"Tenamonya Voyagers" is a 4 volume OVA from 1999. The show and its title are a reference to a long running 1960s live-action TV comedy, "Tenamonya Sandogasa", about wandering, singing, rambling drifters. The OVA was directed by Akiyuki Simbo 'Shinbo' ("Arakawa Under The Bridge", "Bakemonogatari", "Hurricane Polymar"(OVA), "Twilight of the Dark Master"), with character designs by Masashi Ishihama ("Read Or Die", "Welcome to the Space Show"), and had a story and script by Ryoe Tsukimura ("El Hazard"). Its North American release marked the end of anime on VHS in the states, as it was the first anime to be released only on DVD in the US.

"Just like her name implies, she's... Space Trash!"

Sixteen year-old "Space Trash" Paraila is on the run from the cops and the mob. Once the head of the Jaoukai sect of the "Big Three" space mob, she was betrayed by the other two families, thrown out of the syndicate, and marked for death. Without the mob to protect Paraila, violent, trigger happy, Space Federation Police Inspector Tatsue Yokoyama smells an opportunity. If she can arrest Paraila, she can hold a 700 year jail sentence over her head, and get her to rat out her Yakuza associates. However, Paraila has one chance to save her skin. The backwater planet Earth is outside of the mob's reach, and the Space Federation's jurisdiction. Broke, out of luck, and stuck on the other side of the universe, Paraila serendipitously teams up with two other gals trying to get to Earth; moronic High School teacher, Ayako Hanabishi, and teenage jock, Wakana Nanamiya. The trio have to stay one step ahead of Yokoyama, who wouldn't lose any sleep arresting all three of them, in this farcical road comedy.

"I'm falling, again."

Have you ever had the experience of someone telling you a joke with a really long build up and a punchline that you didn't get, because you didn't know what they were referencing? After that, try following that joke with a play on words using homonyms that are only homonyms in a foreign language. Then, there's a sight gag, with a Punch and Judy routine. That's "Tenamonya Voyagers". The story is just a paper thin scenario for the jokes. So, unless you really enjoy Japanese TV comedy from the 1960s and Japanese word play, two-thirds of this anime is just odd, annoying, and boring. However, I really like the character Tatsue Yokoyama. She was having the time of her life cruising space in her blocky cop car, shooting and beating up thugs, and moving up the police ladder. But, now, she's up against three idiot losers, and inexplicably she's losing to them, and it is driving her crazy. She's a badass, and the situation is funny.

Tenamonya Voyagers 01	Tenamonya Voyagers 02
Tenamonya Voyagers 03	Tenamonya Voyagers 04