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.

First things first. My "reviews" system is explained on a blog entry. Which can be found through my profile.
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Not going to write again reason of why I like Animated adaptions more than their still sources again, I will implement my view/point regarding that somewhere on my profile eventually. Or add to my "reviews" system blog entry.

✦Story
Sex, punks, fighting, blood. That sums it up. I absolutely loved anime, seen twice. It was gruesome and cool and had lots of sexyness in it. But as for manga, just couldn't get into it. I felt as the sex aspect was pushed too far and fight sequences gave me much less impact than Anime. Story itself was fine enough, the highschoolers fighting and evolving with touch of lust relationships. It's a very "western" style, but rather than full of excuses, lies and attempts to sprinkle things with "reasoning", this Manga is in much more honest and purer form of "western style".

Anyhow, story revolves around certain characters the most, but most characters there have similar amount of weight to them. Meaning that I would say that everyone gets there attention, whilst certain families simply are the roots of such progression.

But as mentioned, dull fights and the fanservice or sex part of the manga became a bit too much annoyance for me. Plus not that fond of the the most "main character" guy.

✦Art
Lot's of stuff n detail to some extent on some panels, but in the end it felt quite average for me. Lots of flashing tits n sex, buff guys, punks and mostly school-grounds. Battles weren't as impressive as well. Fair enough artstyle, but nothing impressive. Might be aged for me or it simply is "meh".

✦Character
As mentioned, lot of punks, bi***es, muscle and so on. Growth is there, but I'm not fond of them at all. Main focus guy is the biggest punk and way he handled the first woman that fell for him..well, not fun. Black fella has for the most part the most "might be actual loving couple with high sex drive?" Anyhow, fair enough, just not impressive enough.

✦Enjoyment & Overall
Loved Anime, manga not so much. Moving on.

Alright. Let me be straightforward and honest here. I have never been much of a shonen/shuojo/seinen/whatever fan. And it is obvious that this here is a shonen. Here's my handy-dandy shonen checklist:

Action plot - check
Cool (and oftentimes cheesy) attack names - check
_Ridiculously_ hot female characters - check (note the emphasis)
Outrageous costume designs - check
Strong harem implications - check
Guys with whacky hair - check
Guys with _Ridiculously_ large muscles - check (note the emphasis)
Geeky lead males who are somewhat oblivious to the advances of the beautiful women around them - check
Accidental groping - check

No matter how you approach it, this is a shonen...meaning it is a form of entertainment aimed at a male audience. I have never been too kind on these types of stories. To me, they are simply too predictable in that they always have the aforementioned 'macho' elements. Entertainment meant to fulfill a male consumer's fantasies of guns, games and girls.

Some positive notes:

As is expected from series creator and illustrator "Oh!Great", this manga contains some rather beautiful female artwork. Always a plus in my book. And although the bodily proportions are really whack at the beginning, they do become more realistic as the story progresses. The Natsume sisters are a particular highlight :)

Unlike a lot of other shonen stories, Tenge follows a linear plot which will most likely end after a reasonable amount of volumes. Compared to the seemingly endless volumes of OnePiece or Naruto, this anime is seemingly going to end after 20 or so volumes (another Oh!Great hallmark. The guy knows when to wrap up a story.)

And despite the rather crude/macho dialogue, the plot twists are oftentimes original and surprising.

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I have given you a layout of what to expect in this manga. Now it is up to you to read it and give your own judgement of whether you like it or not.

It was quite enjoyable. It served it's purpose for me (which was to kill time at the local comic bookstore).

By the way:

I am highly aware of the difference between a shonen and a seinen. I know that Tenge is a seinen. But once an anime is in that direction, I don't really bother with being specific in categorizing an anime to either genre.

Because really, with the way technology goes nowadays and with how this website unabashedly asks people how many episodes they've downloaded, do all those legal stuff really matter?

Would a stereotypical 12 year old shonen/internet geek really care if there is an age limit for this manga? He's got curiosity and a fast internet connection (not to mention a lot of boyhood fantasies). What's gonna stop him from downloading? Illegal downloading laws? As if...

Final grade:
B-

You often read it in the newspaper a teenage girl with psychically abusive boyfriend, the boy first seemed to be a nice and caring guy as time flows he begin to reveal to show his true natures and start hitting his own girlfriend.

As common sense dictates, the girl tries to keep her distance and tries to escape from his clutch. Unfortunately for her the boyfriend is the most popular jock in school , an American football quarterback. So with the help of his loyal friends he endeavors to make her life feels like hell. Any who sides with her or shows sympathy will be targeted. Fortunately, the girl could seek her parents. and finally able to flee by transferring to another school.

