Tenjho Tenge
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|} is a seinen anime and manga series drawn and written by the manga-ka Oh! great (大暮 維人 Ōgure Ito). The title is said to be from the saying of the Buddha when he was born: "天上天下唯我独尊 (Tenjō Tenge Yuiga Dokuson)" which means "I alone am honored on Heaven and Earth." [link]
The manga is currently running in Shueisha's Ultra Jump in Japan. The manga is being officially published in North America through DC Comics' CMX imprint. The CMX English manga is edited to reduce the sexuality and market it with a T (Teen - 13 Yrs and older) rating, a controversial move in the eyes of many North American fans. The anime is currently broadcasting in Japan, and it is translated into English in Geneon's DVD release.
There is also a 2-episode OVA named Tenjho Tenge ULTIMATE FIGHT.
Synopsis
Two new students, Bob Makihara and Souichiro Nagi, arrive at Todou Academy with plans to rule the school. As they beat up everyone they come across, they encounter Maya Natsume and Masataka Takayanagi. After being knocked out a window by Maya, Souichiro lands in the shower room with Aya Natsume, Maya's younger sister. Aya immediately falls in love with Souichiro, despite the fact that he has no interest in her. As a result of the two new students' violent actions they catch the attention of the Executive Council that runs the school. After the destruction of Bob's precious motorcycle, the assault (rape in the manga) of Bob's girlfriend Chiaki, and the two's defeat, all at the hands of one executive council member, the two decide to join the Juuken Club. Maya is the captain of this club and Masataka and Aya are members also. This group is opposed to the executive council and Maya has a long history with the executive council president, Masataka's brother, Mitsuomi Takayanagi. Souichiro and Bob are now at the center of a conflict they know little about.As the story progresses it proceeds into a flash back that makes up the majority of the anime which concerns Maya's older brother Shin Natsume, and the events surrounding his death. Shin possessed the Dragon Eyes, allowing him to see the past the present and the future and just about anything else he wanted. This power awakened 8 years before the main storyline while Shin was just a boy. He was unable to control it and it proved far too much for him, eventually driving him insane. As the then freshman Mitsuomi enters the school and is taken under Shin's wing, Shin's motorcycle gang, Katana is under attack by an unknown assailant called the Katana Hunter. As Mitsuomi starts an affair with Mana, Shin's girlfriend, she gives him a video to watch. The video starts out as nothing more than Shin and Mana's early relationship, but then dramatically shifts to Shin killing innocents just for a "distraction". Disturbed by this Mitsuomi is overwhelmed by fear. The members of Katana figure out who the Katana Hunter is, Maya, and plan revenge. They subsequently get beat nearly to death by Shin, who is extremely protective of, and obsessed with his sister. Bunshichi Tawara, Shin's best friend goes to beat some sense into Shin. He discovers Shin's recent actions are being caused by the Reiki, an evil ceremonial katana {which is a nodachi but is called a katana in the series). After Shin's defeat and the Reiki being taken away from him, Shin returns to normal. As the schools annual tournament which decides what group will make up the executive council arrives, Shin decides that he wants to compete. As all of the Katana members but Shin, Mitsuomi and Bunshichi have quit, Shin forms the Juuken Club with the three as members. Five people are necessary to compete and there is a rush to find three more members before the tournament starts, though everyone is terrified of Shin, and no one wants to join. Mitsuomi convinces Maya to join. Confident that the 4 of them are more than enough to win Maya takes Kagesada Sugano (almost solely referred to as his nickname Asshat in the manga), who has no fighting skills, and forces him to be their fifth member. As the finals approach Shin is pulled aside by Dougen Takayanagi, Mitsuomi's father. Dougen wants to create a true warrior in Mitsuomi and believes to use evil to overcome is necissary to do that. Dougen wants Shin to be this evil and attempts to return the Reiki to him at school in the hopes he'll slaughter a lot of people and Mitsuomi will bring him down. Shin refuses the sword, so Dougen trys the dishonorable method. He orders Fu Chien(Mitsuomi's sensei) to attack Maya, Shin's precious sister to set him off anyway. As Shin arrives late for a fight, his opponent opens the door to reveal Maya beaten and barely clothed. Shin's dragon eyes activate and subsequently nearly kills his opponet and all of Fu Chien's men. Mana runs to get Mitsuomi believing only he could stop Shin in that state, and Shin fights Fu Chien. In the process of this fight Shin rips of Fu Chien's hands at the wrist and as he starts to assault the innocent Emi Isuzu, Maya calls out to him returning him to normal. Almost at the same time Mitsuomi bursts in and rushes Shin, to stop him too Maya calls out to him. Shin is jealous and angry, his dragon eyes activate again and be blasts Mitsuomi with a large quantity of ki (chi in china). Mitsuomi is taken to the hospital and said to be fine, but later he is returned to the hospital after coughing up blood.
