all hell breaks loose. Masataka wants to help too, but he`s not getting any answers as to just why Aya is so dangerous. He`s left alone, totally unprepared to confront Aya, but he doesn`t mind, as all Aya wants is to spend the night at his place. She isn`t expecting a vision of her dead brother though.

19. Start Up
Bob and Souichiro finally convince Bunshichi to fill in the gaps of Maya`s story. It`s time to step into the wayback machine again…

When Shin gets out of hospital, the preliminaries for the martial arts contest to decide the next Executive Council are imminent. With Katana disbanded, Shin starts a martial arts club, the Juken Club to qualify, but they are light on members. Shin believes that he, Bunshichi and Mitsuomi will be enough to prevail, but Mitsuomi wants Maya to join to make sure.

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

Yet again the bare minimum, with just a jacket picture, Screenshot Gallery (useful if your pause button is broken), and trailers for forthcoming MVM series Elemental Gelade and Gun Sword.

Conclusion

I`m afraid that I found volume 5 of Tenjho Tenge to be a disappointment, not helped by the lower episode count. A lot of this has to do with the way the series is structured. We had one volume to introduce the characters, one volume encompassing a battle in a bowling alley, then two volumes of flashback going some way to explaining how the situation arose. Yet I found that the narrative and characters in the flashback were more compelling than the show`s main characters. The main characters and story just seem to be a framing device for the more interesting flashbacks, and once Souichiro and Bob take centre stage again, I feel a vague disappointment.

That`s just the way that I perceive Tenjho Tenge of course, and is probably not the way that it is supposed to be enjoyed. Nevertheless, the previous two volumes had set up a degree of momentum, even if it was just back-story. The first episode in this volume succeeds in killing that momentum, and drags the show back down to a crawl. It`s based around the rather trivial desire to reverse Maya`s expulsion, something that doesn`t really matter to the overall picture, and the whole run time is devoted to the characters confronting this issue. It all serves to set up Souichiro`s revelation, which Aya is destined to overhear. It could have been done in five minutes, but here we get the whole episode devoted to it.

Sympathy keeps the motor idling, as we switch to romantic comedy mode, with supernatural overtones. Masataka`s dream has come true, he has Aya Natsume all to himself, and he`s having a hard time just keeping the goofy grin off his face. His true test comes when he has to resist temptation to peek while Aya is taking a shower. Aya has some personal demons to deal with, while everyone else is stressing about the fact that she stole her brother`s sword, and the world will probably end because of it. This episode is more interesting than True Motive, as we get to fill in a few narrative gaps, and there is a little entertainment value. But it has a hard time finding that momentum again.

Things really only get interesting in Start Up, where Bunshichi decides to finish Maya`s story, and reveal just what happened to turn Mitsuomi into a muscle-bound bad ass, and how Shin died. It`s almost like starting from scratch again, as it seems that Shin`s behaviour from the first flashback sequence has been forgiven, and everyone`s getting on like a house on fire. And just when we are getting to the interesting bits, the episode ends, the disc stops, and we are left with a cliffhanger. To be continued in the next volume.

Tenjho Tenge`s problem is that it`s trying to tell two stories at once. But rather than intertwining the two narratives, it gives us a hefty dollop of one thread, and then switches to the other. It has the effect of stopping the momentum dead each time, and my apathy increases with it. It`s a similar structure to the Lord Of The Rings novel, when the Fellowship goes their separate ways. I find it clumsy and tedious. It would have been better if Tenjho Tenge had focused on one story to the exclusion of all else. With the current flashback yet to finish, I don`t see how Souichiro`s story can be satisfactorily resolved in the remaining time.

Of course if you are following Tenjho Tenge then it goes without saying this is an essential disc, regardless of how poorly it serves the overall story. And once the series is complete, these episodes will hopefully make sense in their proper context. However, we are supposed to judge these discs on their own merits, and taken by itself it is a desultory selection of episodes. Even in the context of what has come before, it only serves to kill the show`s momentum. If you are looking to start watching Tenjho Tenge, volume 5 certainly isn`t representative of the series as a whole.