Hey there you Recent university graduate Are you looking for a cushy simple job with great benefits and a generous pension upon your successful retirement? Are you looking to kick back and enjoy a peaceful relaxing life of little stress and even less responsibility so you can spend the rest of your days getting paid for goofing off amongst friends? If youve answered yes to any of those questions then get dressed get out of bed and sign up for the United Planets Space Force If you can flirt your way through our thorough job interview then youre already well on your way to joining the crew of the Soyakaze a space ship full of rejects and degenerates from across the globe and Commanded by the decorated yet perpetually Irresponsible Captain Justy Ueki Tylor Youll get free room and board at least five different lovely ladies and the instant respect of your peers Oh and remember dont take your position too seriously. Its just a war after all 660http://4.bp.blogspot.com/aPQO0clZOCc/T8ceYhnwyuI/AAAAAAAAAA4/Efl1mlXwn4/s1600/Captain+Tylor.jpg It should go without saying that Irresponsible Captain Tylor is a very old series. In fact dating back to 1993 its actually the oldest anime Ive reviewed thus far. And yet surprisingly enough it just might be one of the best looking shows Ive ever reviewed. It isnt just surprising because of the shows date but also because of the company that released it Studio Deen. Ive known at least a few people who call Deen their least favorite animation studio siting shows like Higurashi and the original Fate/Stay Night as their reasons why. Which is a fair assessment because those shows were nowhere near visual wonders but the truth is that Ive seen just as much good from this company as Ive seen bad from them. Yes judging from the visual style Tylor is incredibly dated. Despite the fact that its a scifi show there is not a single drop of CG in its 26 episode run At least not that I could notice. It carries the classic aesthetic of its time and I havent seen any new anime following that aesthetic in at least a decade. Theres no moe girls no bishies Okay maybe one or two of the villains No this show looks purely like a product of its times and the fact that only about a fifth of the characters have big eyes should be your first clue to that. But while the visual style may be dated the animation itself could easily hold up even in todays market. You can tell right from the first episode that Studio Deen had no shortage of money to sink into this series despite being limited by the technology of the time. The images on screen arent always moving but when they are they move fluidly with such great attention to detail that even the fluttering of somebodys cape gets the same loving treatment as the ships and characters themselves. It wasnt exactly rare for a show in the early nineties to look this good but its always a treat when they do. The limited technology of the nineties is also apparent with the shows soundtrack a purely instrumental collection full of tracks that dont just repeat the same notes over and over like a lot of the more modern osts that Ive had the misfortune of listening to. Throughout the series Toshiyuki Watanabe goes full orchestra utilizing every instrument from piano to drum to pipe organ striking many different moods in the process. There are very few OSTs that Ive actually found myself compelled to buy and this is definitely one of them although my only real gripe about the actual CD is that it doesnt include either of the classical music pieces that were played towards the end of the series. The soundtrack can be found relatively cheap if you buy it used on Amazon and if youre looking for a taste of it before committing Id recommend testing the waters with Samurai of Space Strange Love and the jubilant Forward Tylor When watching the English dub youre going to run into three voices that should instantly strike a chord in your heart Crispin Freeman who plays the loose goofball and titular captain Tylor Rachel Lillis who plays the bythebook Lt. Commander Yuriko Star as well as billboard Idol Noriko And Lisa Ortiz who pulls triple duty playing the twin pilot trainees Emi and Yumi as well as the fiery teenage empress of the Raalgonian empire Azalyn. Ortiz had some major experience coming into this having already performed the central role of Deedlit in Record of Lodoss War but for the other two this was their first ever attempt at starring roles And its an attempt they succeeded at beautifully. Rachel Lillis who would later be known for several important roles in the Pokemon franchise brings an air of love discipline and patience to a character who could have easily been played as yet another tsundere love interest. Seminal voice actor Crispin Freeman despite this being really early in his career shows off his trademarked elasticity all the same. He plays up the mystery of his character peppering a lighthearted airhead delivery with a sense of knowing and in some cases he even winds up sounding condescending as a result And it winds up being the perfect balance when you consider just how little we ever learn about how the characters mind works. There are several other well known actors in minor roles throughout the series like Dan Green and Ted