The Irresponsible Captain Tylor

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (無責任艦長タイラー, Musekinin Kanchō Tairā) is an anime series based on The Most Irresponsible Man in Space (宇宙一の無責任男, Uchū Ichi no Musekinin Otoko) light novel series by Hitoshi Yoshioka. It was produced by some of Japan's larger studios, including Big West, Tatsunoko Production, King Records and VAP.

Tylor consists of a 26-episodes TV series directed by Kōichi Mashimo, and a sequel OVA series of 10 episodes directed by Mashimo and Naoyuki Yoshinaga. The TV show premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo between January 25, 1993 and July 19, 1993, and was broadcast across Latin America by the television network, Magic Kids. Both series were broadcast across the United States by AZN Television. Tylor is distributed across North America by The Right Stuf International.

It is usually classified as humorous space opera.^[1]

Enterbrain published a 3-volume manga miniseries in 2001.

A new short anime series, titled Musekinin Galaxy Tylor (無責任ギャラクシー☆タイラー, Musekinin Gyarakushī☆Tairā) and produced by Seven, premiered on July 11, 2017.^[2][3]

Plot

In a distant, highly technological future, Tylor, the title character, is a mysterious young man without a real purpose in life, a state of mind that is very hard to determine, and a knack for accidentally getting out of near-death situations with a childishly cavalier attitude. He sometimes does not even seem to realize when he is in danger, which is actually an asset to him on many occasions.

Tylor stumbles his way into the United Planets Space Force and soon gains command of a destroyer after resolving a hostage dispute and saving a retired admiral. Despite being given a decrepit and underpowered ship (the Soyokaze), thanks to brilliant strokes of luck, Tylor manages to destroy a patrol group. This is quickly followed by a sneak attack on another patrol group, performed while Tylor was playing the role of a consummate, professional soldier. The admiralty, attempting to kill Tylor, present him with a medal modified with a device to trick the Raalgon fleet into believing the Soyokaze is an entire fleet. Tylor loses the medal in UPSF HQ, and the Raalgons destroy the admiralty's super-weapon instead.

The Soyokaze is then sent to a demotion sector, despite the fervent hopes of its crew. There, Tylor and Yamamoto encounter the ghost of the former captain, who vanishes due to depression after seeing Tylor's behavior. The Admiral of the fleet, who actually drove the prior Captain to suicide, rescinds Tylor's demotion after seeing Tylor with the former captain's pipe, thinking he is now aware of the admiral's crime. Tylor is then captured by the Raalgon fleet, who plan to execute him to boost morale. After escaping his cell, Tylor encounters the Empress of the Raalgon, Azalyn, in plain dress, and spends the day entertaining her. She stops his execution, and his jailors implant microchip in his brain to control him.

Meanwhile, the crew of the Soyokaze has been imprisoned by the brass. They manage to escape captivity and invade the Melva, the main Raalgon ship, to get Tylor back. During the fight, Tylor saves Azalyn from a bomb that her treacherous Prime Minister Wang had detonated to gain power for himself. Tylor is badly injured, and Azalyn tells the Raalgon that she is going with Tylor back to the Soyokaze in order to make sure he is all right. After the doctor saves Tylor, Azalyn returns to her people.

Tylor then rendezvouses with the main fleet, where he is branded a traitor for letting Azalyn return. He is sentenced to death by a firing squad. However, Tylor convinces the brass that he can defeat the Raalgon, and they reluctantly allow him to take complete command. After coming to a stand-off with Dom, Tylor manages to spill no blood and stop the fighting for the time being. After the death of Admiral Hanner, whom Tylor had adored and talked with, Tylor becomes sullen and announces he will leave the military. Lieutenant Yamamoto is given command of the brand new ship, the Aso. In the final episode, the former crew of the Soyokaze, who are supposed to be on the Aso, join Tylor on the Soyokaze as they fly out into space.

The two major powers in the story are the UPSF (United Planets Space Force, or the humans, possibly a reference to the Earth Federation Space Force of Mobile Suit Gundam, or the United Federation of Planets of Star Trek, or perhaps both) and the Raalgon Empire (the extraterrestrials), who with their pointy ears share a resemblance to either elves or possibly Romulans.

