The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (無責任艦長タイラー, Musekinin Kanchō Tairā) is a 1993 television anime series based on Hitoshi Yoshioka’s light novel series The Most Irresponsible Man in Space (Uchū Ichi no Musekinin Otoko). The adaptation is directed and written by Kōichi Mashimo and produced by studio Tatsunoko Productions. Staff credits also include music composed by Kenji Kawai. The anime first aired in Japan in January 1993.
Background:
“Justy Ueki Tylor had his life all planned out: join the military, get a cushy desk job, and then retire with a big fat pension check. The perfect plan…until he wandered into a hostage situation and somehow managed to save an Admiral!
Now Tylor, a man who wouldn’t know what discipline was if it bit him in the backside, has been made Captain of the space cruiser Soyokaze! The crew of this run–down ship is the craziest, rag–tag team of misfits you’re ever likely to see, and they’re not too fond of their complacent new leader. But they had better learn to work together, because they’re about to go head to head with the mighty Raalgon Empire! For better or for worse, the Earth’s fate has been placed in the hands of a man who’s either a total idiot, or an absolute genius…”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, October 2022.
One of the things I enjoy a lot about anime is the settings that they tend to cover. While modern anime focuses more on isekai and fantasy, the older shows and films were heavily focused on super robots, science fiction and space (as well as magical girls and ecchi). Among the ones that I have known about over the years, The Irresponsible Captain Tylor is a franchise that pops up from time to time and it’s had my curiosity for a while, especially after watching Martian Success Nadesico.
Now The Irresponsible Captain Tylor has two shows. The franchise was adapted as a television series first in 1993, then it was released with an OVA series in 1994 to 1996. Both shows have different staff, studios and directors so I am curious to see how the two differ on quality (like Record of Lodoss War going from OVA series to then receiving a TV series).
Rightstuf acquired the rights to both the television series and OVA series for The Irresponsible Captain Tylor and released them in two pretty nice collectable packages on DVD, and then years later they crowd-funded a special premium Blu-ray box set which contained tons of bonus content, both on-disc and in physical form. The UK eventually received a release through Anime Limited in 2022, though unfortunately we lose out on a lot of the content included in the US premium box set.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Anime Limited did what they could with how to handle the collector’s release for The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, and both the TV and OVA series have separate sets but will maintain the traditional collector’s packaging.
The package is presented as a rigid box with an Amaray Blu-ray case to house the discs and alongside the case is a 96-page booklet. The booklet features an article by writer Andrew Osmond, as well as character designs, mechanical designs, background designs and illustrations.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray set is limited to 1000 units for SRP £69.99.
The series was made available for pre-order during Anime Limited’s June Early Bird pre-order line-up for £44.99, but with the Anime (Un)Limited discount lowered the price to £40.50.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 96-page booklet
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 24th October 2022
The collector’s edition release for The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (TV Series) contains all 26 episodes across four Blu-ray discs. The encode & authoring were produced by Nozomi Entertainment & Rightstuf. The audio options available include Japanese with English subtitles, the Taj Studios Inc. English dub commissioned by RIghtstuf, and a Spanish dub.
The yellow subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the regions are locked to Blu-ray players set to B.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese, Spanish |
| Audio | English Linear PCM 2.0 Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 Spanish Linear PCM 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Upscale format 1.33:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 4 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 4:
- Clean Opening “Just Think Of Tomorrow”
- Clean Closing 1 & 2 “Downtown Dance”
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (TV Series) is available to order across multiple retailers in the United Kingdom. The collector’s edition Blu-ray can be acquired through Amazon UK, Anime Limited’s store, MVM’s Anime-on-Line, and United Publications.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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