MUSEKININ KANCHOU TYLOR

DESCRIPTION

CAST

OVA AdventureMusekinin Kanchou Tylor OVA
TV SHORT AdventureMusekinin Galaxy☆Tylor
NOVEL ComedyUchuu Ichi no Musekinin Otoko Series
SPECIAL MusicMusekinin Kanchou Tylor Complete Collection "Music Clip"
NOVEL ComedyShin Musekinin Kanchou Tylor

REVIEWS

• 

  TheRealKyuubey

  80/100
  The smartest decision this series made was keeping Tylor's intentions ambiguous.

  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 you’ve 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 you’re 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! You’ll get free room and board, at least five different lovely ladies, and the instant respect of your peers! Oh, and remember, don’t take your position too seriously. It’s just a war, after all!

  

  It should go without saying that Irresponsible Captain Tylor is a very old series. In fact, dating back to 1993, it’s actually the oldest anime I’ve reviewed thus far. And yet, surprisingly enough, it just might be one of the best looking shows I’ve ever reviewed. It isn’t just surprising because of the show’s date, but also because of the company that released it, Studio Deen. I’ve 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 I’ve seen just as much good from this company as I’ve seen bad from them.

  Yes, judging from the visual style, Tylor is incredibly dated. Despite the fact that it’s a sci-fi show, there is not a single drop of CG in it’s 26 episode run… At least, not that I could notice. It carries the classic aesthetic of it’s time, and I haven’t seen any new anime following that aesthetic in at least a decade. There’s no moe girls, no bishies… Okay, maybe one or two of the villains… No, this show looks purely like a product of it’s 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 today’s 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 aren’t always moving, but when they are, they move fluidly, with such great attention to detail that even the fluttering of somebody’s cape gets the same loving treatment as the ships and characters themselves. It wasn’t exactly rare for a show in the early nineties to look this good, but it’s always a treat when they do.

  The limited technology of the nineties is also apparent with the show’s soundtrack, a purely instrumental collection full of tracks that don‘t just repeat the same notes over and over, like a lot of the more modern osts that I’ve 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 I’ve 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 doesn’t 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 you’re looking for a taste of it before committing, I’d recommend testing the waters with Samurai of Space, Strange Love, and the jubilant Forward Tylor!

  When watching the English dub, you’re 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 by-the-book 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 it’s 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 light-hearted air-head 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 character’s 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 who’s afraid of women and a couple of large rough and tumble marines. It’s an okay dub overall, but even if it wasn’t, I’d still recommend it just based on the fact that it’s 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 you’re expecting out of it. It presents itself as a sci-fi comedy, and if you’re looking for a comedy, you won’t find any problem with this material. The jokes are constant, mostly character-based, 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 it’s never present enough to get old. It’s also really careful with it’s use of romantic comedy tropes, as the harem angle only really comes up in one episode, but it’s 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 it’s as confusing as it sounds, as there’s 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 you’re watching it with the expectation of it being a sci-fi title, however, you may come away from this series a little disappointed. I’m not going to say there’s nothing sci-fi about Tylor, because it IS a show about the crew of a spaceship getting caught up in a galactic inter-species 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 Empire’s flagship, and the Soyokaze itself. Extraterrestrial planets occasionally factor into the plot of an episode or two, but they’re never utilized as anything other than plot devices. The reasons behind the war between humanity and the Raalgon Empire is also very vaguely explained… It’s 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? Azalyn’s emotional response to this is portrayed with a great deal of understanding and maturity, but it’s kind of an important plot point to just drop cold after episode 1.

  Ironically, Irresponsible Captain Tylor’s greatest strength is also it’s greatest weakness, and that would be Tylor himself. On the one hand, he’s every bit a cult of personality… He comes into a ship full of the aforementioned rejects and degenerates because the higher-ups 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. It’s 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 it’s never really clear whether he’s accomplishing these feats by accident or design.

  No, scratch that… It isn’t just never made clear, it’s 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 he’s actually a genius who’s 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 Tylor’s 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 it’s still in the same ballpark, so for that alone, Tylor is well written enough to hold it’s own under the scrutiny of even the harshest critics.

