Tenamonya Voyagers is a sci-fi romp from Bandai that takes nothing, including itself, seriously. The problem is, the phrase "whacked out" doesn't even begin to describe what you have on this disc.

Teacher Ayako and student Wakana find themselves stranded far from earth when the school they just transferred to goes bankrupt. Both are penniless and trying to figure out what to do when space Mafioso Paraila literally drops in (she's on the run from other bosses). She wants to get to Earth because of a legal loophole that immediately pardons anyone on the planet for intergalactic crimes.

Meet our three unlikely candidates for a galactic road trip: Mafiosa Oaraila, Teacher Ayaka, and Student Wakana.	What's a good comedy without party-infighting and fan service?

So, pretty much, it's a road trip film as they all try to get to Earth, with the humans being dragged into all sorts of illegal activity by Paraila.

The animation is pretty good, while the colors and DVD transfer are excellent. You definitely won't find any problems with the technical aspects of the disc. The opening battle between mecha and starships was actually very good, however that aspect of the show disappears quickly. The music is good, bouncing between marches and traditional Japanese pieces played on the koto. The music fits the schizophrenic nature of the show.

All four episodes are found on the single disc, so you know you have the whole series in one shot. The question is, is it a series you'll want?

There are undoubtedly funny parts in the series, but often times the plot gets directed by the comedy. It's surrealistic humor to the extreme. In the final episode you find innumerable fan service pics of the girls constantly changing into outfits made up of vegetables, catcher's mitts, and other sundry items you wouldn't expect. There is no explanation for this; it just happens. The characters don't really seem to serve any purpose other than to drive the comedy, which is sometimes so weird it's not really funny.

After a little research, I found that this show is supposed to be a parody of a number of 1970's live-action and anime shows. Actually, the opening theme was a parody in itself which, I understand, left viewers familiar with it laughing hysterically. Me, I just thought it was music. Unfortunately, all the in-jokes don't carry through unless you were pretty intimate with those shows. I've seen a lot of 70s anime, and I had no clue that certain scenes were connected to them. I'm sure quite a bit of the humor was lost because of that. Imagine seeing Spaceballs without having seen Star Wars; there were still funny parts, but the in-jokes added an awful lot.

Finally, it ends pretty much at the beginning. Yes, this is yet another series that has nothing even remotely like an ending and no real chance of series completion. Then again, after the absurdist fourth episode, I'm not sure how many more I could handle.

It isn't so bad that it falls in the D or F category where your eyes are burned from your head, but it really doesn't offer anything worthwhile to the genre and it's not enough fun to warrant watching again. To make it clearer; it's sad to say, but the best part of the series was the preview for episode three where the voice actresses were playing a word game where they had to match the last syllable of a word to the first of another.

Purchase at your own risk.

Distributor: Bandai
Creator: Bandai Visual/Studio Pierrot
Released: 1999

Plot: C
Character Design: B
Animation Quality: B+
Music: B
Overall: C+