Tenjou Tenge

lets get this straight, i enjoy oh great´s art, and i read this after falling in love with his later work (air gear) so i was kinda biased at the beggining, but as the story went along, i just could not handle, i droped this anime/manga alot over the years, i started when i was 16 and finally ended last year, i just, i never read or watched something before where the character you are supose to like and root for is so dislikable, it makes no sense, this one is the perfect example of when the author picks the wrong character to be the MC, Nagi has nothing to offer and everything is just given to him, he works for nothing, not even naruto himself can top this one, tenjou tenge takes the cake.

now:

While convoluted plots are not bad, Large walls of texts are thrown one after the other, and tbh, i was kinda numb to it, as i said before, i read air gear, in a matter of fact, its my favorite manga of all time, so yeah, but with this one, on my last "run" to end it, it all became more of a chore than entertainment, its like i was doing it for a bet or smt, it felt like shit, and many of these walls are simply for flavor. They don't really add anything to the plot and are solely there to add needless detail. After reading through too many flavor texts, I found myself just skipping pages by lying to myself that i read it instead of intently reading every line and word as I did before.

What are the motives, why are these characters doing this? Why should i even root for this guy? Why Takayanagi, one of the few decent and likable characters just forgotten and ignored? Why does any of this matter? Why am I supposed to care? Why is this character suddenly on a different side? Why are these characters fighting? These are questions I found myself asking multiple times throughout the second half. I even reread entire chapters preceding my current one in an attempt to answer these questions, only to end up with a little more insight than I started with and a vague idea of the context and motives. The second half of this manga is a convoluted mess, plain and simple.

Approaching the end, I found myself simply wanting to be over with it all, losing almost complete interest in the plot or characters. The only thing that kept me going was the fantastic art, My hatred for the MC and maybe a miracle where the author finally realizes the mistake he made by choosing him as the focus of this manga and just killed him, oh, AND the increased amount of nudity.

I feel weird stating that I was reading for the eroticism, as I normally dislike ecchi manga and animes, typically finding the latter near unbearable to watch, but the statement is true in this case. I feel the level of detail and the bold approach to showing nakedness enhanced the experience and was somewhat refreshing to see. In most ecchi and erotic manga/anime, there tends to be a lot of teasing. There is a lot of revealing clothing and censored nudity, but nothing is ultimately shown. Or, if there is, then it tends to be fairly mild. I find the experience somewhat childish and feel it takes away from the plot and overall experience; that the series would be better without all the fan service.

However, in the case of Tenjou Tenge, the bold approach to nudity with the lack of censorship gave it a somewhat mature tone, to which I felt the experience was much more enjoyable. It didn't tease or excessively flaunt the nudity, but instead used it as a means of artistic expression.

To conclude, while I found myself drawn in and interested in the beginning, the more I read the more disinterested I got in the story and found myself reading only for the fights and eroticism; the story no longer added anything for me.

To end this, i must say, for me, right now, i am doing this after a full year after reading, if i did this on the day i ended, the rating would be ZERO, even if i love the art, the story and MC just... makes me see red man, and it makes me feel bad, since i have Air Gear so dear and near to my hearth.

Disapointment/10

This manga starts out very strong, it's extremely enjoyable but fizzles out two thirds into it and gains this rushed feeling up to the end. Most likely from the author's desire to quit and focus on their more popular series, Air Gear. In terms of art, you won't be disappointed, great detail and sharp lines are everywhere. There is quite a bit of humor, gore and nudity. Definitely not a story for the kiddies. It'll get really wordy towards the end, again that rushed feeling so I don't recommend this series for "some light reading". Some characters are given depth and others are overlooked, side stories left hanging, again, that rushed feeling comes into play. I'm disappointed with the last chunk of the series and thus had to lower my original scoring from ten to eight. Oh, and ladies, this is a seinen for a reason, don't expect a love story or fun drama.

Well,well...When was the last time I read a Tenjou Tenge chapter?I wonder...

Let's start off with the story...

