The Irresponsible Captain Tylor

Original Title: 無責任艦長タイラー
Romanized: Musekinin Kanchou Tairaa
Literal: The Irresponsible Captain Tylor

Plot Synopsis

Justy Ueki Tylor, age 20: An irresponsible youth wandering the streets aimlessly... until he hears the call of the military, and a ticket to the easy life. Of course, the military brass doesn't see the life of an enlisted man that way, but this lucky fellow somehow ends up a Captain--of none other than the Soyokaze, a battered battleship and dumping ground for half the misfits in the space force. And so the irresponsible Captain is joined by his crew: The born-in-a-uniform First Officer Yamamoto, by the book Lieutenant Cmdr. Yuriko Star, a drunken doctor, and a whole host of bridge crew, pilots, and marines... not one of whom knows quite what to make of the fool who leads them.

Neither, it seems, does the enemy: The Holy Raalgon Empire, ruled by the young Empress Golza the 16th, is locked in a bloody struggle with Earth. The powerful Raalgon military will stop at nothing to achieve victory over the evil UPSF, but when the newest, "brightest" captain in the UPSF (Tylor) catches the eye of Dom, the Empress' advisor, figuring out this enigmatic man may prove to be the most difficult battle in the war...

Quick Review

Rating: 4 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2005-11-29

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor is more than just a funny, lively space opera comedy about a captain who's either a genius, an idiot, or both. It is also a concealed philosophical study in how to live, a subtle satire of the military mentality and war in general, and perhaps even a commentary on the unstoppable change youth is bringing to Japanese culture. You can read between the lines and watch it as any of these things, just laugh at the humor and maybe absorb a bit more in the process, or even write it off as outright silly, but no matter what you take away from it the juxtaposition of a silly ship on a serious war makes for a unique and thought-provoking series. The picture is rounded out with a variety of characters--most broad, a few much more substantial--a lively character-based score, and quality Japanese acting including a masterful performance behind Tylor. There is also a phenomenal half-episode ballet of a showdown in space capping off the climax that alone is worth watching the whole thing for.

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor is not a philosophical masterpiece, nor is it the funniest comedy you're ever going to see, but it is punctuated by moments of brilliance and in the end, it's both fun and thought-provoking, and well worth the time it takes to finish.

US DVD Review

The four DVDs may come in a relatively cheap slipcase, and there isn't so much as an insert with the discs, but this is one fine set. To start with, the video transfer is fairly sharp and very clean (with few if any compression artifacts), and the stereo audio is sufficiently crisp as well... in three languages (they threw in a complete Spanish dub for good measure, although the subtitles are English-only). Next, we've got some easy-to-navigate and slick-looking animated menus that provide access to the index of each episode (although the end credits aren't on their own chapter... go figure) plus special features: The first two discs have character statistics and information for the UPSF and Raalgon, respectively, and the other two have ship information (and a lot of it). Plus, each disc includes a little bonus music video, and the final one also has a humorously written report by Tylor.

Finally, to round out the picture, each episode includes the complete liner notes (accessed through the menus) for those interested, plus the complete Japanese credits (relegated to the bonus menu, but still there... although apparently the Spanish actors deserve no credit). Nice touches (for example) include the dual-language (English and Japanese) song subtitles, and the fact that you can play straight through a disc, quick-start each episode, or bring up a chapter index for it. There's also a list on each disc of the people who made the set possible by pre-ordering it (that's what the "Special Thanks" section is).

One side note: Some very early versions of the DVD set had a bad disc 4 in them (it has a picture of Azalyn on it, while the replacement has both her and Tylor). RightStuf should have replaced all of these, but on the bum discs a big chunk of stuff after the mid-episode break in episode 23 is missing. This is ironic, because the missing footage doesn't include any plot at all, but is a vital part of the best episode in the series.

There is also a limited edition "Ultimate" box set that includes all of the above plus a novella, vast heap of live-action interviews, and more.

Content Guide

A few bits of mature humor and themes, and some serious violence make for about a 13-up.

Violence: 2 - Many people die in space battles, but it's mostly bloodless.

Nudity: 2 - A bath scene early on, and Tylor's exposed posterior during the opening credits.

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - One suggestive but relatively mild scene in the first episode, and another much later on, plus generally mature themes.

Language: 2 - Some strong language, but not unnecessarily so.

Notes and Trivia

The Japanese title of the series is technically "Musekinin Kanchou Tairaa", but it's actually more commonly written using the English "Tylor The Irresponsible Captain."

The series includes near-fanatical episode-by-episode liner notes that explain translation oddities, as well as a lot of musings about the story that popped up during its translation. There is, however, one mistake in the notes included with the early VHS version (don't read it if you don't want a bit of plot given away, though): In the notes on episode 16, the translator ponders why it was so easy for Tylor to escape. Dom and Shia Haas were, of course, watching, so we can assume it was intentional, to see what he'd do. This note was omitted from the DVD notes (at least), so I'd assume that somebody (or hundreds of rabid fans) pointed it out.

Some thoughts about sociological symbolism, for those into that sort of thing: The military mindset in The Irresponsible Captain Tylor series has a distinctly Japanese feel to it (although it can be overlaid quite effectively on just about any dedicated military). Tylor himself, of course, is the dead opposite--his "take it easy, do what you like, be nice and things will work out" mindset is completely at odds with old-school military discipline, and also happens to fly in the face of classic Japanese values. The former of the two was definitely intentional, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the latter was as well.

Since Tylor is, of course, the hero of the story, you could take that to mean that the purpose of the whole series is to poke fun at the antiquated nature of the military culture and good-guys/bad guys mentality that still holds a dominant place in politics. But reading between the lines it could just as easily be a metaphor for how the old Japanese way of thinking is being dragged forcefully (but with some degree of understanding of the inevitability of it) into the modern world of Western culture. I could be reading too much into it, but with a series like this, you never know...

Availability

Available on four trilingual DVDs (English, Japanese, and Spanish), and also in a "Limited Edition Ultra Box Set" that includes a novella and additional extras. Was originally available on 8 subtitled or dubbed VHS tapes, now out of print.

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