One of the largest points of dispute in the story is the competence of Tylor. Several characters say of Tylor, "I can't decide if he's an idiot or a genius." Whether he is a genius or an idiot is up to viewers.

Production

According to The Anime Encyclopedia by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy: "The character [Tylor] is a cartoon version of Hitoshi Taira, the lazy protagonist of the 1962 live-action movie Japan's Irresponsible Age who was played by comedian Hitoshi Ueki. This popular satire on Japan's salaryman culture featured a feckless individual who always managed to come out on top, advancing up promotional ladders when accidents befall his superiors or lucking into important business information simply by malingering and goofing off. The series and its theatrical spin-offs were revived in 1990, suspiciously close to the time when Hummingbirds-creator Hitoshi Yoshioka would have begun work on this anime version."^[4]

Characters

The main crew of the Soyokaze. Left to right: Beginner Pilots Emi and Yumi Hanner, Second Lt. Kojiro Sakai; First Lt. K. Kim; Sub Lt. Makoto Yamamoto; Lt. Commander Justy Ueki Tylor; Lt. Commander Yuriko Star; First Lt. H. Katori; Master Sgt. M. Cryburn; First Lt. K. B. Andresen; Staff Sgt. Harumi; and naval surgeon H. Kitaguchi.

Lt. Commander Justy Ueki Tylor (ジャスティ・ウエキ・タイラー少佐, Jasuti Ueki Taira-shōsa) is a mysterious, irresponsible man. Tylor, age 20, joined the United Planets Space Force for what he hoped would be an easy life. Originally assigned to the Pension department, he unwittingly foiled a terrorist plot to kidnap and kill a retired UPSF admiral when he tried to deliver a late check by hand. For saving the war hero's life, Tylor was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and placed in command of the destroyer Soyokaze (the UPSF dumping ground for trouble makers and the unwanted). Tylor has, as his superiors have put it, 'The Devil's own luck' and usually can get out of any situation relatively unscathed, avoiding multiple assassination attempts and defeating enemy groups of vastly superior numbers. He is very laid back and does not really care for the rules, using his authority as captain to change whatever regulations seem too uptight for him. He is also easily led by his crew, who are able to convince him to allow them to wear comfortable clothes on watch, hold a swimsuit competition, and let the surgeon drink while on duty. The UPSF and the Raalgon Empire are constantly debating whether Tylor possesses the most brilliant military mind or whether he is just a lucky moron.
Voiced by: Kouji Tsujitani (Japanese); Crispin Freeman (English)

Lt. Commander Yuriko Star (ユリコ・スター少佐, Yuriko Sutā-shōsa) is a very straight-laced, by-the-book officer. Yuriko joined the UPSF to give her life structure and attempts to obey the rules in almost every situation. However, she, unlike Yamamoto, has no problem telling Tylor that he has done something wrong and will even resort to slapping him when he gets too far out of line. Yuriko also tries to downplay her gender, making herself a soldier first, and then a woman. This is a sore subject for her when someone comments about Tylor's obvious attraction to her looks, pointing out that she has never used her appearance to get ahead; an equally sore point for her is her budding attraction to him. Yuriko is one of the most rational and level-headed officers on the Soyokaze. While she is senior to Yamamoto, her speciality as an intelligence officer places her outside the chain of command.
Voiced by: Yuri Amano (Japanese); Rachael Lillis (English)

Lieutenant Makoto Yamamoto (マコト・ヤマモト大尉, Makoto Yamamoto-taī) is another very strait-laced, by-the-books military man. Yamamoto is the first officer on the Soyokaze and tried mightily to interject an air of professionalism to the outfit. Constantly enraged by Tylor's lack of discipline and his loose command of the troops, Yamamoto spends much of his free time in the medic's office taking tranquilizers and making use of the neuro-cleanser. Yamamoto sees Tylor for what he is, a bumbling fool, but is torn between the unwritten soldier's code of supporting and obeying your superior officer, and telling the UPSF brass what is REALLY going on. He is always on the lookout for a chance to get some form of command, hoping to get a ship of his own one day.
Voiced by: Sho Hayami (Japanese); J. David Brimmer (English)