  The main problem I had with this… Which is the show’s 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 I’ve ever seen. There are several moments throughout the show where the events unfolding, if we’re to view them as random, would have certainly allowed the captain and his crew to perish had they not occurred. I’ve 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 it’s characters. The reason Tylor gets away with it is ultimately because of the mystery involved.

  But there’s also the possibility that Tylor’s just clever like a fox, right? Well, frankly, that’s even worse. To explain this, let’s 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 don’t 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 isn’t as funny now, is it?

  Now imagine that he doesn’t 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 he’s been trusted with accomplishing something that every single one of his allies wants, and only he doesn’t. 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 can’t classify him as a sociopath. But if we’re to believe that Tylor knows damn well what he’s 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 Tylor’s motivation and method really is, which will keep most viewers so busy guessing that they’ll never even bother to analyze just how troubling either answer is. Or hell, maybe it’s a mix of both answers! There’s one episode taking place inside of Tylor’s mind… Yes, that happens, but I won’t 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 it’s 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. You’ve gotta give Tylor this… An anime’s ability to recognize and safeguard it’s own weaknesses is a strength all it’s own.

  

  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 sale(cost me like fifteen bucks, hell yeah!) I’d 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 they’re valid, it does make up for these issues just enough so that I can still highly recommend it to pretty much any viewer who’s looking to have a good time. It’s a bit of an underachiever as science fiction stories go, but it’s not a bad one by any means. It’s an episodic character-driven story, which actually redeems a lot of the weaknesses in it’s plot when you consider jut how funny the story is and how awesome the majority of the characters are. It’s aged surprisingly well despite being over twenty years old, and still has a lot of laughs to offer it’s audience even to this day. Grab a copy for yourself, lighten up, and don’t think about it too hard. I give Irresponsible Captain Tylor an 8/10.

  Continue on AniList
• 

  biogundam

  79/100
  the greatest space opera ever written

  Warning: This review contains light spoilers.

  First impressions: So when I first heard about this series, what I was given to understand that it was some sort of parody of Legend of the Galactic Heroes or Space Battleship Yamato. Not exactly a setter of the highest of expectations. As the saying goes though, you can't judge a book by its cover, something that’s especially the case with Irresponsible Captain Tylor.

  Story: 7/10
  Irresponsible Captain Tylor is about the intergalactic escapades of some random bum off the street named Justy Ueki Tylor, who decides that the path to a comfy life lies in enlisting in the United Planets Space Force. This by virtue of his so beloved post-retirement military pension. Fortunately for him, he manages to become a captain of the very own ship, the Soyokaze exceptionally quickly, either through either a brilliant strategy or the devil’s own luck, your choice on which it is. Better still, said ship comes with a ragtag group of misfits, including, but limited to a drunkard doctor, a battle junkie mercenary captain, a woman-fearing battleship pilot, a nagging assistant and a disgraced lieutenant. Its seems like Tylor has everything made, sadly the only thing dashing his dreams of a comfy life is an ongoing war with an alien group, known as the Raalgon Empire and his superiors trying to get rid of him, for obvious reasons.

  At first Tylor seems like your very run of the mill 90’s anime, featuring space, aliens, an episodic plot structure, light ecchi and lots of comedy elements. Fortunately though, this proves not to be the case, as while the story progresses, it becomes more than just a happy-go-lucky space adventure. It does this through the addition of the themes and messages it explores, such as learning how to deal with responsibility and avoiding fruitless pre-existing reasoning constraints. Another major draw to the series though is the comedy. There’s a running joke in the series that arises from the juxtaposition between the results of Tylor’s actions, and what those actions imply about him and the reality behind them. Thus the question arises in the minds of tangential forces to Tylor as to if he’s just a idiot with the devil’s own luck or an unrivaled tactical genius, the likes of which the world has never seen. It’s this contrast between expectation and reality, as well as the moves that are made as the result that misunderstanding that the show makes its comedic break and butter, to excellent effect too. Not only does it manage to make this joke funny, but it even manages to somehow keep it fresh throughout by also playing on the show’s nature as a space opera parody. It’s damn impressive and very moving that the people making this series put so much effort into it as far as storytelling goes, specially considering the state of light novel adaptations now. Unfortunately though a big issue with it is that it's an incomplete series, even considering the existence of the OVAs. While the Tv series may have ended on a high note, there’s still uncovered content and plot points in need of expanding on. This necessitates the viewer search for the unfortunately unavailable light novel for proper closure, cheating them out of the full experience. Other that this glaring issue though, the story’s pretty good.

