Tenjho Tenge - "Round One"

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Directed by Toshifumi Kawase, and animated at Madhouse Studios (Gunslinger Girl, Paranoia Agent) the animated television series Tenjho Tenge is one good looking anime. Seriously, even though it's pretty much an industry requirement to have the first four or five episodes of an anime television series looking the best out of all 20+ of them, Tenjho Tenge looks good from every angle. The two lead females, Maya Natsume and Aya Natsume are two of the sexiest looking [animated] gals you'll ever lay eyes on. Maya usually takes the form of a child in order to preserve her chi, but when in her original teenage form, she's a real purple haired knockout. And Aya, with her lovely orange-ish colored hair, is as brilliant in her attractiveness as she is fluid with a katana blade, really.

But, aside from the ladies of Tenjho Tenge, everything in this anime looks great. And the fight scenes, while I won't talk about them much in detail--considering that singling out fights (aside from the one with Masataka and Souichiro) would be useless in a fighting anime--I do think that it is important to note that these fights are almost 100% done in real-time. Enough with the still-frames and speed lines, enough with the over-extended yelling and pulsating forehead veins; give me researched fighting styles and well-coordinated combat, give me conscious character personalities as paralleled to their will to fight, give me something that is believable. This I speak, almost ritualistically, before I pop any fighting anime into my DVD player(s), and surprisingly, Tenjho Tenge wasn't one to entirely let me down.

Speaking of surprises, the opening animation and introduction clip to Tenjho Tenge is without a doubt, the most ludicrously entertaining opening credit work I can presently recall. The opening theme song, a hip-hop and dance hybrid, "Bomb A Head! V" is outstanding. Personally, I'm not a fan of hip-hop music, or dance music one bit for. But maybe it's the way that the characters are all dancing in rhythm, and maybe it's the way that the song style and design is actually relevant to the content of the animated feature it precedes, but regardless, this introduction is truly outstanding. In a sense, it's hilarious because you've never seen anything else like it... anime characters dancing like they were born to, but in another sense, you respect it too because it's so very original. The opening song for Tenjho Tenge is great, and the animation for that song is wonderfully coordinated and directed. I understand that such work is generically pre-scored for the animators, but it's still a notable achievement.

The Tenjho Tenge anime as a whole is a pretty good show. The characters show signs of something really special and interesting; and the story, while a bit unstable at times, shows promise despite being burdened with the difficulties of its genre. A key anime release to look out for throughout the 2005-year, Tenjho Tenge, for now, is a good buy. Don't be put off by the atrocious DVD release covert design and artwork, because the anime actually has some promise of something more than superficial.

Speaking of the DVD artwork… I know for a fact that there's a very large amount of casual anime fans out there that purchase a DVD release as based on what the DVD casing looks like (coupled with the back cover synopsis). But when you take a look at what Geneon Entertainment has for Tenjho Tenge, you'll really want to second guess as to whether or not you do the same. The cover (DVD cover image) has an enormous portrait image of a naked Aya Natsume tinted pinkish-purple printed on it, with a standard digital overlay of an additional character. This additional character is Maya; but here's the twist, she's dressed in a very lose fitting purple brassiere and red hot pants (which apparently, came with matching arm-length gloves) that calmly reveal the gal's purple underwear underneath. Additionally, Maya's wielding two massive katana blades like a madwoman. Firstly, this image is an overload of lavender: the entire background (i.e. Aya's naked portrait, while do take note that her breast area is covered up by text and other flower designs) is pink and purple, Maya's hair color is purple, and Maya's under-things are purple. If you open the DVD case: you have the cover design, the one-page DVD insert, the DVD disc design, and the reversible cover of the first volume of Tenjho Tenge as laced with the exact same image, with the exact same colors. Lavender overload… it's kind of creepy. Couple the cover image with the rustic and gravel design of the back cover of the DVD casing, with its random splotches and bars of blue and red; I can't honestly say that if I had seen this on my local DVD store shelf, I would be immediately interested.

Secondly (you forgot there's a "secondly" didn't you?), Maya Natsume, the gal wielding the katana blades on the front cover, in accordance to the first four episodes of the anime television series, never dresses or acts in the way she is portrayed on the front cover of the DVD volume. She is calm, relatively unemotional, rarely sentimental, and is levelheaded and considerate. In no way does she wear indecent clothing or act in any manner irrational. In the first volume of Tenjho Tenge, she's the only character that doesn't lose her temper. You think this image is a little bit misleading? How about when it's plastered in three other areas of the DVD casing, aside from the cover?

I'm not a digital artist, and nor am I a professional designer, but I have taken undergraduate courses in publication layout and design… so I do have some understanding of why the purple conflicts with the lavender which conflicts with the pink which conflicts with the red… (I do have my own idea as to what perhaps should be the cover art; however, such an explication would take too far long to explain.) Nevertheless, before I went off on how odd and unfortunate the DVD cover artwork choice for this DVD apparently is, I was intending to end this review.

As a whole, Tenjho Tenge looks to be a good anime release for the year; it's full of surprises such as the interesting depth of its characters (or rather, what potential they deliver to the audience in the least), the surprisingly high quality of animation, and of course, the introduction theme song and dance routine (while it sounds absurd, is really, really cool). The voice acting for this program is great (with Wendee Lee as the voluptuous Maya, and with Johnny Young Bosch as Masataka, you can't go wrong), the story has promise, the characters are engaging, and for a fighting anime, Tenjho Tenge actually tries to be a little original in its content and delivery.

I haven't read the manga, so I haven't a clue as to how true the story is to the original content; but what I will say, is that chances are it is, because Masataka's narration is certainly authentic. The Tenjho Tenge anime as a whole is a pretty good show. The characters just might be more than they appear; and the story, while a bit unsteady sometimes, demonstrates promise while inherently hampered with the complexities of the fighting genre.