Story 6/10

Typical,turns a bit more interesting after chapters but nothing big.Everytime it tries to be surprising the mangaka devotes more than 3 vols to the past of the characters,making you lose track of the real history.As if that wasn't enough we've got another "surprise" waiting for us...You might all be wondering,or even you already guessed it...that's right...it's the example,thingie...Yay!When Oh!Great wants to explain something more analytically he will just stick in the story some historical event or figure.For the people who have no idea about Japan's histoy will probably give up the manga,or even if they do make the desicion to continue it'll probably be cause of the fanservice.

Art 9/10
One of Oh!Great's strong points if not his strongest.He offers you everything,cute faces,cool hair,nice moves,girls are perfect...what more could you ask for?
But since this is Tenjou Tenge I'm rating then,you'll find it quite disappointing at first,the art.It seems sloppy and so old-fashioned,weird eyes.But the improvement almost makes up for it.

Character 7/10
Good!They first appear quite ordinary but they develop well later on,you get to know them better,you see how they feel and all these stuff.Despite that they still follow the roles of those in shounen mangas,nothing really to impress me.All I can say is,that they could be more original.

Enjoyment 8/10
Who said you can't enjoy a manga even if it sucks?While this here isn't the case I had quite a nice time with it,no wonder I kept going after all.You might be wondering what it was....
At first it was the whole thing,but then the story got uninteresting,here is where his wonderful art comes.I'll be honest with you,what kept me from giving up this manga was its art and how creative the character designs looked(appearance) and Tenjou Tenge is a manga with quite a large number of characters.

Overall 7/10
I wouldn't really recommend this manga simply cause it's hard to follow.You get lost after a few vols.Except of course if you're a fan of fanservice,violence and gore.Then try it as long as you're not a person who's looking for some quality in the story.

Since I forced myself to read many chapters while being story-uninterested,then I could force me again.Maybe I've missed what makes TT so popular or what the mangaka really is trying to do with such a story.

Nagi, Soichiro and best bud Makihara, Bob (who has a conspicuously very japanese-y surname compared to his first name, am I right?) go to a new school and start kicking random ass whenever they see fit however they get on the wrong side of the punishment enforcement team who want to kill them, burn them and flush the ashes down the drain. So they go to the martial arts club (who are the enforcement team's arch-nemesis {way ta go guys}) to get 'stronger' (the words 'strong' or 'stronger' were used almost every 3 pages and sometimes both were on the same page repeated as many times as seemed necessary.

*GROANS*

Are they no other words in the thesaurus to describe someone strong except strong?!).

The characters weren't 2D, they were 1D (even if it's impossible). With all the information I got in this Manga, this is what I could interpret:

Guys: simple, power-hungry, rabid-dog-sex-maniacs

Girls: brainless, naive, sex objects

From the beginning to the time I dropped it, my hand kept smacking my forehead continuously from exasperation. I was trying to divulge the plot and trying not to take the story at face value because at face value: the Manga sucked. And for God's sake! It even had some lesbian scenes! Forget about sex scenes because honestly, they happen every other chapter but that is going too bloody far, the line is drawn.

Cheap semi-porno style illustrations, the details? Gone with the wind with the rest of the trash.

I enjoy banging my head insanely at walls better than reading this Manga. Horrible, terrible, horrible. It would make a person constipated from its awfulness.

Forget about a thumbs down, if everyone in the world gave this Manga a thumbs down that would still be a complement.

This manga is a crazies one but there is a must to enjoy the manga you should keep up with it.It sounds odd I know but you will cross with some odd chapters that for understand the point you will read a few times.Except that it's a really nice manga we have here.
Story
The story about a war which is about 12 families with extraordinary ability.(It's not about a school tournament fight trust me :D)It is sometimes take you a diffrent time(which is bound to main story and they're like explanations for main story).For saying something about story I think it's amazing(don't judge manga with anime anime is like a start for manga a warm-up(it's same for all mangas I think)
Art
Art is if you read Oh!Great before is amazing.But if u didn't it could be take a time to get used to it.But it's great for every way that I can't say something bad about it.
Character
It is well developed and the best thing I like about characters is the main's not ur regular type honest fighters.They're fighting dirty(but It's same for other chars but I was thinking that was a good point ^^;)and I don't think I seen same characters before so be sure they are not ur regular types.Everyone of them has a great story within themselves.
Enjoyment
I really enjoyed this manga I hope it won't finish soon.It's a great manga for it's genres so if u are into fight/actions don't miss this!!

