Tenjho Tenge Volume 3

The showdown in the bowling alley comes to a dramatic conclusion while Maya begins to recount her early days at the school with Team Katana and its leader (incidently, her brother) Shin Natsume.

I must admit that the beginning of this disc didn’t make much of an impression – it seemed dead set on the martial arts/fan service course and had little new to offer. Just as my eyes were glazing over, the beginning of a flashback sequence kicked in, setting the tone for the rest of the disc: the series seems to be taking on an unusual structure in that it’s spending considerable time flashing back to events that have taken place several years in the past, which proves to be no bad thing.

The main event is the background to the Natsume family: we’re already familiar with Aya and Maya but their brother Shin, who until now has simply been a name mentioned in passing, is properly introduced and is quite an interesting fellow. Like his sisters he has some remarkable abilities that make him an intimidating adversary in combat; unfortunately these abilities are barely under his control and are causing all manner of problems.

This leads into an entirely new story arc that at the moment bears little relation to what we’ve seen so far but is nevertheless more interesting: there are hints of double-crosses, dark secrets and who knows what else which will leave many viewers asking “why…?” and “who…?” repeatedly. That is to say it takes the show in an unusual direction in that it transforms pretty suddenly from a run-of-the-mill martial arts show into a martial arts show that actually offers a little more – there are the usual, quite tiresome, fan service scenes but there’s a plot emerging that I never expected too.

It goes without saying that the way in which the dialogue and combat scenes play out are still in the style of the martial arts genre, and as a viewer who is not a huge fan of such shows I still can’t really see the appeal, outside the fact that they are ‘tried and tested’. On the other hand it does succeed in showing some effort in terms of storyline and the extended flashback approach makes it all the more intriguing: the current state of affairs has already been outlined for us but the lead-up to it is only just beginning.

In Summary

A sharp change in atmosphere and approach to the storytelling saves Tenjho Tenge from mediocrity in the nick of time; fortunately it is still impressive visually. Furthermore, the jump backwards in the story takes us to a setting that will eventually lead us to the present, introducing new characters and situations that ought to keep most viewers’ attention.