| Tenjho Tenge | |
 Firsttankōbon volume cover | |
| 天上天下 (Tenjō Tenge) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Adventure,martial arts,[1]supernatural[2] |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Oh! great |
| Published by | Shueisha |
| English publisher |
|
| Magazine | Ultra Jump |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Original run | July 25, 1997 –August 19, 2010 |
| Volumes | 22(List of volumes) |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Toshifumi Kawase |
| Produced by | Masao Maruyama |
| Written by | Toshiki Inoue |
| Music by | Yasunori Iwasaki |
| Studio | Madhouse |
| Licensed by | |
| Original network | TV Asahi |
| English network | |
| Original run | April 1, 2004 – September 16, 2004 |
| Episodes | 24(List of episodes) |
| Original video animation | |
| Ultimate Fight | |
| Directed by | Toshifumi Kawase |
| Produced by | Masao Maruyama |
| Written by | Kazuhiko Inukai |
| Music by | Yasunori Iwasaki |
| Studio | Madhouse |
| Licensed by | |
| Released | March 16, 2005 |
| Runtime | 25 minutes (each) |
| Episodes | 2 |
| Anime television film | |
| The Past Chapter | |
| Directed by | Toshifumi Kawase |
| Produced by | Masao Maruyama |
| Written by | Toshiki Inoue |
| Music by | Yasunori Iwasaki |
| Studio | Madhouse |
| Released | March 30, 2005 |
| Runtime | 90 minutes |
 Anime and manga portal | |
Tenjho Tenge (Japanese:天上天下,Hepburn:Tenjō Tenge,lit. 'Heaven and Earth'),[a] also written asTenjo Tenge, is a Japanesemanga series written and illustrated byOh! great. It was serialized inShueisha'sseinen manga magazineUltra Jump from July 1997 to August 2010, with its chapters collected in 22tankōbon' volumes. The story primarily focuses on the members of the Juken Club and their opposition, the Executive Council, which is the rulingstudent 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.
It was adapted into a 24-episodeanime television series broadcast onTV Asahi from April to September 2004. A two-episodeoriginal video animation (OVA) was released in March 2005.
Both versions of the series have been licensed for release in English language by two different companies. The manga was licensed and released byCMX beginning in 2005, which came under criticism by fans for editing its sexual content. When CMX closed down in 2010, after releasing 18 volumes,Viz Media picked up the rights and completed their own uncut release of the series in 2013. The anime was licensed and released byGeneon Entertainment, also beginning in 2005, however, it is now licensed byDiscotek Media.
The plot begins with Souichiro Nagi and his childhood best 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 Toudou is no ordinary high school, but rather 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 possessingsupernatural abilities, such aspyrokinesis,precognition, andsuperhuman 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 theJapanese feudal era by some of the characters' ancestors.
Written and illustrated byOh! Great,Tenjho Tenge was serialized inShueisha'sseinen manga magazineUltra Jump from July 25, 1997,[b] to August 19, 2010.[6][7] It was Oh! Great's first crossover mainstream manga from writing and illustratinghentai manga.[8] Shueisha collected its chapters in 22tankōbon' volumes, released from May 19, 1998,[9] to November 19, 2010.[10]
Tenjho Tenge was licensed for an English language publication byCMX, animprint ofDC Comics, as one of their launch titles and the first volume was released on February 16, 2005.[11] Their version of the manga is heavily edited/censored in order for them to give it a Teen "rating" "to give it the widest possible distribution in the United States".[12] According to CMX, these changes were made in conjunction with Shueisha andTenjho Tenge creator Oh! Great, who examines each of their changes.[12][13] This censorship however garnered quite a bit of controversy. CMX released eighteen volumes in North America before the company was shut down in July 2010.[14][15]
In November 2010,Viz Media acquired the rights to theTenjho Tenge manga, stating that their version would be 100% uncut and faithful to the original Japanese.[15] From June 21, 2011, to February 5, 2013, they released the series bi-monthly in eleven 2-in-1 volumes, which collects two individual volumes into a single large one. Viz's releases also includesomake, color pages from the series's original run inUltra Jump, and since each release will cover two volumes, the second cover will be printed in as a color page.[15] The manga is also published in many other countries, such as in Taiwan bySharp Point Press,[16] in Italy, France and Germany byPanini Comics,[17][18][19] in Mexico byGrupo Editorial Vid,[20] in Brazil byEditora JBC,[21] and in Spain byNorma Editorial.[22]
TheTenjho Tengeanime was directed by Toshifumi Kawase, animated byMadhouse but the whole series is animated by DR MOVIE 1 Korean animation service studio, produced byTV Asahi and Avex Mode, the animation division ofthe Avex group of companies. The twenty-four episodes were originally aired weekly on TV Asahi in Japan on Thursdays from April 1, 2004, to September 16, 2004. These episodes were made into eight-volume DVDbox sets. Two additional episodes were broadcast by TV Asahi in Japan on March 16, 2005, and released in the form of anoriginal video animation namedTenjho Tenge: Ultimate Fight. 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.[23] The anime series has been licensed in English byGeneon Entertainment.