As the finals start, everyone but Bunshichi and Kagesada have skipped. At the last second Mitsuomi shows up and takes on the entire team alone. In three minutes he defeats five of the top fighters in the school. Afterward he grabs his chest and leaves. He meets Mana outside and collapses on her, and pukes blood. Mana as a member of the medical club explains what has happened to his body. The large quantity of ki fired into his heart by Shin has sped it up, far beyond anything drugs could mimic. As a result his body is becoming super oxygenated, vitalizing his muscles, improving his metabolism and even improving his brain functions. Essentially, he gets super human abilities for three minutes. If he fights longer than that his heart rate will surpass 200 beats per minute, and will rupture. Even if Mitsuomi doesn't fight he has 2-3 years of life left.
By this time Shin has become entirely insane. He decides to take over protection to the extreme and kill anyone who is near Maya. Mitsuomi figures this out and plans to free Maya by defeating Shin, he swears he'll take Shin down in 2 months. 2 months later, Shin insists on a group photo, strange behavior as he didn't want anyone near Maya. He then challenges Mitsuomi to a fight to determine the executive council president. Mitsuomi dominates the fight, until the Reiki decides it doesn't want to let Shin die and activates his dragon eyes. Shin blasts through Mana and hits Mitsuomi with the Takayanagi secret technique, the honed (I've seen it translated as forged, i don't know what the official English name is) needle attack. After pummeling Mitsuomi and knocking out almost everyone in the room Shin has the dying Mana assist him in taking his own life. Mitsuomi later removes his father from power and becomes the head of the Takayanagi family estate. A lot of the story revolves around the concept that they are repeating history, and that the characters are following the same route as Shin.
Maya blames Mitsuomi for her brothers death, and opposes him as the executive council president by becoming the new captain of the Juuken club. Originally there were many members but they were all beat up by the executive council and quit school.
Now informed of the past conflicts Bob and Souichiro plan to train and take down Mitsuomi. But Maya discovers the Reiki is missing. Aya has taken it, as she has dragon eyes like Shin, this causes quite the uproar. Mitsuomi even assists Maya in finding Aya and taking it back. In the end they get the Reiki back, and Mitsuomi agrees to put off his aggression until the annual tournament. Maya then plans to train Bob and Souichiro to take down Mitsuomi. In the process Souchiro awakens the powers of his family, the demon exorcist powers, or the Dragon Fist. Also discovering there are 12 families that support the Takayanagi family each with their own unique powers, the Natsume family's dragon eyes and the Nagi family's dragon fist are some examples. The anime and OVAs end there but the Manga goes farther.
When Mitsuomi took over the heads of these families were removed from power also, a new alliance of the original heads children has formed under Mitsuomi called 'F'. Despite the order to wait for the next tournament, F attacks the Juuken Club anyway. Soon it is discovered F doesn't follow Mitsuomi at all and is acting on its own, at the orders of the man who not only formed F, but helped Mitsuomi remove his father from power, Sohaku. It is also revealed Sohaku is Souichiro's estranged father. Eventually Mitsuomi allies with the Juuken club to bring down Sohaku. The Manga hasn't concluded this conflict yet, and is still in progress.
