Customer Reviews

Tenjho Tenge: Volume 1

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

This book has been HEAVILY edited from the Japanese original - most of the editing was done to remove nudity and tone down sex scenes, but the dialogue was also edited to remove sexual references, the word "killed" was changed, a character giving the middle finger was edited to cover it up, etc. All together 36!! edits in this volume. The edits are really bad too - obvious and substandard work.
This is a book aimed at older teenagers (16+) and adults. DC has tried to edit it to make it suitable to 13 year olds. The result is a product that appeals to no one - itr is still too racy for 13 year olds - there is a rape scene in vol 1 for instance, but at the same time it is now un-appealing to older audiences.
There is a HUGE outcry currently in the manga community about this book - hopefully DC will listen and re-release it without edits. As it is, the sales of this book will be hurt, and for good reason - no one should settle for a butchered version when they could have had the real thing.

I've been a manga fan for nearly 20 years, and this is the most heavily censored title in the history of the North American manga market. CMX claim that they deliver "100% authentic manga, just the way the original creators wanted you to see it" but then they deliver this. The problem is that this book is in no way suitable for teens, even with the outrageously hamfisted censoring. CMX should have given this book their Mature rating, but someone at CMX thought they could make a few more bucks chasing the teen market. It's a slap in the face of the large base of existing fans of Oh! great's beautiful artwork, and anyone who is morally opposed to censorship. I believed CMX's claim of not censoring their titles, and was stuck with a manga I couldn't return to the comic shop I bought it from. I sent mine back to CMX demanding a refund, along with a polite but strongly worded letter explaining how I feel about censorship. Unfortunately, CMX has been stonewalling fans about this title, and I doubt I'll get a response. But if enough books pile up on the desk of Jake Tarbox, the man in charge of CMX, then it might send a clear message that censorship won't be tolerated. Please don't buy this book

Tenjho Tenge ("TenTen") is not for kids. The artwork glorifies sexual violence against females, and it boggles the mind as to why anyone would try to censor out the sexual elements (obscuring panty shots, drawing bras in scenes where breasts are bared, etc.) in this title in order to market it toward teens. The amount of "editorship" CMX performed on this book is simply astounding, in a perverse way. By comparing the CMX version with the original Japanese version of TenTen, you can learn many techniques that can be used to censor a comic or a manga. Unfortunately, a playbook on censorship isn't why you would want to spend money on this release.

If you're looking for original, unedited artwork, you're advised to look elsewhere. Likewise if you're a parent interested in buying this book for a teenager; the content left intact by CMX (which includes a rape scene) is still unsuitable for teens.

Avoid this. This is simply the worst case of editing in a manga, ever. There are 36 edits. yes, THIRTY-SIX EDITS. This is not a title for teenagers. There's explicit rape, extreme violence and nudity. Covering-up the nudity with shadows, cropping the panels and adding (badly-drawn) lingerie does not change the fact this is and ADULT MANGA. Do not support DC's editing.

Yes, this is yet another review by a fan of the original manga who is upset at the HEAVY editing that CMX has done. I will try to present my case and explain the general situation so that people who aren't "fan-boys" can understand why so many of us are upset.

To give you some background I've been watching anime and reading manga since I was 12, so for eight years now. Back then it was very hard to find much variety in the titles available. There were two types of titles that got shipped over, guaranteed sales and junk that people assumed would sell. So in order to get at many good titles you had to do a bit of leg work. Generally fan translation was (and still is) the only way to view many fantastic works. People are very spoiled today by being able to walk into a large book store and see a manga section; I assure you this is a very new trend. In fact finding anything other than Akira and Masamune Shirow works in chain stores was nigh impossible five years ago.

Nowadays anything that is remotely promising tends to get shipped over to the US, no more YEARS of waiting. This happens for two reasons. First the potential audience is much larger than it used to be. Second fan translations promote the product and create an audience for free. These fans who give their time to translate a product so that others can read it do so for no profit to themselves. Because of this the community that enjoys said product is very loyal to the original, they already know the story and have already read the manga before it ever hit US shores. That means that we (I'm part of this crowd) are buying a product solely to support the brand, and own a legitimate copy. I have box sets of anime that I haven't watched on DVD because I saw the fansubs so many times, but I purchased a legitimate copy to support the genre and the company that created it.

When CMX takes a product and alters it in this way it's like someone took something you loved and re-wrote it. Imagine you're reading the The Fellowship of the Rings and Frodo gets killed by a ring wraith and Sam takes over his role. The story can still end the same way, but it isn't the story you know.

On this specific title CMX decided that heavy editing would make this title more marketable to teens. While this may be true it hurts the story and sends a mixed message to teens.

How it hurts the story: They edit out people saying "I'm going to kill you"; however, people are killed in this series. The violence is muted at times through editing. Again the violence only picks up as the series goes on, limbs blown are off and eyes are stabbed out. There is a big cultural difference between Japan and the US as far as the acceptability of nudity for children. Parents in American tend to really drop the ball here. It's not OK for Billy to see a nipple, but it's fine for him to see someone be graphically dismembered.