  Characters: 7/10
  Main character Justy Ueki Tylor is at face value is a happy go lucky idiot, who always maintains an indifferent policy towards the concept of rules, regulations or anything getting in the way of his good time. Or at least so he would seem initially. While that is indeed a pretty accurate statement, there’s a lot more to him than what meets the eye. Some of Tylor’s core values can be boiled down to "don't live according to someone else's rules" and "do what you want the way you want to". Values that manifest themselves as a casual disregard for orders and basic military structure, which are the most telling of his character. As such, the Tylor we get is basically what happens when you give a free spirited, lazy, irresponsible airhead actual authority. Despite his accidental success though there are some things he does which actually warrant praise, as well as merits he possesses that contribute to his overall success as a leader. To name a few, his understanding of his crew and how to get them to their full potential, his very unpredictable nature, his unusual humility, his honesty and when push come to shove, his selflessness, indicated by his willingness to risk his own life for the safety of his crew.

  Aside from the man himself though, I’d like to mention a few crew members that I believe are worth mentioning. The first one I’d like to mention is Yamamoto, Tylor’s right hand man and one of a few straight men to Tylor and his many antics. He’s a massive stickler for rules, regulations, proper protocol and all that good stuff, although despite this fact he starts to develop a deep respect for Tylor as the series goes on. This is triggered by Tylor giving himself to the Raalgon empire, so the crew of the Soyokaze could be saved. It’s only after seeing this act of self-sacrifice that Yamamoto starts to question his perception of Tylor as an irresponsible, airheaded idiot. As a result, he quickly begins to feel unworthy of his military and social position. This is turn inspires him to re-evaluate his way of doing things and go against everything he knows in his pursuit to rescue Tylor from the Raalgon empire.

  Another character which also stands out is Azalyn, the newly appointed empress of the Raalgon empire. The interesting thing with her is that she starts out as a normal teenage girl, at least for a princess, until the assassination of the preview Emperor, when an unfathomable level of responsibility for a normal person is foisted onto her. As a result, recognizing the importance of her new duties, puts on the front of being a level-headed and authoritative ruler, despite the pressure being very close to too much for her in the inside. Then somewhere down the line, she meets Tylor. It’s then that after being exposed to his personality and way of doing things, new desires and feelings are awakened inside her, prompting her to want to relinquish her position empress. Fortunately for her people, after talking to she reaffirms the importance of her position and leaves aside what might have been. This time with a stronger than ever will to improve herself as an empress and become a better leader for her people.

  There are also other characters I could talk more about in greater depth, like Yuriko Star,
  the straight woman of Tylor’s crew, but for the sake of brevity I’ll abstain from doing so, instead opting to give sound thoughts of the rest of the crew as a whole. That being said, the rest of the cast are decent. Some of the characters are better than others, although even then, in the case of Tylor’s crew that’s made up for by the fact that even the simple characters, through their relationships and overall dynamic, as a whole are amazing and manage to give the Soyokaze a real sense of life. Other than that though, most of the other characters are just kinda whatever.

  Art/Animation: 7/10
  Tylor’s animation is just amazing, looking very fluid and lively. Not only does its looks brilliant for the time it came out, it still looks great even now at the time this review is being written. The backgrounds look decent for their time, with special attention going to the excellent job this series does at capturing both the emptiness and viscerally surreal beauty of space. The billions of constellations, that glow and shine of the stars, but also seemingly endless cold, empty void. Included are some very nice, and definitely most appreciated 90’s visuals, energy shields and lighting effects, essentially any old school fan’s dream come true. Character designs while being bog standard for the time, have a lot of charm to them, especially marine core members of the crew, who are the craziest looking bunch of characters I’ve seen in this series to date. Looking at you Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th. So quite a few visual comically quirky touches to be found. All in all Tylor does really well in the visual department.