Lewis and Professor Oak himself Stan Hart playing the boisterous alcoholic surgeon who looks about 20 years older than the series claims he is. For the most part the acting in this series is somewhat underwhelming and dated and aside from Tylor himself the only really over the top performances come from a pugnacious young fighter pilot whos afraid of women and a couple of large rough and tumble marines. Its an okay dub overall but even if it wasnt Id still recommend it just based on the fact that its an important title in the careers of three legendary voice actors who are still pumping out work to this day. Whether or not you enjoy this title will ultimately depend on what it is youre expecting out of it. It presents itself as a scifi comedy and if youre looking for a comedy you wont find any problem with this material. The jokes are constant mostly characterbased and inventive rarely ever relying on such cliched devices such as awkward situations misunderstandings or random slapstick. I say rarely because that kind of humor does slip into the story now and then but its never present enough to get old. Its also really careful with its use of romantic comedy tropes as the harem angle only really comes up in one episode but its played for laughs while something much more original is happening in the background. To put it bluntly every girl on the ship makes a pass at Tylor while all the poor guy is trying to do is keep a porn tape from getting erased while desperately trying to keep it a secret from them. Even the swimsuit contest Yes that happens and its as confusing as it sounds as theres no reason any of these characters should need to have swimsuits on the ship in the first place Plays the part of a larger and more important plot going on in that episode and winds up serving as character development. If youre watching it with the expectation of it being a scifi title however you may come away from this series a little disappointed. Im not going to say theres nothing scifi about Tylor because it IS a show about the crew of a spaceship getting caught up in a galactic interspecies war but the universe of this series is a very small one We barely spend any time on a vaguely defined technologically advanced planet that may or not be earth and aside from that the only real settings we spend any time in are the UPSF main station The Raalgon Empires flagship and the Soyokaze itself. Extraterrestrial planets occasionally factor into the plot of an episode or two but theyre never utilized as anything other than plot devices. The reasons behind the war between humanity and the Raalgon Empire is also very vaguely explained Its stated that humanity may or may not have killed the former Raalgon emperor but this plot point is never explored. How did he die? Why do they think it was us? What actually happened? Azalyns emotional response to this is portrayed with a great deal of understanding and maturity but its kind of an important plot point to just drop cold after episode 1. Ironically Irresponsible Captain Tylors greatest strength is also its greatest weakness and that would be Tylor himself. On the one hand hes every bit a cult of personality He comes into a ship full of the aforementioned rejects and degenerates because the higherups want him to screw up in the most contained environment possible so they can find an excuse to fire him without having to suffer any major losses in the process. And what better place to put him than a ship where no captain has ever lasted more than three days? But this winds up backfiring hard as his loosey goosey attitude winds up fitting in perfectly well with this wretched hive of scum and idiocy. As one of his first orders of business he orders the crew to and I quote do whatever you want This does result in quite a bit of anarchy and some justified outrage from the few cool heads on board but amazingly enough everybody quickly settles back into routine with the only major change being their attitudes towards one another. Its through stunts like this that he proves that as long as there are no outright villains involved a community really can support itself without strict rules and regulations. There are a lot of moments in the series like that Tylor bumbles his way through a situation and things just happen to turn out for the better and its never really clear whether hes accomplishing these feats by accident or design. No scratch that It isnt just never made clear its the main hook of the series. The viewer is meant to determine for themselves whether Tylor is a careless idiot who happens to possess the best luck in the galaxy or if hes actually a genius whos just pretending to be stupid in order to enforce his decisions more smoothly. One of the hallmarks of good writing is the ability to inspire debate and discussion amongst fans and haters alike and this series is very good at that. The debate over the method to Tylors madness may not be as deep or profound as the political moral social or even philosophical discussions certain other shows inspire but the fact that both sides can make equally valid arguments is proof that its still in the same ballpark so for that alone Tylor is well written enough to hold its own under the scrutiny of even the