This series is not for kids, it has very mature themes and editing can only contain them so much, a rape is a rape even when you fudge the images.

Also all of CMX's cheap zoom and re-draws make the product look very poor and detract from Oh! great's skillful renderings.

The product features blatant lies it advertises that is "uncut just like the Japanese authors wanted it to be" that's a horrendous lie, 37 edits in the first volume and 36 in the second are not how it was intended. I have read up to the latest chapter in the most recent Jump and I assure you that this is not the story that was presented there.

So, please accept my apologies for a long review; however, I beseech you, please avoid this product and send a message to CMX that we want an unedited work.

~F1rsT REVIEW/(OMPLAINT~

- Changing some dialogues and covering Nagi's middle finger in one scene, no problem.
- Altering a lot of sexual situations, including panties, that's a problem.
- Removing the omake that was from the JP release...THIS IS WHERE I DRAW THE LINE!

Yeah, I'm one of those people that are pissed about the censorship issue as well, but as far as I'm concern, I don't think CMX is going to change their mind about the situation. What's done is done and they are probably going to continue with this malpratice, pissing more "TenTen" fans than needed. However, if you can look aside the harsh censorship of "TenTen" like you're Joe Lieberman or a strict rule-abiding republican, you'll find yourself a decent fighting comic within the pages, though the fights are rather hard-to-follow due to poor art presentation. Plus there's the deal with the sound effects: other than the "LEAP" ordeal, some sound effects are translated whichever CMX felt like it, and for other that are too big to translate, they left the translation by the side, and some effects were added even when they are not needed; what kind of process is that?

At least the story stands strong, with freshmen Nagi and Bob running the bully biz, until their butts were beaten' not only by the students of the juken club (Takayanagi and Maya), but eventually one of the seniors of the Enforcers, the brutal SGA of the school. Nagi and Bob eventually decides to join the Juken club to go against the big guys. Okay, so the story isn't THAT strong, but at least it's promising, although the promising story is now lost thanks to the edits. Not only are the edits severe, but very noticable, like in the shower scene where in some panels the girl has a bra on, but later the bra's not there. LOUSY! At least they kept Maya's sexual transformation, and that part was funny along with some parts of the manga.

Here's the thing with the censorship of this manga: the scenes that were edited have a purpose. Okay, it's there for the fanservice, and I'm not into fanservice a whole lot, but it's there to add the tone and absurdity within the dark-shonen manga that should've been suggest for older teens. And when CMX took away the fanservice, they took away the debauchery and unfair grudges that sets a special theme to this manga. However, this heavily-edited process is a good thing to happen, because it shows that you can't depend on CMX to license a manga that's even more absurd like "Gantz."

F1rsT Reaction: negative

I don't know how far CMX can go with this censored process in future volumes, but after watching the anime, they would probably censored scenes that don't need to be censored, like the scene where Takayanagi's older brother, Mitsuomi, is licking Maya's wounded shoulder. I don't think that scene is very sexual, but CMX would probably think so. I cannot say "Tenjho Tenge" is the worse case of editing ever done, but it is as a manga standpoint. Even if I don't like fanservice in anime or manga, this is an inexcusable release.

I am a big fan of the Tenjou/Tenjho Tenge anime and was pleased to hear that the manga was coming out. I went out and bought it the same day. I had seen samples from the japanese GN's and was ready for some high-flying action, along with a lot of fanservice. However this version of TenTen was so HORRIBLY MANGLED! Every last nude shot or panty shot has been edited out and the manga has been given a teen rating instead of the mature rating it deserves. A character's rape is oddly downplayed, as is some racial stereotyping (make your own minds about that one). My opinion tends to be the general opinion of the anime community all over the internet. However, Dark Horse has refused to release a statement regarding this travesty and are continuing to release a mature manga to a teen demographic. Do yourself a favour and just watch the anime or buy the original Japanese releases.

There are over 35 edits in the first book of this series. Do not buy this if you like to read your manga the way the author meant it to be read. The only other edit that comes close to this is the UK version of the Urotsukidoji DVDs which is missing almost half of its content. Buying this would give manga publishers the message that it is OK to edit around in what ever way they please in order to get the age rating down.

I am a huge fan of this series. I love the show and loved the early unedited fan-sub translations of the manga that I previously read. For those of you who say the editing does not detract from the story line you are in grave error. There are sub plots and key plot elements that are grossly misconstrued by these "harmeless" edits. If you have any sense at all you will skip purchasing this particular translation and write the company urging them to release the series as the author meant it to be released, DC and Warner brother should be ashamed of themselves for allowing CMX to butcher this series. Seeing this makes me shudder to think of the crop-job that the anime series will become when it make it to american television. What if they start editing classic stories like Catcher in the Rye and other books? Why should we let it happen to these manga translations. It's an injustice to the fan and more importantly the author. Apply the appropriate warnings on the literature and allow it to be published un-edited for the audience it was intended.

CMX's release of the manga was heavily censored and edited to receive a Teen rating in the U.S. Yea a Adult manga gets cut up and covered up to recieve a teen rating. Good job CMX, won't be buying from you guys ever!