The above is until about volume 08 of the manga which is now done with volume 15 and just started 16. And alot has happened and been revealed, again spoiler warnings ahead. The first attack by "F" was by Tetsusen Isshiyumi on Souichiro(and Aya) soon after he learned to open his Dragon chakra (gate). This attack was completely independent by Ishiyumi, who actually held back his full strength, as a way to gather information about Souichiro and Aya. And even though his right arm was completely shattered during the fight(among other injuries) at the hospital another meber of "F" used the Dragon Palm power to completely heal him in an instant. While Nagi won the fight he had a hard time controlling the huge amounts of ki energy released when opening his chakra. Soon after this the vice-captain of the Jyuukenbu shows up a small (very small though he's the same age as Maya) boy who at first is mistaken for a large-eyed alien Kurei Ichirou, and the lascivious Sugano Kagesada, "Asshat", one of the founders of the Jyuukenbu, reappears for the first time since the flashback to when Shin was alive. Asshat decides to come train with the Jyuukenbu and help them in the election tournement after Nagi and Bob beat him in a "fight"(you'll have to see it to know what I'm talking about).Up until now Asshat thought it was a waste of time to oppose Mitsuomi and hadn't done anything since recovering from when he also was wounded when Shin died. Next Tsumuji Mataza, another member of "F" leading the Takayanagi family soldiers completely wipes out the Enmi family, a branch family of the Natsumes who use the Dragon Pupil( a variation of the Dragon Eye of the Natsumes) to make people see illusions, in Kyushu. The only survivors are Mouki,a small boy and the current heir of the family, and Enma, a temple preistess Tsumuji kept alive to torture(brutuly) for information. Nagi's mom leaves for Kyushu when she hears what happens and Mouki turns up at the Natsume house. The Hayabusa,Tsumiji's armored infantry division as they call themselves, basically 4 brothers on motorcycles working for Tsumuji show up at the Natsume residence and take Mouki. However Aya's Dragon Eye(at this point she can't really control it) starts working well and her and Souichiro are able to track them down on a scooter defeat them and get Mouki back. Defying the direct orders of Maya, Aya and Souichiro take Mouki back to Kyushu, with Kurei stowing away in Aya's backpack(Maya sent him to keep an eye on them because she knew they'd go anyway). At the destroyed temple at the Enma home they meet up with Tsumuji Mataza Yorihira, the ousted former leader of the Tsumuji family and father of "F"'s Mataza. He reveals the reason the family was attacked and what Mataza and "F" is after is the family's sacred scroll, however when him and Aya find it, it turns out that it was really a microchip hidden in the scroll they are after that Yorihira takes and then ditches Aya and Souichiro telling them not to get involved.
Characters
- Japanese names are in Western order (family name is after the given name). The anime released by Geneon uses the Western order while the CMX manga uses the Japanese order.
- Souichiro Nagi (凪 宗一郎 Nagi Sōichirō) - Souichiro and his friend Bob travel from school to school beating up the top fighters in each. However, when they happen across the Todoh Academy (romanized as Todoh in the English manga and Todo in the English anime), they encounter a formidable challenge. The trouble he and Bob create draws the attention of the Academy's Executive council, who order two of their 'enforcers' to straighten them out. After a disastrous first meeting with one of them, in which Bob's girlfriend Chiaki was also badly injured, Souichiro and Bob sign up with the Juuken Club. It is later revealed that Souichiro may have latent abilities, which may explain part of the council's attention. Souichiro's name is romanized as Nagi Soichiro in the English manga.
- Bob Makihara (ボブ 牧原 Bobu Makihara) - Souichiro's friend, who is of African descent. It is unknown how he and Souichiro met. Naturally athletic, he fights using the Brazilian fighting style capoeira. Because of his ancestry, when he first arrived some addressed him as "The Foreigner". He is the conservative one of the pair, as unlike Souichiro, he doesn't let his rage overtake him.
- Maya Natsume (棗 真夜 Natsume Maya) - Maya is the busty 17 year-old captain of the Juuken Club. She can control her body by shrinking herself to the appearance of an 8 year-old. She had a previous relationship with Mitsuomi, but has now sworn revenge on him for the events surrounding the death of her older brother Natsume Shin.
- Aya Natsume (棗 亜夜 Natsume Aya) - Aya, Maya's younger sister, becomes infatuated with Souichiro after he falls through the roof whilst she is taking a shower. However, he does not return her affections, even when she fixes him lunches. She possesses the 'Dragon Eye', an ability which allows her to see into the past and the future, as well as communicating with inanimate objects such as Shin's motorcycle, which Aya was able to drive despite not learning how to in the first place. Maya believes it is this power which draws Aya to Souichiro, as he may well become the strongest of all the members of the Juuken Club.