INTRODUCTION

Tenjou Tenge is a series I very much wanted to enjoy but found myself increasingly losing interest as I read on. It has a simple but enticing enough premise to draw in your attention, fantastic art to pleasure your eyes, lots of action (and nudity, if you're in to that) to keep you interested, and likeable characters with strong personalities. However, the series progresses in such a way that it loses what exactly drew people into the story in the first place, and the entire experience suffers as a result.

This review will go into the details of Tenjou Tenge and highlight its strengths and unfortunate shortcomings.


STORY - 4/10

The setting of Tenjou Tenge starts out simple. It takes place in a high school that focuses on martial arts, and is declared a paradise for fighting amongst the students. We have our delinquent main characters enter this school in an attempt to rule it, promptly get their butts handed to them, and then join the Juken club in an attempt to grow stronger.

The Juken club is a group that focuses on resisting the enforcement group, the declared strongest fighters in the school and the effective student council. Due to the delinquent nature of the main characters and some history involving Maya, the Juken club is thrust into a war with the Enforcement group, whose outcome will decide the ruling force of the school.

While the setting doesn't scream sophistication, it doesn't need to. The story sets out to be a mindless but enjoyable ride full of action and eroticism (more on that later). And quite frankly, that's all it needed to be.

However, around the half way mark, the story takes a complete different approach and moves away from the foundation the story was built upon. What started as an easy to read martial arts manga that focused on hand-to-hand fights suddenly turned into a supernatural fantasy novel. Pulled right out of Dragon Ball, fights that were focused around martial arts turned into battles of magic via the miracle that is "Ki", with characters controlling the forces of nature and conjuring projectiles to throw at their opponents. More than once I was wondering if I was still reading the same manga. Metaphoric and philosophic messages are also littered throughout the second half, with walls of texts being thrown around left and right, completely contrasting with the first half of the manga.

Additionally, there is not one, but two very long flashbacks in this series, taking up multiple volumes each. While the first one is interesting, providing insight into the motives of the characters, and is easy to read (as it takes place in the first half of the manga), the second flashback is a convoluted mess that throws brand new characters into the mix and seemingly disrupts the pace and excitement set up directly before. After reading through it, I questioned how much I actually gained from enduring the experience. The most frustrating part of these flashbacks, however, is the almost stupidly long duration we are left without any appearance of the main characters or plot.

While the second half of Tenjou Tenge attempts to draw sophistication into the story, combining symbolism, metaphors, and motifs (the unavoidable nature of fate and desire to break free of a repeating cycle of history, for instance), the truth of the matter is the setting just doesn't compliment that form of storytelling. With such a huge contrast, the only comparable attribute of the two halves that can be used to affirm you are reading the same story is seeing the same characters throughout both halves. In any other sense, they are two entirely different stories and settings.


ART - 8/10

The art is by far the strongest part of Tenjou Tenge. Detail is put into both the characters and the backgrounds, fights and action sequences are paced well enough that they are easy to follow, and the erotic scenes seem almost disturbingly professionally drawn (To the point where I feel the manga would have been better as actual porn than a story-driven manga). There are some hiccups in quality here and there, but overall the art is consistent throughout. Though, there is a development of the art style throughout the manga, showing a noticeable difference at the beginning of the manga and the end.

Now, let's just get this out of the way: let's talk about the nudity, as this can be a game-breaker from some people (in different ways). There's a lot of it, and it's fairly frequent. Tenjou Tenge does not shy away when it comes to full nude body shots. However, I feel it's important to note that the nudity is done in both erotic and non-erotic ways.

There are a lot of scenes that are clearly there for the fan service. Sex scenes (to which there's a lot of in varying detail), panty shots, and revealing outfits are littered throughout the manga, but there is a large amount of scenes where the nudity is not done solely for eroticism, perhaps to the point where it even outnumbers the solely erotic scenes.

