Wednesday, January 17, 2007

天上天下 唯我独尊


I have had some enquiries over my pic on the left

Well, the pic on the left is 棗 真夜 from the series 天上天下 in kiddy form. The actual form is one of a well-endowed female species, 17 yrs old! Throughout the manga she morphs between the 2 forms, sthg to do with the “qi” in her body.

(棗 真夜 in her true form)

YES!!!! I have totally degenerated into a 天上天下fangal!

Okay…….. lets get back to real business here. This post is about 天上天下.

Its an adult manga by 大暮 維人 and its still running in Shueisha’s Ultra Jump. Being a adult manga (you guessed it), the female characters are full of boobs ( huge ones, the type you can lie face down and you do not need a pillow. For poor folks like us in reality, we will need a huge pillow if not you will be suffocating to death coz we have no huge boobs to cushion our upper torso, and our poor faces will be crushed right into the surface….anyway, why am I bothering to explain this part?), have legs that seem to extend from their armpits ( ie fucking long!), long flowing hair that reaches the mid calves and not a single strand gets misplaced even during the fight scenes etc etc etc……..

Not to forget, lots of short skirt ( aka we get to see a perfectly proportioned絶対領域 ~ learnt this term from scenic. ), plenty of panties, solid fight scenes (my favourite scenes are the bowling alley toilet fight between 真夜 and 五十鈴 + the rooftop showdown between真夜and 亜夜) which of course comes along with plenty of blood and violence. The graphics in the anime are very much subdued compared to the actual manga. I flipped through a few books of the manga and it was much more violent and sexual in content.

The plot is very complicated and starts off with 2 ah-bengs ( ボブ牧原 and 凪宗一郎) as newcomers to the 統道学園. Both ah-bengs try to show off their fighting skills ( which in fact suck big time!!!) but were defeated by the 柔剣部部長 ~ 棗 真夜. At the same time, the 2 ah-bengs catch the attention of the 執行部 who passed down an order to force them to quit school for going against the school regulations. (The 執行部 is extremely powerful and is headed by a bunch of freaks….Muahahahahah!). Both ボブ and 宗一郎 refused to admit defeat and decided to practise martial arts under 真夜. It turns out 宗一郎 has enormous potential and although the manga is still ongoing, there is no doubt that 宗一郎 will be the strongest chap in 柔剣部. Of course at the side, 真夜’s younger sister 亜夜 has a huge crush on 宗一郎 ( BTW, I cannot tahan 亜夜!).

The plot takes a huge turn when the 執行部 heads for its first direct confrontation with 柔剣部at the bowling alley. The wonderful fighting scene in the toilet between 真夜 and 執行部副部長 ~ 五十鈴 aside, this is also the scene where 高柳光臣, the President of the Executive Council first makes his appearance. After everyonee else is either lying flat on the ground bleeding or dead, only 光臣 and 真夜 are left standing and SURPRISE SURPRISE……it turned out they were lovers and 光臣 actually had great respect for 真夜’s brother 慎. Anyway Mitsuo killed Shin and the 2 could never be reconciled again.

I like the way the tension between 真夜 and 光臣 are depicted. Both extremely strong characters and yet there is that wee bit of angst and tenderness each time they face each other. A good half of the anime is spent explaining the complicated relationship between 真夜、光臣 and 慎 in their younger days. The story actually starts unfolding here and brings us back to the time when Shina and Maya were still kids.

Yes, like all Japanese manga with their ultra-perverted plots (aka main pkot, sub plot, sub-sub plot), the main big plot behind 天上天下 actually starts from 光臣. His family ~ 高柳 clan is the head of a long line of fighters and warriors. They are served by 12 other family lines which include 棗 (真夜’s clan) and surprise surprise…..凪 ( 宗一郎’s clan). 光臣’s father, in order to prepare 光臣 in succeeding him as the head of the 高柳 clan, planned this elborate project around him, including arranging for 慎 and 光臣 to become buddies etc. Hell….even the girlfriend for 慎 was pre-arranged.

In the 棗 clan, some members are born with the 竜眼, which besides giving the owner huge powers, it also at the same time makes him extremely susceptible to the evil forces of the 式刀零毀, a katana owned by the clan. Besides 慎, 真夜’s younger sister 亜夜 also has the竜眼. 慎feels that the 竜眼 is a curse bestowed upon him as a member of the 棗 Clan. When the powers of the 竜眼 first awoken and 慎 started seeing things happening in the past and the future, he went berserk and his parents locked him up to prevent him from going mad. It proved too much for him to take that he killed his own parents with the 式刀零毀. 慎 then becomes overly protective of 真夜, the only normal one in the family.

慎 ultimately let 竜眼 take control of him and this partly led to him being killed by光臣. Of course, the fact that 光臣 and 真夜 were seeing each other also drove 慎 nuts (慎 had this thing for his sister la). 光臣 was devastated with the death of 慎 and at the same time was extremely cheesed off with his father's so-called experiments and plotted to overthrow him….which he succeeded by rallying the 2nd generation kids from the other family lines. 真夜was unable to get over her brother’s death and set up the 柔剣部 to counter 光臣’s 執行部.

The anime ends abruptly after the flashbacks and an expected tournament in school ( the tournament never happens la). The manga still continues and it gets more intrigueing as the 12 clans start to make their appearances. Am getting pretty excited about the series and loaning book after book.

Recommended if you can get over the boobs and otaku thing surrounding this series. The plot is thrilling, characters are pretty well-defined (literally and figuratively) and oh well…….a lot of angst!
And a great soundtrack to go with!

Yes……. I finally succumbed and ordered the soundtrack last nite over CD Japan. Along with my…erm…… 部長and 跡部 テニプリcharacter CDs.
(While I was at it, I just realized I had like another 3 pending orders on CD Japan! These are the things you conveniently forget until your credit card bills come!)

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