- Masataka Takayanagi (高柳 雅孝 Takayanagi Masataka) - A polite boy who trains under Maya. He falls in love with Aya at first sight, but is crushed when she goes for Souichiro. He's an excellent, but often overlooked, martial artist, and can go into a berserker rage when pushed too far. He is currently estranged from his older brother Mitsuomi, because of his association with Maya Natsume.
- Mitsuomi Takayanagi (高柳 光臣 Takayanagi Mitsuomi) - The leader of the executive council and Toudou's top fighter. He is Masataka's brother and is obviously displeased with his brother's choice of comrades, presumably because of the history between himself and Maya Natsume. He was at one time a friend of Maya's brother, Natsume Shin.
- Chiaki Kounoike (鴻ノ池 千秋 Kōnoike Chiaki) - Bob's girlfriend.
- Shin Natsume - Has the power of dragon eyes like Aya, but was driven insane by them. His possession of the Reiki is blamed for his insanity. A lot of events in the series are based around Shin's actions and death.
- Bunshichi Tawara (俵 文七 Tawara Bunshichi) - Close friend of Shin and Mitsuomi. He is the advisor (essentially their strategist) for the executive council, he however never does anything insisting he is a member in name only.
- Emi Isuzu (五十鈴絵美 Isuzu Emi) - A 3rd-year senior at Todoh as well as the vice chairwoman of the Executive Community. Not only is she Mitsuomi's second-in-command, but one who harbors a deep love for him. Because of a misunderstanding, Emi sees Maya as someone she must kill. At first sight, Emi appears to be a drop-dead gorgeous girl, but she is not called, "The Black Blade," for nothing. To the untrained eye, Emi seems to able to pull out knives from nowhere. However, Emi's true secret is that she can control her fat folds, giving her the apperance of a gorgeous and model-figured girl. In reality, Emi is gigantically obese, but with this and her ability to fold in her fat, she can hide knives between her folds, confusing the enemy.
Voice actors
Japanese version
- Souichiro Nagi - Souichirou Hoshi
- Bob Makihara - Shinichiro Miki
- Maya Natsume - Aya Hisakawa
- Aya Natsume - Minori Chihara
- Masataka Takayanagi - Tomokazu Seki
- Mitsuomi Takayanagi - Toshiyuki Morikawa
- Emi Isuzu - Haruhi Terada
- Bunshichi Tawara - Kazuki Yao
- Tsutomu Ryuuzaki - Kenji Hamada
- Kouji Sagara - Kenta Miyake
- Masahiro Sanada - Akira Ishida
- Chiaki Kounoike - Ryoko Shiraishi
- Dan Inosato - Junichi Sawabe
- Shin Natsume - Shuichi Ikeda
English version
- Maya Natsume - Wendee Lee
- Aya Natsume - Tiffany Hsieh
- Souichiro Nagi - Steve Cannon
- Bob Makihara - Jamieson Price (As Taylor Henry)
- Masataka Takayanagi - Johnny Yong Bosch (As Kevin Hatcher)
- Mitsuomi Takayanagi - Kurt Strauss
- Emi Isuzu - Kate Davis
- Koji Sagara - George C. Cole
- Chiaki Kounoike - Julie Anne Taylor
Episode list
- Sanctuary
- Defeat
- Executioner
- Suspicion
- Punishment
- Illusion
- Breakthrough
- Dragon's Eye
- Enforcement
- Memory
- One With an Unusual Talent
- Darkness
- Magical Power
- Hellfire
- Yin & Yang
- Conclusion
- True Motive
- Resonance
- Activation
- Stratagem
- Spontaneous Explosion
- Resolution
- Binding Spell
- Wandering
- Dragon Fist
- Budding
External links
- [Official English anime website]
- [Official Japanese anime website]
- [Manga jouhou's entry on the manga]
- [AniDB's entry on the anime] includes fansub info.
- [Animenfo's entry on the anime]
- [Fight: DC CMX] - A website that shows the differences between the North American and Japanese versions of the manga and that campaigns for an unedited release of Tenjho Tenge manga
- [An article about CMX's editing of Tenjho Tenge]
- [Tenjho Tenge manga preview at Mangareviewer.com]
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