The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (無責任艦長タイラー OVA, Musekinin Kanchō Tairā OVA) is a 1994 OVA 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 by Kōichi Mashimo (for two episodes) and Koji Sawai, and produced by studio Daume (for two episodes) and Deen. Staff credits also include writers Kei Yamamura, Naoto Kimura, Mami Watanabe, and Naoyuki Yoshinaga, and music composed by Kenji Kawai (for two episodes) and Toshiyuki Watanabe. The studio released each part at various dates from October 1994 to August 1996.
Background:
“After a brief respite, Tylor and the crew of the Soyokaze have once again been called to action. Tasked with a secret mission from Admiral Mifune himself, Tylor must intercept a deadly new Raalgon weapon. But true to his irresponsible nature, the mission quickly falls apart and both he and his crew are captured.
Despite it all, Tylor remains unfazed. Even Ru Baraba Don senses that there’s more to Tylor’s mission than the Soyokaze crew realises, but Tylor refuses to discuss details and demands an audience with Empress Azalyn. Could this all be a UPSF ploy? Is Tylor making a desperate bid to once again endear himself to Azalyn? Or perhaps there’s a greater purpose still yet to be uncovered….”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, December 2022.
The Irresponsible Captain Tylor is a classic anime franchise that was released during the 90s when anime was more known for their sci-fi storylines and rom-com dramas (and over the top violence). The franchise has had my curiosity for a while, especially after watching Martian Success Nadesico and learning more about the US distributor Rightstuf and Nozomi Entertainment.
As I previously referenced before, The Irresponsible Captain Tylor has two main shows; the 1993 television anime series, and a 1994 OVA series. 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). There was more content later down the line through their light novel range and even an anime called The Irresponsible Galaxy☆Tylor, but most of what people fondly remember were the 90s shows.
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 didn’t have much assets available for The Irresponsible Captain Tylor because everything else was exclusive to the Nozomi Ultra Edition which is frustrating, so we do lose out on tons of physical and on-disc content. what they could with how to handle the collector’s release for The Irresponsible Captain Tylor.
The package is presented as a rigid box with an Amaray Blu-ray case to house the discs and alongside the case is a 12-page booklet, a set of art cards and a fold-out poster. The booklet features essays about the series from Andrew Osmond and Jonathan Clements.
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 £59.99.
The series was made available for pre-order during Anime Limited’s June Early Bird pre-order line-up for £34.99, but with the Anime (Un)Limited discount lowered the price to £31.50.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 12-page booklet
- Poster
- 4 Art Cards
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 19th December 2022
The collector’s edition release for The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (OVA Series) contains all 10 OVA episodes across three Blu-ray discs. The labelling and menus will state 9 episodes and that’s because OVAs 1 & 2 were combined to be a single episode. The encode & authoring were produced by Nozomi Entertainment & Rightstuf. The audio options available include Japanese with English subtitles and the Taj Studios Inc. English dub commissioned by Rightstuf.
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 |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Upscale format 1.33:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 3 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1:
- Music Videos
- Strange Lover
- Fleet, To Battle
- A Tribute to Dom
- Passing Days
- Galactically Irresponsible Tylorgar
- The Castle with the Nice Entrance
- My Racing Pink Heart
Disc 2:
- Music Videos
- Vacation Resort
- Ha-ru-mi * Sexy
- The Night Love Disappeared
- Yamamoto, The Soldier
- Dreams Come True
- Impermanent
- SA-MU-RA-I
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (OVA 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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