I read the story in People magazine and it's a true story. The girl was lucky a few months ago i heard news about the murder of a first year university student in her dormitory room. It turned out that the murder was masterminded by her ex high school boyfriend who had been terrorizing her ever since she broke up with him. It's sad, she finally thought she was safe and could begin her new life and started dating a new guy. but then her life was abruptly stopped by a boy who thought that he loved her more than any living person in the world.

Ito Ogure must have a bitter past experience with females like being rejected many times, or they often made fun of him and shunned him. Because the manga only victimize females violence and brutality in this manga are directed toward them, read the manga and you know what i mean. especially girls who are beautiful, charming and charismatic. The girls who are beyond the reach of otaku like Ogure. Maya might be the representation of the must popular girl in ito Ogure's high school , and this is his way to take revenge on her.

Back to the manga

The essence of the manga is the story of a teenager who joined a gang because her brother was a member , eventually she realized that the gang was involved in bad things, she wanted to quit but the gang refused to let her go. The members of the gang then started to prosecute her.

She was an orphan and her little sister was too young and stupid to be asked for help ( the little sister also watched too many love dramas). It’s also combined with the story of the most popular students at school (an artifact of teen movies in 90’s) but the mangaka took it to a higher level and gave it a twist.

review

- Violence against women.
You think that because Maya and Aya are the heroes they will be cool and awesome right? Wrong Aya is a ditz and Maya is neither bright and stupid. Ogure made her an awesome warrior but a lousy leader. Maya, many tragedies in this Manga are caused by her inability to rein in her troops and developed their potency and use them. Many members of Jyuken are supposed to be very strong fighters, but Maya is often oblivious to this fact and acts individually with predictable result , she always badly wounds herself. somebody should say “ Stop Maya before she hurts herself “.

Maya is the main subject to Ito Ogure’s wrath against women , he always torture her and constantly beat her Through the hands of her abusive ex boyfriend and his gang or an unknown enemy. Why I think Ogure harbors vengeance and hatred againts women? Because 98% of lead and supporting male characters are invincible and can’t get hurt . But this manga is infamous for its violence and mutilation and the heroes are always in danger, yes it’s partially correct, because the subjects of the violence are the women they are the ones who are always in danger. Except for Aya, Ogure might have thought that she was too stupid.


- The characters have no clear motivation
. If Ogure did provide a motivation for a character’s action it will always be love, it’s seems that love is the only language that Ogure know he might have tried really hard to come up with a new idea but he eventually gave up. sometimes Ogure would not even bother to give explanation why one does specific action, Even when one knew that one’s action will maim oneself.

- Incoherent story
Psychologists often warn that Japanese manga are not good for children because villains quickly change side and become friends to our heroes . But this is worse Ogure came up with a plot but didn’t know how to execute it .
I want to give an example, but because spoiler is not allowed, I’ll use an analogy , there is a fish on table, A , B and C are ordered to keep eyes on the fish, A left to take a walk, when B and C let their guard down a cat snatches the fish.

Moments later D, E and F come. Seeing that the fish is gone D openly accuses that A ate the fish and is now taking a walk.B clearly saw A had left the house earlier therefore could reason that A there is no way A could have eaten the fish, but instead of defending A, B burst into tears and hopes that A will be back soon .

E is the leader, but doesn’t bother to question whether A really did eat the fish and to look for proof. So instead of investigating this matter thoroughly or look for A, those five reach a consensus that A ate the fish.

+ great artwork
At the beginning the artwork really suck but it gradually keep getting betting, and become the greatest artwork that i have ever seen

+characters are easy to relate to
Who doesn’t want to relate him/herself to a beautiful and handsome characters. The female are gorgeous and the male are very muscular and cool. It doesn’t matter that the characters are stupid and shallow , nobody would give a damn. And you want to keep reading Tenjou Tenge because “ I want to know what will happen to this chick, plus i want to see her naked”.

+ Definetely not a cliche
The story has its own strength, unlike other manga the story is not a cliche. Instead telling the story about a Noveu venu ( Newcomer), Ogure preserved the status quo . There is a ton of surprises waiting around the corner.
Oh yeah, considering how bad the story is, you will also learn to appreciate the work of other mangaka.

Judgement
One thing that Oh Great ( Ogure) really great is the artwork, The quality is unrivaled there will be always guys out there, who is willing to pay a few bucks to gaze upon chicks no matter how bad the story is. . A distinguished author in my country once said Quality is not a problem, as long as it is readable , it will sell well. reading this manga is like an addiction, you know it's bad for you but you refuse to stop because " people want to care for the beautiful girl/handsome hunk and want to be associated with him/her and want to be around him/her. .But please Ogure, don’t abuse it, cause people can eventually get sick of it and throw it away, or they decide not to read in the first place.

