Tenamonya Voyagers
The first direct-to-DVD anime,Tenamonya Voyagerscontinues the  outrageous-girls-in-space tradition of such popular properties as "Sol Bianca."  Newly certified teacher Ayako can only find a job on the distant planet of  Meldonia, at the school where a girl called Wakana has been given an athletic  scholarship. But the school goes bankrupt, leaving the two women stranded on a  remote world. As they try to find their way back to Earth, they encounter  Paraila, a former boss in the Jaokai mob, a key force in the underworld of outer  space. Paraila is wanted by the police for just about everything, and by the  Jaokai bosses for trying to overthrow them. Ayako and Wakana soon find  themselves dodging the attacks of hard-bitten policewoman Tatsue and the Jaokai  hit squad.Tenamonya Voyagerslooks great: the designers make effective use of stark  images and bold colors to cover the limits of the animation. Unfortunately, the  story doesn't make a lot of sense and simply stops at the end of Part IV,  concluding that the fate of the three main characters is a question "only God  can answer" and "for some reason, that's the end." Shouldn't the filmmakers know  why it's the end?Rated 13 up for nudity, violence, and occasional profanity.--Charles  Solomon