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Tenjho Tenge Vol. 5

Tenjho Tenge Vol. 5

Written by Seb Reid on 10 Mar 2007


Distributor MVM • Certificate 15 • Price £19.99


I am honestly at a bit of a loss with this series. I am not a stupid person by any stretch of the imagination, but even after three viewings of the first 4 volumes, I simply cannot piece together the story in its entirety. It seems evident all the way through the series so far, that there have been facts hidden in the very deep storyline and background information which are needed to be picked up before the plot is understood. This is especially true with the emergence of the cliché “evil” characters running the student executive council in volume 4. But that’s fighting anime for you…

After the long recap that was volume 4 we finally get to see what happens to Maya as a form of punishment… and to be quite frank, not a lot. For the murders and brutal violent acts she committed against the Katana club thanks to her sword (its actually a katana, which I find quite ironic in this case) and her actions against the executive council. Her punishment is a mere expulsion from Toto Academy. Not severe by any means considering what she has done, but Aya, Bob and Souchiro certainly seem to find it heavy handed, and take it upon themselves to give the executive council a piece of their mind.

Aya takes her brothers katana (which was previously used by Maya to massacre the Katana members), Bob and Souchiro stampede into the executive council, with dire consequences thanks to Bounshici and we begin again with the back story, this time filling in Maya’s blanks thanks to Bounshichi. This little flashback shows the story behind the formation of the Juuken club with Shin and Mitsuomi as its founders.

Doesn’t that just sound thrilling!

As I have mentioned in previous reviews, I am fond of the series. Unfortunately as the series progress I quickly find my disappointment rising. The use of fan service is tacky, the storyline jumps around and is hard to follow and to put it nicely this is perhaps the only fighting anime I have seen where there is so little action.

At least it looks and sounds pretty eh? I am still holding out for a good conclusion, but to be honest I'm not sure how it is going to end, or even what it would involve. Judging by the current pace it may end up with the Juuken club, the executive council, snuggled around a camp fire, singing Kum By Yah!

Grumble. All this aside, its still a quality anime, and I am most likely just missing something.


Extras:

Negligable extras. Gallery and some additional character information. 5.1 english and japanese sound tracks.
6
Series is beginning to lose the plot a bit...

Seb Reid
About Seb Reid

Seb has been an anime fan since the late 90s and is particularly fond of anything post-apocalyptic, amusing, catgirly, ecchi or containing exquisite aerial battles. Living in Leeds with his cats and living up the bachelor life, Seb enjoys whiling the nights away deep in a book, game or a damn good series. 


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