I have been a huge fan of anime for pretty much as long as I've known of its existence. I love the stories, I love the music, I love the range of aesthetics- I love it all. However, if I had to choose one thing that's my favorite single aspect of the medium, it would have to be the potential for hidden gems. Unlike with most other forms of art and entertainment, not everything great is going to be recognized, and as a result, you have an innumerable amount of hidden gems to discover. Anime is home to treasures hidingaround every corner, and Tenamonya Voyagers is nothing if not the archetypal hidden gem. Indeed, it has slipped into near total obscurity since its release back in 1999. Despite this, I strongly feel that if it had gotten a full release, this anime could have contended with the big 90s sci-fi space adventure greats, up there with the classics like Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star. It is fun, it is creative, and above all, it is extremely beautiful, embodying all the best parts of 90s animation. Beginning with the story, it's got a simple setup that has basically unlimited potential, and could have kept going for a hundred episodes without losing even a bit of its flavor. Three wayward souls, stuck in space, are all trying desperately to get to earth no matter what it takes, facing a litany of challenges and misadventures along the way. When paired with the unique, eminently passionate worldbuilding, this showcases an excellent example of balancing creative vision, comedy, and suspension of disbelief all at once. However, there is a major flaw. Through no fault of its own, this OVA is only four episodes, and ends without a real ending. The adventure stops basically somewhere at the end of the second act, probably because the creative team got axed for budget reasons if I had to guess. A tragedy by all accounts, but one I can understand regardless, especially when considering this anime's strongest aspect- the art.

The art for Tenamonya Voyagers really is some of the strongest I've ever seen from an anime, period. It is painstakingly detailed, colorful, and alive, with not a single corner cut anywhere in its visual production. The animation is smooth as butter, feeling absolutely seamless and liquid throughout, moving effortlessly from one scene to the next and conveying a weighty sense of physicality in even the most inconsequential of moments. It simply cannot be overstated how incredible Tenamonya Voyagers looks, from the characters to the backgrounds to debris blowing around in the street. There's no option left other than to describe the art as visionary, and a credit to the medium as a whole. The rest of the anime is also impressive, but nothing quite measures up to the level that it reaches with its art.

The sound, for example, is quite good, with a variable and professional OST that captures a wide range of emotions, and the sounds of life wreath this anime in a sense of dimensionality that makes the world feel consequential and lived-in.

The characters are fantastic, and our main trio of Ayako, Wakana, and Paraila are the perfect group of hapless castaways, playing off each other's deeply contrasting personalities in ways which are both entertaining and, to a certain degree, believable. Overall, Tenamonya Voyagers is a woefully unfinished masterpiece, that gets an 8 and not a 9 only by right of it ending without an ending. I strongly recommend this, as it deserves far more recognition than it gets, and it is a crime that it has languished in obscurity at all, let alone for the decades it has.