Nudity in Tenjou Tenge can be considered an art more so than mindless fan service. Nudity is embraced and characters are shown to not be embarrassed when their bodies are naked and unclothed. This mindset leads to empowering female characters in some situations and creates some badass, even epic, scenes. These scenes benefit from the nudity and would not have the same impact if the characters were, instead, clothed. As stated earlier, nudity in Tenjou Tenge can be considered an art more so than simple fan service.


CHARACTERS - 6/10

The characters of Tenjou Tenge are what you would expect from a typical shonen series. You have the stupid but likeable main character with latent powers (where have I heard that one before?), a female lead that falls hands over heels for the leading male protagonist the moment she sees him (original, I know), a sidekick that has some defining moments but otherwise falls into the background as more powerful enemies appear, and a mentor that helps the main protagonist get stronger.

In terms of antagonists, the first flashbacks adds some depth to the enforcement group, but otherwise they are one-dimensional and unlikeable.

Let's look at the main cast.

NAGI SOUICHIRO - A self-identified hoodlum, he has both a silly and strong personality who looks at situations simply and acts mainly on instinct. Defined with the philosophy to vanquish demons by becoming a demon, he has the blood of a demon exorcist in his veins. Due to his bloodline, he was frequently bullied by neighbors which led him to his delinquent nature. His main goal in the series is to become the strongest fighter in the school.

NATSUME AYA - Proficient with the sword, Aya is a skillful fighter who becomes increasingly important and deadly as the series progresses. She is the younger sister of Maya and immediately falls in love with Nagi when she meets him. Part of the Nastsume bloodline, she holds a special ability known as Ryuugan, or the Dragon's eyes, which allows her to see into the past, future, and other places in the present, making her a dominating force when she utilizes it.

MAKIHARA BOB - An African-American muscleman, he is friends with Nagi and is his partner in crime. With a well-built body with springy muscles, he fights using the Brazilian fighting style capoeira. While many of his interaction with Nagi are humorous, he is shown to be fairly intelligent and is observant of his opponents' strengths. He has a girlfriend, Chaiki, who plays a supporting role for Bob in his endeavor to grow stronger.

TAKAYANAGI MASATAKA - Sempai to Nagi, Bob, and Aya, he is shown to be a powerful and consistently strong character in the series. However, despite his strength, he takes on a supportive role until near the end of the manga. He is jealous of Nagi because he like Aya, but Aya only has her eyes on Nagi.

NATSUME MAYA - The older sister of Aya, she is head of the Juken club and one of the most powerful fighters at the school. She plays the role of the mentor for the members of the Juken club, especially for Nagi and Aya. There is some tension between herself and her younger sister, Aya, because while Aya loves Nagi, Nagi loves Maya.

TAKAYANAGI MITSUOMI - One of the main antagonists of Tenjou Tenge, he is the leader of the Enforcer group, declared strongest fighter in the school, and the older brother of Masataka. He has a history with Maya and her older brother, and has developed a large number of followers who follow his command.

To once again bring up nudity, among the main characters, Aya and Maya have their fair share of scenes showcasing their nudity. However, of these scenes, many of the ones involving Maya are used to illustrate her as powerful and confident rather than for pure eroticism. The same can't be said for Aya, however, so keep that in mind.


ENJOYMENT - 4/10

Emphasized in the story section of my review, the second half of Tenjou Tenge is hard to follow and takes away from the premises the series started on. While convoluted plots are not bad, it didn't compliment the setting of the story and it negatively contrasted with the first half of the Manga. Large walls of texts are thrown one after the other, and reading it all became more of a chore than entertainment.

To add to the already lengthy walls of text throughout the second half, many of these walls are simply for flavor. They don't really add anything to the plot and are solely there to add needless detail. After reading through too many flavor texts, I found myself starting to skim through the chapters, instead of intently reading every line and word as I did before. In the second flashback, I found myself even skipping full panels and pages due to the impatience that grew from the lack of notable and engaging plot. And, when I did focus and read every line and word to understand what was going on, I found myself getting confused over core developments.

