Tenjho Tenge Free Preview

Title: Tenjho Tenge Free Preview
Date: 2005
Publisher: CMX (DC Comics)
Writer: Oh! great
Penciler: Oh! great
Inker: Oh! great
Editorial Director: Jim Lee

Preview of CMX's reprint of the 1997 Shueisha manga by Oh! great. A bit of research on Wikipedia reveals that there was a big kerfluffle over the content editing that was done by DC to make this title acceptable for US bookstore distribution.

This preview minicomic doesn't feature any adult content, and there's not a whole lot of plot here either. Apparently the setting is a high school where "education takes a back seat to brawling as warring clubs wreak havoc in the hallways and chaos in the classrooms, all vying to be the baddest team around". All of which makes it sound a lot like the school I worked at before my current day job.

So apparently, there's one group of students, the Juken club, who are attempting to stem this tide of violence... By beating people up, of course.

Like many manga, this one does look like it has the potential to rise above its goofy premise. First of all, the artwork by Oh! great is, well, great. The introduction of the character Aya, a katana-wielding schoolgirl, is absolutely gorgeous, and does a great job of conveying the love-at-first-sight moment that takes place when Aya first appears. The character interactions also look like they have potential, and the preview hints at some complex relationships, romantic and otherwise.

There really isn't enough story in this mini to get a good sense of the manga, but it is certainly a pretty book, and there are some flashes of brilliance in the dialogue.

Rating: 6.5/10