Tenjho Tenge Volume 5

The fallout from Shin’s defeat marks the end for Team Katana but he is determined to form a new club and keep himself in the running for the competition that decides the new head of the Council. Back in the ‘present’ of the TenTen timeline Maya learns of her punishment for her earlier actions against the Executive Council, which leads to Souichiro and Bob taking matters into their own hands by confronting Bunshichi and Isuzu.

The seemingly less-than-generous episode count may not prove to be a problem for those of us who are having trouble following the criss-crossing loyalties and politics that surround the events of the School. Quite frankly I suspect the repeated jumping in time is a means to make what would otherwise be a predictable fighting anime show more complex, but it does actually succeed in making things more interesting…more or less.

The viewing experience is almost frustrating because the underlying themes and ideas aren’t half bad and give some entertaining highlights. Take these for example: a pitiable young Shin is driven to the ultimate act of violence, driven mad by the ‘voices in his head’ from the Dragon Eye; Mitsuomi tries to pursuade Maya to join Shin’s new club through an evening at an amusement arcade that turns into more of a date than a challenge; and in the present day Aya is unaware of the Choukuto Reiki’s ability to unleash her latent abilities.

Taken individually these elements make for an interesting and action-packed volume but thanks to certain aspects, such as the fan service (namely the token panty shots and exaggerated body proportions of both male and female characters) and misplaced humour that has the misfortune of not being particularly funny, the mood is broken repeatedly – the end product is not nearly as satisfying as it perhaps ought to be. I actually wanted to enjoy this disc because there’s so much going on but it keeps falling back on the old ‘fighting anime’ clichés and those dreaded moments of repeated footage and other instances of corner-cutting. I admit to having a particular affection for Studio Madhouse’s output but while some scenes are detailed and actually quite sophisticated, especially the backgrounds and little details such as drops of blood hitting the floor, others consist of the old favourite of panning over still frames.

Such faults are easier to forgive in a show such as this which isn’t intended to be judged as art but I’m even losing interest in some of the characters. It’s morbidly fascinating to see Shin’s fall from grace – we don’t even know his ultimate fate yet – but the characters of Souichiro and Bob have gone from being likable rogues to being exactly what Bunshichi sees them as: annoying small-timers who are poking their noses (and fists!) into matters that don’t concern them.

In Summary
Tenjho Tenge suffers from a needlessly complicated approach to storytelling and a habit of falling into the same traps as other examples of the ‘fighting anime’ genre. There’s more to offer to viewers who are still following the show though, as the blanks of the two parts of the timeline are being filled in; the thoroughness of this filling-in is going to decide how favourably I view the series as a whole.