harshest critics. The main problem I had with this Which is the shows biggest weakness at least in my opinion Is that while both answers are equally valid neither answer really paints the series in a positive light. First of all if Tylor is really an idiot who just happens to have the greatest luck known to man then the circumstances leading to all of his victories are some of the most badly written contrived coincidences Ive ever seen. There are several moments throughout the show where the events unfolding if were to view them as random would have certainly allowed the captain and his crew to perish had they not occurred. Ive called other shows stupid for far less than this and those are shows that pulled miraculous occurrences out of their asses ONCE to save the lives of its characters. The reason Tylor gets away with it is ultimately because of the mystery involved. But theres also the possibility that Tylors just clever like a fox right? Well frankly thats even worse. To explain this lets take a look at the first few episodes of Trigun. For a long stretch in that series Vash the Stampede would act like a moron insert himself into dire situations and find ways to orchestrate solutions to these problems that dont result in any lives lost without ever overtly taking the credit for any of it. He does this to save as many lives as possible without attracting attention due to the weight that his name and reputation carry. Now imagine how these episodes would make you feel if his exploits resulted in hundreds of deaths and he just smugly shrugged them all off as unfortunate accidents. It isnt as funny now is it? Now imagine that he doesnt trust even his closest friends and allies enough to let them know about his opinions or desires and instead just manipulates them for his own selfish purposes without showing any signs of remorse or compromise. Imagine hes been trusted with accomplishing something that every single one of his allies wants and only he doesnt. Imagine if he goes along with the plan for most of the way then bales on it and intentionally side tracks it so that he can have his way without appearing as selfish and stubborn as he really is. Vash would never do this which is why you cant classify him as a sociopath. But if were to believe that Tylor knows damn well what hes doing at all times throughout the series then Well he did exactly that on at least one occasion. That explanation makes him look like a sociopathic asshole and a very difficult one to redeem at that. That kind of person should under no circumstances be allowed to lead anybody let alone the crew of a military vessel. The saving grace of the series that makes up for these problems almost completely is the ambiguity of it all. This series is extremely careful to not sway to either side of the fence in terms of what Tylors motivation and method really is which will keep most viewers so busy guessing that theyll never even bother to analyze just how troubling either answer is. Or hell maybe its a mix of both answers Theres one episode taking place inside of Tylors mind Yes that happens but I wont spoil it by telling you why or how And in one scene you hear two distinct thoughts in his head. One of them says the key to a long military career is to run away and the other one says that its easier to play the fool than to be tortured. Not only do these two thoughts perfectly represent both sides of the argument but they still seem like two thoughts that could just as easily exist in the same mind. Youve gotta give Tylor this An animes ability to recognize and safeguard its own weaknesses is a strength all its own. 660http://4.bp.blogspot.com/tqObbnDLmGE/TvagHGwdcdI/AAAAAAAAADk/pqVTDgILj34/s1600/tylor01.jpg Irresponsible Captain Tylor was originally available from Manga entertainment but after that company ceased to exist it was picked up by Right Stuf who have released the series in several different DVD sets that vary in terms of size price and box art. You can buy whichever set you want off of Ebay or Amazon and while I personally cheaped out and bought the thinpack from Rightstuf.com during their winter salecost me like fifteen bucks hell yeah Id have to strongly recommend the Ultra Edition. In addition to being a much more attractive item in general it comes with the series itself the soundtrack an artbook one of the original light novels and a bunch of supplemental materials. You can find that collection for anywhere between forty and sixty dollars on Amazon and Ebay. I had my complaints about this series and while I do feel that theyre valid it does make up for these issues just enough so that I can still highly recommend it to pretty much any viewer whos looking to have a good time. Its a bit of an underachiever as science fiction stories go but its not a bad one by any means. Its an episodic characterdriven story which actually redeems a lot of the weaknesses in its plot when you consider jut how funny the story is and how awesome the majority of the characters are. Its aged surprisingly well despite being over twenty years old and still has a lot of laughs to offer its audience even to this day. Grab a copy for yourself lighten up and dont think about it too hard. I give Irresponsible Captain Tylor an 8/10.