What are the motives, why are these characters doing this? Why does any of this matter? Why am I supposed to care? Why is this character suddenly on a different side? Why are these characters fighting? These are questions I found myself asking multiple times throughout the second half. I even reread entire chapters preceding my current one in an attempt to answer these questions, only to end up with a little more insight than I started with and a vague idea of the context and motives. The second half of this manga is a convoluted mess, plain and simple.

Approaching the end, I found myself simply wanting to be over with it all, losing almost complete interest in the plot or characters. The only thing that kept me going was the fantastic art and the increased amount of nudity.

I feel weird stating that I was reading for the eroticism, as I normally dislike ecchi manga and animes, typically finding the latter near unbearable to watch, but the statement is true in this case. I feel the level of detail and the bold approach to showing nakedness enhanced the experience and was somewhat refreshing to see. In most ecchi and erotic manga/anime, there tends to be a lot of teasing. There is a lot of revealing clothing and censored nudity, but nothing is ultimately shown. Or, if there is, then it tends to be fairly mild. I find the experience somewhat childish and feel it takes away from the plot and overall experience; that the series would be better without all the fan service.

However, in the case of Tenjou Tenge, the bold approach to nudity with the lack of censorship gave it a somewhat mature tone, to which I felt the experience was much more enjoyable. It didn't tease or excessively flaunt the nudity, but instead used it as a means of artistic expression.

To conclude, while I found myself drawn in and interested in the beginning, the more I read the more disinterested I got in the story and found myself reading only for the fights and eroticism; the story no longer added anything for me.

CONCLUSION

Story - 4/10
Art - 8/10
Characters - 6/10
Enjoyment - 4/10
Overall - 22/40 = 5.5/10

Tenjou Tenge isn't a bad manga, but it certainly could have been better. Having a strong yet simple start, it drags out into a needlessly complicated narrative that resembles nothing of its former self.

The art is fantastic, but there is a heavy emphasis on nudity. While I normally consider erotic and ecchi manga/anime to be hard to digest and get into, the bold approach to nudity here worked out well and became a highlight of the experience for me.

If you are here for the action and eroticism, then you'll definitely like Tenjou Tenge.

If you are here for a consistent plot, strong well-developed characters, or exciting fights showcasing martial arts, then you'll probably leave disappointed.

STORY
This is the first review that I will do for a manga. Moreover, I could also honestly say that this is the first manga I have ready with more than a 100 chapters.
I read this after I finished watching the anime. Since it did give me a solid ending, I decided to read this. At first, you may think that this maybe your typical shounen manga with a little naughtyness on the side. However, the twist here is never-ending. The moment that your head is fixed on what you think maybe the outcome, they will give you a way different conclusion. The story that made me life the anime is all here BUT more. I thought at first that this maybe just another rom-com story but again, twists! It will definitely make you turn the page more to see what will happen next!
Be ready for flashbacks as well. They have quite a lot. If you will not be careful in reading, you may lost the sense of it. All of it has something to do with the story so try not to be bored by it, ‘kay?

ART
What appeals this manga for me besides the story is the art. I love how they drew each character and give them distinct qualities that will them unique. Well, just make sure that you won’t show it to your guardians or parents when you are underage because they may think you are reading something not “suitable” for your age. 

CHARACTER
Most of the characters were given enough time for them to shine. Including the supporting casts and all the others that will be have an effect to the flow of the story.

ENJOYMENT
I truly enjoyed this manga. You will have different emotions reading this. You will laugh, frown, smile, or in some point, may cry.

OVERALL - 9
If you are looking for action –packed with feelings manga, I definitely recommended this one for you. This may be enjoyed more by males than us females, but still, a great manga all in all!

[A/N: You might agree or not with all the things I wrote down here, but of course, this is my opinion, I would love to hear you opinion as well. =)
Please excuse any incorrect grammar, etc. And thanks for reading!
-black faerie, Yui]

I first started the manga by watching the anime which caught my eye due to its great opening(not always the best way to judge the series...)

It had some good moments, but I just couldn't focus on the plot afterwards due to a bit of fanservice and a huge amount of flashback present throughout the whole thing. I thought that it was mainly because the anime present the story wrong which was why I went to the manga.