Although not mentioned on theGeneon Entertainment's website, or the Tenjho Tenge mini-site,[24] 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 includes the OVA on the seventh disc.[25][26] Almost 5 years after the closure of Geneon USA,Discotek Media re-licensed the series for a DVD release in 2013.[27]Viewster later added the anime series into their streaming service alongsideGalaxy Express 999 and Adieu Galaxy Express 999 anime films in 2016.[28]
The anime's music, including the background music and theme songs, were composed and performed by various artists, such asm.c.A.T andAiko Kayo who provided the opening and closing themes songs of the anime. In 2004,Avex record label released theTenjho Tenge soundtrack and a single.[29][30] In 2005, Avex released twocharacter collection albums.[31][32]
TheTenjho Tenge manga is described by Chris Beveridge of Anime On DVD as an "engaging mix of action and comedy together while wrapping it all up in a large plot that's fairly dark and really violent at times".[33] Its creator,Oh! Great, is known to flavor his works with wanton sex and violence.[34] Oh! Great uses sex as an important aspect of the storyline by using it as a powerful motivator both negatively and positively.[8] He often has his characters contemplate the significance and importance of fighting as well as the meaning of strength. This conscious deliberation of subjective reasoning and objective truth between characters is the most imperative aspect of a story and is considered to be rare in manga.[35] Dani Moure of Anime On DVD said readers may find that Oh! Great'snarrative is occasionally hard to follow and at times the plot moves slowly.[36] Oh! Great is known for his characters to have unrealisticbody proportions, andTenjho Tenge is no different. The majority of the female characters have "ultra large breasts"[37] and the male characters are extraordinarily muscular, but this facilitates the characters' personalities to come through in their distinctive features.[38] The manga sold over 10.7 million copies,[39] and volumes regularly appeared in the top twenty best-selling manga on Japanese Tohan charts and North AmericanDiamond Comic Distributors charts.[40][41][42][43]
TheTenjho Tenge anime is described as a significantly toned down version of the Japanese manga, but still retains most of the spirit of its predecessor.[34] Much of the nudity was removed by the animators, but was made up in the way ofsexual innuendos,gratuitous cleavage, andpanty shots.[44] Since the anime is a close adaptation of the manga, critique of the plot is comparable to the manga's. Some reviewers felt that the anime was handled in a frantic and ill-planned manner that made the conclusion not satisfactory even with theoriginal video animation.[45][46] The animation done byMadhouse is considered to be well done. They used bright vibrant colors, solid backgrounds, and plenty of visible detail with very littlepixelation or jagged movement,[33] but at times used repeated character shots and animations.[44] The animation done during the fight scenes is done in real time and is done as close to reality as possible while still bending, and often violating, thelaws of physics.[47] The early fight scenes are thought to be the "most intense seen in recent anime" by Kevin Gilvear of DVD Times.[37] Carlo Santos of Anime News Network affirmed the quality of animation in these scenes does drop somewhat over time, but the action still looks better than the average fighting anime.[23] Both the Japanese and Englishvoice acting are considered to be good, but the English dub at times can be a little uneven.[37] The English dub on occasion has poor dialogue, according to Anime News Network's Patrick King, which causes it to lose much of the anime's sincerity.[34] Overall, the anime is considered to be above average, but suffers from a lack of a good ending, mainly because the anime only covered the first arc of the story.[45]
The series' original soundtrack is considered to be average. Most of the music does well with setting the tone within the anime, although some reviewers found it to be somewhat repetitive.[38][48] Some found the drama tracks to be unsatisfactory, even though they were "well executed".[49] For many, the highlight of the soundtrack ism.c.A.T's "Bomb A Head!", which was used as the anime's opening song.[50][51]
CMX came under a great deal of criticism from readers for its edits. These edits included the length and breadth of the book, censoring out anything they felt was questionable for a teen audience such as covering up or removingnudity,fanservice, andsexual innuendo as well as a removal of anomake chapter.[52][53] This was done by a brand whose promotional material asserts that it offers "pure manga—100% the way the original Japanese creators want you to see it."[54] One of grievances made against CMX is that the edits are not only severe, but very noticeable.[55] One review states it is "possibly the most heavily censored title in the history of the North American manga industry."[52]
In response, protesters boycotted the edited version and even started up their own website.[54][56] Immediately following the controversy, Jake Tarbox, group editor of CMX, resigned from the company. "Tarbox was widely blamed by the fan community for the censoring ofTenjho Tenge, although inside sources suggest that Tarbox was not responsible for the decision to censor the manga."[57] In the face of complaints, CMX had internal discussions about the possibility of publishing an unedited version ofTenjho Tenge, but decided to complete the current version.[58] At the 2007Anime Expo, CMX announced that they planned to changeTenjho Tenge's rating to Mature beginning with volume fifteen, but warned that it still would be edited, but more lightly.[59]Jason Thompson declared CMX's censorship of the series one of "The Greatest Censorship Fails" in manga.[60]
●新連載//ピンナップ&巻頭カラー 天上天下 大暮維人
次号は97年7月25日発売
