Based on a popular and violent manga, Tenjho Tenge, the anime has been toned down (slightly) for graphical content, but this doesn't mean that the show doesn't carry the same impact. Fans of the illustrated form will adore the busty girls, broken bones, split blood, and all other manner of "ouch" that you can think of. This is a fighting fans combat series with a lot of kung fu and flowing chi so if that sounds like you (and you like fanservice as well) then you'll probably want to pay attention.

Tenjho Tenge focuses on a school known as the Todo Academy, though it has nothing to do with the Wizard of Oz, I assure you. This facility in particular is a place where students not only learn about life but also join martial arts clubs in order to become stronger fighters. Nearly everybody is part of a faction of warriors and one in particular, the Juken Club, is considered by many to be the strongest of them all.

Things were fine at the school until Souichiro and Bob showed up as newcomers and started to ruffle some feathers. They became a part of the Juken Club to become stronger and joined the ranks with Takayanagi, Aya and Maya. Takayanagi is the younger brother of the leader of the executive council, while Aya and Maya are insanely busty sisters with a penchant for utilizing magic. Maya is able to transform from an adult body into a younger version of herself and Aya can summon forth a power known as the Dragon Eye.

Up until this point the troop has faced a lot of enemies with not only physical prowess, but spiritual as well. The battle with the Executive Council at the local bowling alley left the group bruised and battered, but they picked up the pieces long enough to get a lesson in history from Maya. She told them (and us) about her past and answered a lot of questions surrounding the mystery of her brother and some of the higher ups at the school. With this newfound information in hand Souichiro and Bob went straight to a powerful fighter known as Bunshichi to ask that Maya's expulsion be revoked. That's where the sixth volume for the show picks up, though some things have changed this time around.

We join Souichiro and Bob as they kneel before Bunshichi bleeding and bruised. They made their way through a pile of grunts in order to get to the man and in doing so it left them hurting. Needless to say, they don't get very far with convincing him to help and frankly wind up in an even bigger world of hurt. Meanwhile Aya has stolen her brother's katana (the one with magical powers that made him go insane with rage) and is on a quest to reinstate Maya as well.

Along the way she is dogged by Takayanagi and with the power of her Dragon Eye she is able to "see" Souichiro confess about who his true love is. This breaks her heart and she runs away out of anger thanks to the vision. Meanwhile Bunshichi sets things up towards the end of the volume for yet another flashback and promises to fill in the pieces that Maya left out with her recanting of history. Next volume should provide with a lot more background as far as what's going on here.

One thing that I noticed in this volume is that the "humor" in the show has seemingly been altered. There are more visual gags and expressions than in previous episodes and it seems to mark a turning point in the show. Takayanagi uncharacteristically garners traditional anime pervert expressions when he's faced with the prospect of having Aya spend the night and even Souichiro and Bob get in on the change in humor. I guess it was always there in some form throughout the series, but for some reason it just seems more prominent with these episodes here.

I still can't but wish that these volumes had more meat on their bones because having three episodes just doesn't cut it when it comes to this show. Tenjho Tenge is a decent enough fighting anime with a bunch of humor, cleavage, and violence to satisfy your appetite. My only problem is that the series feels a little stretched too thin at points thanks to the limited amount of episodes on each release, but holding out until a box set comes out could help change that.

Tenjho Tenge is presented with the 1.33:1 full screen aspect ratio that it was originally broadcast with. The images are very crisp and clean with only a couple minor snippets of pixilation that popped up on dark backgrounds. There are also a few points where some aliasing is noticeable, but the colors are very vivid and the transfer is very clean otherwise. I really enjoyed the art direction of this show and the animation is top notch, though some still character shots and repeat animations are used here and there.

Tenjho Tenge features two audio tracks: 2.0 English and 2.0 Japanese. While I am a fan of original language tracks with subtitles, the English Dubbing here was pretty good. The Japanese track feature comparable audio quality with accurately translated subtitles as far as I could tell after having watched the show with both tracks. There was a fair amount of directionality to the audio, but it wasn't anything revolutionary for a stereo track. I was a little disappointed that there was no 5.1 audio included, but even still the sound from this disc was good quality.

All that appears on the disc for extra content this time around are some Geneon Previews. Sure there is some eye candy decorating the box art and menus, but I don't consider that as being an additional "perk".

Tenjho Tenge has been kind of an anime rollercoaster. At some points you have some really high peaks, but then the quality will drop off right underneath your feet. The fact that there are only three episodes on each volume is probably the cause of this though it's a little too late in the game for that to change. There is a decent amount of action in this volume, though not nearly as much as previous ones had. Considering that there are only three episodes, that's saying something. I don't want to say that the series feels like it's losing its steam at this point in the game, but we'll see what the last two episodes yield for content.

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