  Sound: 6/10
  The opening theme is amazing, both the japanese and English, so much so that I opted to add the song on my pc. It’s not only catchy, but comes with a very up-beat message that fits the series very well. The ending theme on the other hand while fitting for the series, just doesn't really click with me. Maybe it's the somber tone or just the visuals. Whatever it may be, the ending’s just not my thing. The ost by Kenji Kawai of Ghost in the Shell, Ranma ½ and Mob Psycho 100 is decent. While not good enough for me to listen to on its own, the tracks never fail to add something special to the scenes they’re in and help give the series its signature charm. The sub and dub are both viable ways to consume the series, although It’s worth mentioning that while the sub is fine, I prefer the dub for this series, The the English voice actors just manage to put so much emotion into their roles, making them feel more convincing than in the sub as a result, with a special mention going out to Crispin Freeman giving 110% at giving 0% as Tylor.

  Enjoyment: 8/10
  Captain Tylor is the GOAT and honestly one of the reasons I continue watching anime. It's very rare for a series to keep me entertained this much even after multiple rewatches. Maybe it’s the 90’s aesthetic elements that I’m oh so very biased towards, but the story and characters while simple, have a lot of cham to them. The series feels like it has a real heart and soul to it, rather than just being an empty product placement for the light novel it’s based on.

  Overall: 7/10
  Irresponsible Captain Tylor is a bonafide 90’s anime classic and one of the best series ever produced during that period, and is perfectly indicative of the type of anime that gave that period its soul. Not only that, but as a comedy it works so well on so many levels and has a wide cast of characters that feel so very alive and human. It’s the fucking GOAT! End of story.

  Special thanks to my paid in Yu-Gi-Oh cards editor Lonecrit.

  Continue on AniList
• 

  xRiFTx

  90/100
  A great space comedy anime with a really unique MC

  Musekinin Kanchou Tylor a pure comedic anime which i love from the bottom of my heart. in general i don't like space anime that much but this anime change my thoughts about this genre. Everything in this anime is completely outstanding. This anime is a pure masterpiece which excellently blended the parody and space genre.

  Story-9

  The story of this anime is very simple and excellent. The true focus of the story was comedy and parody but in times some drama and action can also be seen. Without giving any major spoilers i will give a little summary of this anime- The story revolves around the main character "Tylor". He is a stupid person who just wants to earn some money and makes his life better so in order to do that he joins the space military force and with help of his luck he manages to become the commander of the spaceship but in times some redeeming quality of him was also shown.

  Art-8

  The art of this anime is very good compared to the year it came. As we all know the space genre is one of the genre which is tough to draw the spaceships , cities , characters all was drawn perfectly. Almost every details can be seen in the anime. This type of art style perfectly fits this type of space anime.

  Sound-8

  In this area i can not say that its best but its also not that worst. The crew of this anime can do better in this area. The op of this anime is good but the ed was not that good and and as for the voices of the characters it did a very fine job. I personally liked the voices of all the main character its just fits them perfectly.

  Character-10

  This is the area where this anime stands on the top. Every character is just perfect and you will not come to hate any of them. I personally liked the main character his personality, attitude , stupidity everything just suits him. without any confusion he is one of my all time favourite character.

  Enjoyment-9

  From this anime i was able to redeem a very good quality of enjoyment. I enjoyed every moment of this anime the comedy of this anime is very good Even for a second the thought of dropping this anime never came in my mind. From the very first episode you will able to enjoy this anime so rest easy and go for it without any doubt

  Overall-9

  As you can see Overall this anime is just perfect. After watching this anime i can say proudly that every episode is worth watching. One of the best space anime with comedy in it. So i do say you should go for it.

  Atlast, I just want to say this anime is very underrated if this anime came in this decade instead of 1990s i can surely say it will be a mainstream anime so if you are a mainstream anime watcher you should go for it.

  Thanks for your time.

  Continue on AniList

SIMILAR ANIMES YOU MAY LIKE

• ANIME

  ActionTRIGUN
• ANIME

  ActionKidou Senkan Nadesico
• ANIME

  ActionSpace Cobra
• ANIME

  ActionSeihou Bukyou Outlaw Star
• ANIME

  AdventureGinga Sengoku Gunyuuden Rai
• TV SHORT

  ComedyUchuu Senkan Tiramisu
• ANIME

  AdventureRobiHachi
• ANIME

  ActionCowboy Bebop
• OVA

  AdventureGOLDEN BOY: Sasurai no Obenkyou Yarou
• ANIME

  ComedyGTO
• OVA

  DramaGinga Eiyuu Densetsu
• ANIME

  ComedySpace☆Dandy