Tenjho Tenge

Tenjho Tenge was serialized in the Japanese monthly seinen manga magazine Ultra Jump from 1997 to 2010. It was author and illustrator Oh! Great's first crossover mainstream manga from writing and illustrating pornographic series.[4] About twice a year, its publisher Shueisha compiled five of the chapters into tankōbon volumes, with the first released on May 19, 1998, and the twenty-second and final volume on November 19, 2010.[5][6]

Tenjho Tenge was licensed for an English language publication by CMX, an imprint of DC Comics, as one of their launch titles and the first volume was released on February 16, 2005.[7] 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".[8] According to CMX, these changes were made in conjunction with Shueisha and Tenjho Tenge creator Oh! Great, who examines each of their changes.[8][9] 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.[10][11]

In November 2010, Viz Media acquired the rights to the Tenjho Tenge manga, stating that their version would be 100% uncut and faithful to the original Japanese.[11] 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 includes omake, color pages from the series's original run in Ultra Jump, and since each release will cover two volumes, the second cover will be printed in as a color page.[11] The manga is also published in many other countries, such as in Taiwan by Sharp Point Press,[12] in Italy, France and Germany by Panini Comics,[13][14][15] in Mexico by Grupo Editorial Vid,[16] in Brazil by Editora JBC,[17] and in Spain by Norma Editorial.[18]

Masataka Takayanagi, in the Tenjho Tenge anime opening scene

The Tenjho Tenge anime was directed by Toshifumi Kawase, animated by Madhouse, and produced by TV Asahi and Avex Mode, the animation division of the 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 DVD box sets. Two additional episodes were broadcast by TV Asahi in Japan on March 16, 2005, and released in the form of an original video animation named Tenjho 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.[19] The anime has been dubbed into English, French, German, Italian and the Tagalog language. The anime series has been licensed for the English language by Geneon Entertainment, and has released all episodes except the DVD special named Tenjho Tenge: The Past Chapter, which is the back-story told through flashbacks in the second half of the anime television series condensed into the size of four episodes.[20] The series was broadcast in the United States by the cable channel Fuse.

Although not mentioned on the Geneon Entertainment's website, or the Tenjho Tenge mini-site,[21] 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.[22][23] Almost 5 years after the closure of Geneon USA, Discotek Media re-licensed the series for a DVD release in 2013.[24] Viewster later added the anime series into their streaming service alongside Galaxy Express 999 and Adieu Galaxy Express 999 anime films in 2016.[25]

The anime's music, including the background music and theme songs, were composed and performed by various artists, such as m.c.A.T and Aiko Kayo who provided the opening and closing themes songs of the anime. In 2004, Avex record label released the Tenjho Tenge soundtrack and a single.[26][27] In 2005, Avex released two character collection albums.[28][29]

The Tenjho 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".[30] Its creator, Oh! Great, is known to flavor his works with wanton sex and violence.[31] Oh! Great uses sex as an important aspect of the storyline by using it as a powerful motivator both negatively and positively.[4] 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.[32] Dani Moure of Anime On DVD said readers may find that Oh! Great's narrative is occasionally hard to follow and at times the plot moves slowly.[33] Oh! Great is known for his characters to have unrealistic body proportions, and Tenjho Tenge is no different. The majority of the female characters have "ultra large breasts"[34] and the male characters are extraordinarily muscular, but this facilitates the characters' personalities to come through in their distinctive features.[35] Overall, the Tenjho Tenge manga is well received, having sold over 10.7 million copies[36] and its volumes regularly being in the top twenty best-selling manga for Japanese Tohan charts and North American Diamond Comic Distributors charts.[37][38][39][40]

The Tenjho Tenge anime is described as a significantly toned down version of the Japanese manga, but still retains most of the spirit of its predecessor.[31] Much of the nudity was removed by the animators, but was made up in the way of sexual innuendos, gratuitous cleavage, and panty shots.[41] 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 the original video animation.[42][43] The animation done by Madhouse is considered to be well done. They used bright vibrant colors, solid backgrounds, and plenty of visible detail with very little pixelation or jagged movement,[30] but at times used repeated character shots and animations.[41] 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, the laws of physics.[44] The early fight scenes are thought to be the "most intense seen in recent anime" by Kevin Gilvear of DVD Times.[34] 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.[19] Both the Japanese and English voice acting are considered to be good, but the English dub at times can be a little uneven.[34] 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.[31] 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.[42]

The series's 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.[35][45] Some found the drama tracks to be unsatisfactory, even though they were "well executed".[46] For many, the highlight of the soundtrack is m.c.A.T's "Bomb A Head!", which was used as the anime's opening song.[47][48]