Why i am so worked up over a manga?Because The Manga romanticized abusive relationship between man and woman, but as i mentioned before, in the real life it can be really terryifying.A research revealed that women who read fairy tale like Cinderella in their childhood often kept hanging onto an abusive relationship because they believed their partner would eventually for the better, in most of the cases the men didn't change. What do ypu think will happen if a girl read tenjou tenge?


Ogure should read more books especially novels and psychology textbook to learn about causality effect and motivation.

A Seinen High-School, action, romance, psychological, supernatural themed manga. Hmm. It must be a Shounen manga!

Story: 8/10

Tenjou Tenge initially begins following the flow of events common within the High-school action themed genre but, while retaining a somewhat generic feel, rather subtly hints towards an underlying level of complexity while never feeling inconsistent or forced.

The narrative itself retains an episodic feel for the most part, with various arcs developing the characters, their relationships, strengths and ideals. However the episodic nature of Tenjou Tenge seems misleading with each arc contributing to the over-arching narrative in some manner.

The arcs themselves offer a distinct variation from other titles; dwelling into the psychology of each character and often presenting antagonistic figures that are relatable and, with the consideration of their intentions, rarely chaotically sinister.

However, while Tenjou Tenge is an impressively crafted tale, the manga is often viewed as overly complex and rightfully so – with intertwining narratives and varying timelines being a common aspect of the narrative. The variation of and contrast between the grim realism of being incapable of achieving even the simplest of feats and the joyous school-life of rebellious youths are often stark transitions and, while effective for the most part, a minor betrayal of the mangas true depth.

I wouldn’t claim that Tenjou Tenge is the most excellently crafted narrative in existence, starting off a tad slow and seeming inconsistent at times, but it’s a fairly intriguing tale that dwells beyond the forte of its genre.

Art: 8/10

The presentation of Tenjou Tenge is among one of its highest feats, and initially its least complementary aspect. Tenjou Tenges presentation initially restrains the mangas potential, with hilariously misshapen faces and unrealistic figures. However, as the manga transgresses, it becomes perfectly complementary of the direction the narrative takes – with grotesquely detailed manifestations of primal emotions and psychological instinct.

While the art improves drastically and retains a dynamic level of detail on surroundings and backgrounds from the beginning: background characters and even those close-up sometimes appear deformed, a problem often existent in early chapters but even present in the latest chapters of the manga.

Characters: 9/10

The characters within Tenjou Tenge are one of its greatest aspects, with most of the characters undergoing considerable development and seeming genuinely human. The cast is funny when need be and likewise manage to adapt to the varying current of emotions and themes that occur.

Enjoyment: 9/10

It’s really an individualised term so I can’t possibly expect everyone to retain the same attitude towards the manga in regards to enjoyment but the varying locales, narrative and truly complex characters likely provide a good justification for finding enjoyment in Tenjou Tenge. The action segments are of just the right length, the comedy rather clever and the plot rarely predictable.

Overall: 8/10

While the series is a welcomed variation from the typical tale associated with the genre some notably, however some minor flaws restrain the amount of praise I can give it.

Tenjo Tenge is probably one of the most high quality fighting manga out there that not too many people have read.


Art: Now most of you know or have read Air Gear, so it won't come as a surprise when I describe Tenjo Tenge as "fucking amazing" on the art scale as it is made by the same author. It's got some dedicated scanlators, but if you can read it in paper, the art deserves that.Its not only just that, the art gets better by the volume, to the point where not many people have gone that far in detail in the final volumes.


Anime: Why skip? Well partly because the anime adaptation was so mediocre of what the series is. It dons the "like-berserk" title, only going into the rather uneventful high-school arc(which is pretty short in the manga), and what really made the series never getting animated. It falls prey to the same thing Air Gear did, mediocre/boring anime and an ending that was pretty much all filler.


Summary: TT starts out as a kind of highschool brawler, not unlike all the ones you've seen before. The manga(just like Air Gear) has fanservice and a pretty good amount of it too upfront. Then after a few flashbacks to explain the story of the group and their (pretty deep) past, we get to the real stuff. It goes from weapons, to robots, to gods. All with this really cool fighting style and in a very high amount of detail. There isn't a lot of "techniques" either, it's all just over-the-top attacks one after another.

in short

while this manga started out on fire I feel that at some point Oh GREAT gave up on this manga.

