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Tenjho Tenge
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"Tenjho Tenge" is a 25 episode TV series from 2004.
Souichiro Nagi has lived his whole life proving his strength by beating the hell out of every strong person he comes into contact with (like those Samurai and Kung-Fu movies, except they’re different High Schools instead of Dojos). But unlike the previous High Schools he’s attended, Todo Academy is filled with top martial arts clubs, and is dedicated to pitting its students against each other in battle-royal combat situations. On his first day, Nagi is beaten by super martial artist, class senior, Maya Natsume, and becomes the love object of her sister, freshman, Aya. Enamored by Maya’s strength, Nagi joins Maya’s Juken Club, a club founded by her dead brother, Shin. The Todo School (of Kickass) is controlled by "The Executive Council" and the man who controls the council is class senior, Mitsuomi Takayanagi, the most powerful fighter in Japan. Though Mitsuomi and Maya love each other, they are forced by fate and vengeance to become deadly enemies.
Todo Academy, never intended just to be a school, was formed by the Takayanagi, and supporting families, to hone their heir, Mitsuomi, into the ultimate warrior; and turn other promising teens into fighters strong enough to prove to the world, which views them as obsolete, that the martial arts can’t be ignored. The "school’s" first success is the heir of one of their retainers, Shin Natsume, a fighter with psychic powers. Unfortunately, Shin’s inborn abilities, and his bloody, manipulated past and present, are turning him into an incestuous, paranoid-schizophrenic, homicidal maniac who can’t be controlled. Shin knows he is to be replaced and welcomes his end; but at the same time, Shin can only prove his existence to himself in being Todo Academy’s top fighter and in his sister, Maya’s, love. Though friends with Shin, Mitsuomi has been created to be number one, and in addition, Maya falls for him. The school founders exploit the situation, and Shin’s tenuous grip on reality, to pit Mitsuomi and Shin against each other, and prove that Mitsuomi is the strongest. Mitsuomi replaces Shin, but in the process he receives an injury that makes him useless to the founders, and Shin dies. Vowing vengeance for the fate of her brother, Maya reestablishes Shin’s club to beat Mitsuomi. Left with nothing, Mitsuomi uses his position as top fighter, to depose his father and the school founders, and take over Todo.
But Mitsuomi leaves the school open… in order to find a new number one.
It never reaches its final conclusion (presumably Nagi defeating Mitsuomi and becoming the new head of Todo) and the show digresses from its plot into up-skirt panty shots, gigantic jiggling jugs, and exploitative bondage (well there are worse things, and some of the fairer sex still like the show for its characters, and because Nagi has to come to Maya for strength). The show reminded me of "Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer" with the self-destructive sympathetic adversary, the “über male & female plus” character designs, and the school made to create the ultimate fighter. "Tenjho Tenge" has it over "Gowcaizer" in that characters have more back-story and are more in-depth. Mitsuomi’s tragic past is a lot more complex than Principal Ozaki’s. But to its credit, "Gowcaizer", which only had about ninety-minutes to tell its story, did reach an end.
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8.65/10 
9.12/10
8.70/10 
65 votes