Apparently the manga had even more flashbacks and to make matters work, it keeps going back the different periods of the past while pulling the reader by to the present which makes the story overall extremely confusing. I assume it was a style the manga artist had, but overall it doesn't help for the audience's focus such as who are the main characters and questioning if the present period even worth focusing on due to so much past events.

There was nothing much to the series as there are are some fight scenes, one notable one that was portray really well in the anime. In my opinion, it was better to have set the story in an earlier period and proceed from there since it kept zooming back to the past.

You can have a simple and fun martial arts action story with tons of nudity and violence with a high school backdrop. Or you can have a darker adult-oriented narrative, where the characters are dealing with great supernatural threats in a constantly deepening plot filled with twists and turns. You can't have it both ways. This is Tenjou Tenge's biggest downfall. It's an impossible mixture of things that just don’t blend.

A lot of the characters that the story fools you into becoming invested in are eventually tossed to the sidelines or reduced to mere spectators until the very end where the series hastily tries to give their stories some sort of meaningful conclusion. In Tenjou Tenge's fumbling attempts to expand its scope beyond the simple high school setting, some of these characters end up serving almost no purpose at all - making the reader constantly wonder why the creator originally even made such an effort to introduce them to us.

A series that tries to have an over-arcing plot that extends throughout the entirety of its storyline should have all the central plot elements in place by the half-way point. Not so with Tenjou Tenge. New characters are constantly being introduced to hammer home one or two new ideas that the creator just happened to fancy at the time. And you know it's always a bad sign when the story has to do flashback sequences to make it seem like there's any sort of continuity or logic behind the actions of the characters.

Now, the manga ain't completely without its merits. The art style is very pleasing, bordering on amazing. The series' humor can also sometimes be hilariously self-aware and witty. The fight scenes include some great fist pumping moments (one of the best ones for me was Mitsuomi's brief encounter with Inue Shindayu). Some of the character drama is easy to get into and I want to give the series some bonus points for Mitsuomi's and Maya's tough breakup acting as the central conflict during the earlier parts of the story. Many anime/manga stories deal with characters establishing and maintaining love affairs - not that many stop to deal with the aftermath of a failed one. The tongue-in-cheek attitude of Tenjou Tenge can also be a lot of fun and for me it was this over-all silliness that provided the main spark that made me want to keep on going, even while I felt like the entire plot was crumbling into pieces around me.

I would call Tenjou Tenge "a mixed bag". Its weird style does make it somewhat unique and mildly entertaining, but it would be hard to argue that this weird combination of ideas actually works. The series tries to evolve into something greater than its humble origins and it sadly fails while doing so.

Wanted to give a literal review on the series that speaks to the people hesitant about reading this. If you've looked at this manga hoping for delinquency, fighting and comedy, don't bother. If on the other hand you want action, ecchi and an array of typical shounen sounding moves, this is for you. Unfortunately, I was the former. While the plot was pretty exciting starting off, that being set in school and trying to fight their way to the top to prove they were the strongest, it basically disintegrated into a story of ancient martial arts stuff that basically made me lose a lot of interest in it.

Story 6/10
Starts of as you would expect, really. Guy wants to be strong, guy loses to someone stronger and for some reason the main heroine magically falls head over heels for him. Starts of relatively exciting when they battle with the main villain in the first few chapters but as mentioned I have no clue where the importance of the original group lay in the later chapters. Gotta admit the flashbacks to Shins past were great, other than that things were really average.

Art 7/10
Character designs were pretty cool, not a fan of ecchi but it was full of it if you're into it, things tend to look pretty cluttered at times but you get used to it.

Characters 5/10
Something I really appreciate is depth in characters. These guys had the bare minimum. It goes from them having aspirations of being strong to being either horny toughguys or stoic toughguys. Loving the diversity.

Enjoyment 5/10
Were a lot of times I questioned if I should keep reading, decided that I was already ankle deep in the story and it wouldn't kill me if I kept going. I was wrong.

Overall 6/10
I guess for me it wasn't the greatest of things, but certainly wasn't the worst. If you're looking for an intense action manga with a ton of nudity, this is for you. If you guys are like me and were hoping to see some exciting street fights and friends overcoming adversity, I hope my review has helped you understand that you would be wasting your time.