The big news on the manga fan sites last week was CMX's bowdlerizing of the edgy Tenjho Tenge manga.  The saga of a 'wild in the streets' high school in Tokyo where brawling is apparently everyone's major priority, Tenjho Tenge, which appears in the Ultra Jump manga magazine in Japan, mixes ultra violent fights with plenty of fan service (primarily in the form of panty shots and bare breasts).  In typical American fashion CMX, which is an imprint of DC Comics, has targeted the sexual elements of Tenjho Tenge for edits, while leaving the violent elements intact. 

CMX's cuts are evident from the start -- the American edition of the cover uses the title to cover a female character's panties, which is certainly a more felicitous fix than the later use of a sound effect in a similar underwear-obscuring fashion.  CMX also decided to add brassieres and other garments to obscure bare breasts throughout Volume One.

The question this controversy raises is why CMX, which uses the slogan 'Pure manga -- 100% the way the original Japanese creators wanted you to see it,' didn't rate the series '18+' like Tokyopop's Battle Royale and forgo editing out the series' numerous 'fan service' elements.  An '18+' rating might have hurt sales somewhat, but Tenjho Tenge would probably still have been the strongest title in the CMX stable.  DC Comics has not replied to ICv2's inquiries concerning the editing of Tenjho Tenge.