Background of the Show
Irresponsible Captain Tylor is the story of two civilizations at war, humans, using their navy, the United Planets Space Force (UPSF), and Holy Raalgon Empire, humanoid aliens. In the centre of it all is Justy Ueki Tylor, a lazy, laid back, optimistic man who's probably never done or taken anything seriously in his entire life. After a certain incident, he's given command of the Soyokaze, an outdated, underequipped UPSF destroyer...which turns out is the dumping ground for all useless and unmanagable UPSF staff. Despite that, the ship continually survives engagements with Raalgon forces...leaving everybody wonder how they do it...especially given Tylor's attitudeand lack of any real sense of urgency.
The anime is based off of Hitoshi Yoshioka's novels of the same name. It is generally called a comedic space opera.
Story - 7.0/10
The story of Irresponsible Captain Tylor is very intriguing. The background is something you could expect would come out of a serious show, along the lines of the visual novel version of Galaxy Angel. Yet, for something considered a parody of space operas, it's surprisingly serious in where it actually takes the story. The method that solves the events, namely Tylor's inverventions, are comedic, but the story itself is pretty serious. That means nothing wrong however...it actually adds to the flavour a bit. The story can be considered pretty standard, but the interaction it has with the characters makes it feel extremely strong. The show begins to grind down from time to time. Looking back, I find it hard to remember that it's 26 episodes.
Animation - 4.5/10
The animation in the show shows its age. It's an early '90's anime and, as such has many of the follies of an early '90's anime in its art. This comes to a particular forefront in the rare battle scenes, where repeated animations are used frequently. This is much less noticable in non-action scenes however. Again, it's pretty standard for its time (though the repatition is a little tough to watch). It's marked as average for that reasion.
Sound - 5.0/10
This ranking incorporates many sections. I'll go through them individually:
- Songs: Generally solid. The opening is catchy and fun (with one of the wierdest opening sequences you'll ever see). The ending is pretty standard.
- Sound Effects: Passable. There's little special, little off with it. It doesn't stand out in any way.
- Original Sound Track: Reasonable. A few memorable songs sprinkled inside a fairly standard set.
- Voice Acting: Fine, but nothing special in either language. English's version is pretty much a collection of all your favourite VAs before they were hits. Famously, this was Crispin Freeman's first major role before he got typecast (after playing Zelgadis).
Characters - 9.0/10
The characters are the major reason why you watch this show. They're a completely goofy crew...and they take the space opera on a wild ride. By completely defying all sense of logic, conventional wisdom, and probably UNconventional wisdom, they destroy all sense of reason in the show and bringing all sorts of hilarity.
Character development doesn't go unattended either. While the eponymous character doesn't really develop, everybody around him does. Despite much of the debate being on whether Tylor is a genius for saving the crew countless times, or just plain lucky, the massive impact he has on the cast leaves the question to the possibility of him being a spiritual figure, leading them to enlightenment.
Non-Tylor characters are good, but not memorable. They are quirky, but do not stand out enough to make a show. The show is very much about how Tylor impacts...well...everything and how he drags them along despite seemingly doing nothing.
Long story short: A little slow at times, the show takes what you remember about space operas and turns them on their head by taking a familiar and easy to recognize situation...and turning it on its head. While it doesn't stand out in its delivery or overall polish in animation, if you're able to get past that, it's a solid show to watch.
Overall - 7.0/10