there are so many story arc`s an questions that either went unfinished,was dropped mid story,or just went nowhere.,plus there was to much time spent on historical flashbacks than on the characters in the present...,I feel that when the Tenjou Tenge anime didn`t take off Oh GREAT gave up on any ideas he may have had for the manga,and just to finish out the series quickly turned to anime online read comment sections an filled the story with as many things he could that Fanboys/Fangirls wanted to see instead of takeing his own ideas an story an STICKING TO THEM!

the Fanboy/girl effect can be seen in the character Masataka Takayanagi who is also said to be the one telling this story....sorry! Fanboys and Fangirls but I personally didn`t get the Masataka craze..and for that matter what was Oh GREAT thinking when he made Nagi Soichiro the MAIN character.,WORST MAIN CHARACTER OF THE YEAR!...if anything the main character/characters should have been the Natsume`s* Shin,Maya,Aya*most of the story was pretty much on their past!

I feel that this manga probably would have had a greater impact on me if Oh GREAT had teamed up the characters*Bunshichi Tawara an Bob Makihara*,and had it where they were the friends that arrived to the school,and were going to bring a change to it!....there combined personalities alone would have made this series one hundred times better!

I Keep reading the manga because of the artwork, and this is the update of my previous review. While at first readers are let to believe that this manga has a strong female in maya. The author slowly wanted to show that Maya because she is a woman is weak , cannot rule not capable to be a leaderand rule and always needs help and of course there is the breakdown. Bob's training is the best example, The training that maya gave him wasn't enough to make him able to defeat Madoka. Mitsuomi had predicted this before and claimed he could make bob the sharpest blade.
Mitsuomi can inspire loyalty while Jyuken members were just a bunch of people who happen to hang out together and not a cohesive unit.
There is a lot of fanfic of these two and mostly written by girls, because they are indeed a shoujo comic couple.Mitsuomi is type of lead that make shoujo romance unbelievable, cool rich, the strongest guy and very good at running his organization and at doing everything. Add to the fact that Maya lives at a traditional japanese house while Mitsuomi lives in a vast mansion. don't forget the rich and haughty love rival Emi
Fighting
it's very brutal and entertaining, it's very regretable though that despite of the brutality there are only a few death.It's very weird that crying is enough to make everyone holds hands together and become friends and forget they were at each other's throat despite the fact that the person who is standing before them has just murdered your entire family. It seems that the author loved his characters too much and doidn't want to kill them
Special attention has to be given toShin. He is a very popular character, too bad he is just a Sephiroth look alike. No , he is sephiroth, it's not just psychal resemblance, shin uses a long sword just like sephiroth did , he is a nice person before he goes berserk and starts killing people just again just like sephiroth did.
Whoever wrote this manga is indecisive and a pushover.Souchiro might be the winner of the worst main character ever because of his cockiness, but instead of trying to salvage him by explaining that he was cocky because of abitter past., He gave in to Mastaka's fanboys, fangirls demand and give a bigger portion to him in the story there is even a scene where the girls accidently serviced him.
another case, is tenjou tenge special, where Maya and Mitsuomi become a couple again. It was just a desperate attempt on the part of the author to calm down the fans and salvaged his comic .
After the publication of tenjou tenge vol 22, the author searched the net to look for comments and was shocked by the comments that Tenjou Tenge is the stupidest manga because the main character (Maya) died, by doing that author literary killed his own manga. you can read this in the last page of Tenjou Tenge vol 22.
What theck with the microchip that Kurei found in Kyushu, it is supposed to contain information about the nature of relations between F and Mitsuomi. But what is the significance of the chip? Maya could just have asked Mitsuomi because they still keep in contact. Nevermind , because the chip was never mentioned again.
I am confused, if they are indeed enemies and Mitsuomi intended to destroy Juken, why the heck they often work together.Masataka could defeat Mitsuomi's bodyguards easily and according to Kurei Masaka's is the second strongest fighter in Jyuken below Maya. So why the heck they didn't just beat the crap out him?
Bob is actually an intersesting character and a good fighter, almost every one voted Souchiro as the worst character ever, but they actually liked bob. why the heck he just faded away like that.
The story is bad because the author is sexist( think that members of other gender are inferior), racist and Indecisive. However reaing this crap is highly recommended because of the ecchi

The synopsis doesn't do this series justice - at all.

Looking for a good story/plot, interesting characters and overall enjoyable series - look elsewhere.

It's simply appalling - a complete waste of time.

The only redeeming feature would be the art which is above average.

I don't really wanna talk in depth about any of the categories, I'll just say the following :

If you have no appreciation for your free time and want to spend it indulging a egoistical talentless author and read a series which will leave a bitter taste in your mouth, confusing you many times along the arduous journey and finally making you feel so angry about it in general - do feel free to read this series, I highly recommend it - otherwise - read something good, like Akumetsu.