Tenjho Tenge: Round 01

Tenjho Tenge is crammed full of salacious anime clichés--breasts threatening to bust out of flimsy robes, random nudity, and violent fight scenes. The plot revolves around a classic anime theme: wandering fighters/new students Souichiro and Bob intend to lord it over their Todo Academy classmates by beating them into submission, but soon find that the student body is full of fighters eager to--and quite capable of--wiping the floor with them first. The lads must initially contend with the off-kilter Juuken Club, led by the dominating Maya (by manipulating her chi, Maya presents herself as a little girl until it's time to fight when, of course, her wee girl's outfit becomes the ultimate kimono bikini as she transforms into her actual 17-year-old self). Maya's slightly ditzy younger sister Aya, also a major babe, joins her in the smackdown. When a threat to both parties arises from the Student Executive Council, who “punish” any student who steps out of line by sending out their own “executioners,” Souchhiro, Bob, and the Juuken Club join forces to fight a greater evil. Despite some impressive magical fighting and hints about characters' hidden destinies, this is little more than fight scenes intercut with jiggle action, which is a shame since the animation on this four-episode, dual-language disc (accurately rated 16-up) is quite good. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: Tenjho Tenge: Round 02 is slated for release on July 19.] Aud: P. (R. Brenner)