Azalyn (アザリン, Azarin) is the 16-year-old empress of the Holy Raalgon Empire. Azalyn is a child, forced into the unenviable situation of having to assume power of the empire once her parents are murdered. Prompted by her advisors, she gives the command to attack the UPSF (under the assumption that they were behind the assassination plot). Having not had a chance to be a child, Azalyn must now be strong for the entire empire, and it's a task that she is afraid of taking, but even more afraid of failing in.
Voiced by: Hiroko Kasahara (Japanese); Lisa Ortiz (English)

Captain Ru Baraba Dom (ル・バラバ・ドム, Ru Baraba Domu) is the commander of one of the Raalgon fleets. He speaks candidly with the Empress, in stark contrast to the bowing and scraping and lying of the rest of her court. Dom gains Azalyn's trust and becomes one of her more valued advisors. Dom is also very interested in Tylor, feeling that Tylor would be not only a worthy adversary, but also a challenge for anyone to decipher and defeat. It is Dom who assigned Harumi to spy on the Soyokaze's enigmatic captain, but even with the constant data coming in from his valued spy, Dom is still unsure whether Tylor really knows what he is doing or if he is just a fool.
Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Japanese); Josh Mosby (English)

Light novels

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor is adapted from the series of light novels The Most Irresponsible Man in Space by Hitoshi Yoshioka and published under Fujimi Shobo's Fujimi Fantasia Bunko label. The series is mainly split into a series of trilogies which cover both the anime story and further onwards.^[5]

The Most Irresponsible Man in Space

• Series 1

1. The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (Musekinin Kanchou Tylor)

2. The Most Irresponsible Man in the Meiji Period (Meiji Ichidai Musekinin Otoko)

3. Wang Strikes Back! (Wang no Gyakushuu)

• Series 2

4. The Irresponsible Admiral Tylor (Musekinin Gensui Tylor)

5. Azalyn, Age 16 (Azalyn, 16-sai)

6. Tylor's Big Turnabout (Tylor no Daigyakuten)

• Series 3

7. The Irresponsible President Tylor (Musekinin Daitouryou Tylor)

8. Wind Speed: 40 Light Years! (Fuusoku Yon-Juu Kounen)

9. The Eternally Irresponsible Man (Eiennare Musekinin Otoko)

The Most Irresponsible Man in Space Side Stories

1. The Galactic Age of Irresponsiblity (Ginga Musekinin Jidai)

2. The Samurai of Space (O-zora no Samurai)

3. The Scarlet Lion (Akaki Shishi)

4. Rebellion on Ice Planet Horoshiri! (Gentou Wakusei Horoshiri no Hanran)

5. Hatori-kun Time (Hatori-kun Taimu)

6. My name is Yamamoto (Waga mei wa Yamamoto)

The Irresponsible Kids

1. The Black Sun Belle (Ankoku Taiyou Komachi)

2. The Storm of "Why?" (Why? no Arashi)

3. Moete Kisara

4. Toki Saki Annainin

5. Ginga Yomeshu Monogatari

Manga

Set years after the period in the OVA, The manga Love & War, after a story of Hitoshi Yoshioka and with the artwork of Kotaro Mori, ran from 2001-2002 and was published by Enterbrain. Tylor is now a vice admiral and captain of the battleship Omi. This time he gets with his fiancée and political officer Lt. Cmdr. Yuriko Star and his staff officer and adjutant Cmdr. Makoto Yamamoto in a time travel adventure back into the past of Raalgon during the reign of Goza XV.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to both the TV series and the OVA were both released on CD by ADV Films and Right Stuf on June 5, 2001.^[6] Both CDs are no longer for sale.

Notes and references

External links

• The Irresponsible Captain Tylor official English site
• The Irresponsible Captain Tylor on IMDb
• The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (OVA) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• J-pop.com review
• Animerica review of OVA
• Yoshioka Hitoshi in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction