Ask John: What’s John’s Reaction to the CMX Tenjho Tenge Manga?

Question:
What is your opinion of CMX’s release of Tenjho Tenge? This is one of the worst domestic manga releases in years. Why would a company lisence something they are uncomfortable in releasing without editing every seventh page or so?

Answer:
This may come as a bit of a surprise, but I honestly don’t have an opinion on the American localization of the Tenjho Tenge manga in particular. I think its treatment falls within the boundary of my attitude toward the importation of all Japanese popular art. The Tenjho Tenge manga was created by a Japanese artist for Japanese readers. I believe that foreigners that wish to all enjoy this Japanese comic should be respectful of its origins. If you’re interested in reading or watching something that’s significantly different from the way it was originally made and released, than it’s not really the original work that you’re actually interested in. I must admit that I haven’t read the CMX version of TenTen, nor do I have any interest in doing so. I may be interested in the Tenjho Tenge manga created by Oh Great!, but what CMX has published in America is not that. What CMX has published in America is reportedly an insultingly watered down version of the artist’s original vision that appears to be clearly sanitized for the sake of commercial potential.

The CMX publication claims to have made its alterations with the approval of the original author. Presuming that this is true, what’s not clear is how willingly the author conceded to the alterations. Based on the minimal information the public knows, I can’t bring myself to blame original creator Oh Great! because I can sympathize with his likely decision that compromise is preferable to nothing. Given a choice between having his work presented to possibly millions of readers through North America, albeit in a censored version, or possibly not having it exposed to American readers at all, I find it hard to criticize the artist’s concession. That is, of course, presuming that it was primarily DC Comics that suggested the edits rather than the original artist himself. But I find it difficult to envision Oh Great! suggesting that his art be edited after his adult manga had already been published in America in a more graphic form than what was originally released in Japan.

Oh! Great began his career as a manga artist by drawing pornographic fantasy stories. So it should come as no surprise that his most successful mainstream manga is also quite risque. Sadly, DC Comics has decided to heavily censor the series for a young teenage American audience instead of marketing it toward the older teen and young adult audience it was obviously created for. That the TenTen manga was licensed for American release comes as little surprise. The story is immensely popular in Japan and overseas. The title is DC Comic’s most well known acquisition, and Tenjho Tenge arguably has the most potential for American sales success of any CMX owned manga title. So, in fact, it makes sense for CMX to edit the series. I’m not defending the decision, only trying to explain it. If the TenTen manga was already highly anticipated in America and expected to sell well, the logical thing to do would be to tailor it to sell even more copies. The lower the suggested age rating on the series, the bigger its potential consumer audience becomes. Releasing the TenTen manga unedited may please hardcore fans, but doing so limits the number of consumers that will be able to buy the series. I can only guess that CMX, because it’s a relatively new manga licensor and distributor, assumed that releasing a more conventionally consumer friendly product would result in increased sales. I doubt CMX expected or anticipated the outrage from hardcore anime and manga fans that the edited release has caused.

I don’t think an unedited re-release is an impossibility, but I also don’t believe that it’s likely. Viz re-released an uncensored version of the Dragonball manga in response to consumer demand, but unedited Dragonball isn’t nearly as violent and erotic as unedited Tenjho Tenge. Furthermore, CMX is a subsidiary of DC Comics, a publisher that’s known for taking risks with dark and edgy comics, but still not a publisher that associates itself with depictions of extreme gratuitous exploitation and sexual violence. The Tenjho Tenge manga series would be a capstone acquisition for any publisher. DC Comics just happens to be the publisher that got it. Unfortunately, I think, as a side effect of the booming American interest in English translated manga, Tenjho Tenge appears to have been victimized by that booming interest. Seeking to capitalize on the American demand for manga, DC Comics seems to have tried to give American consumers exactly what they want: an Americanized version of Tenjho Tenge. But in doing so, CMX has severely compromised the character of the original work to the extent that it no longer contains many of the elements that made it appealing in the first place.

I’m disappointed that the American version of the Tenjho Tenge manga has been so heavily compromised, but not surprised. TenTen isn’t the first manga to be edited for American release, and I have little doubt that it will not be the last. But on the positive side, I think the outrage fans have expressed over the censoring of the TenTen manga is a good thing because I think that it may cause publishers to hesitate in the future over the decision to censor future manga releases.