s the Irresponsible Captain Tylor series concludes, Tylor and the rest
of the crew of his ship, the Soyokaze, are assigned to ground duty
during a lull in hostilities between the
alien Raalgon Empire and the United Planets Space Force. Tylor and Lt. Yamamoto endure a dull job in a
dusty data resources library, while Ensign Kojiro serves as a test pilot,
Lt. Yuriko Star investigates mysterious incidents for the intelligence
division, and Lt. Andressen and his marines train on a new mecha.
Meanwhile, on the Raalgon side, Empress Azalyn, once again bored and
depressed with her position, is trying to hide from her responsibilities by
taking refuge in pleasant childhood memories.
Even without Tylor in the center of things giving everyone the most
irresponsible advice possible, everyone manages to find their own brand of
trouble. Volume 2 of the series contains two standalone episodes: in the
first, Azalyn takes a vacation on a planet familiar from her youth, finds
things have changed, and wavers over the duties of leadership. In the
second, Kojiro tries out a new fighter ship alongside a hotshot test pilot
who's so desperate to prove his readiness for combat that he disobeys
orders and attacks the Raalgons--then freezes up in terror when they start
shooting back.
Volume 3 similarly contains two stories: One about Andressen and company
dealing with a competency test that will determine whether they're allowed
to pilot new mecha, and an unrelated story in which Tylor, headed for a
Christmas Eve date with Yuriko, keeps getting (predictably) sidetracked
along the way.
Volume 4 initially looks like a similar anthology of unrelated
stories--one about a case Yuriko's assigned to investigate, regarding the
supposedly accidental destruction of a transport vessel on the UPSF
frontier, and another involving Yamamoto's promotion to captain of an
escort to a similar transport vessel. But these two episodes set up a
larger story that develops throughout Volume 5, which goes back in time to
fill in some blanks and put all four of these volumes into a larger
context. Clues, cues and subplots from the other episodes come together, as
the UPSF yet again faces war with the Raalgons, who may have yet another
superweapon.
Coasting on diminishing returns
The initial Irresponsible Captain Tylor TV series was exceptional in many ways:
it was smart science fiction that veered between comedy and drama without betraying either its humor potential or its solid story potential. It developed its characters, made jokes about them without making jokes of them, developed an elaborate and convincing story and brought that story to a conclusion. Were sequels really necessary?
Apparently not, judging from these OVAs, which coast along on the TV
series' goodwill without reaching any new conclusions. Each of these
volumes does have a worthwhile contribution to the Tylor
continuum--Kojiro's Volume 2 story has some of the OVAs' most dynamic and
spectacular animation, while Andressen's Volume 3 story is a particularly
deft bit of elaboration that helps turn the battle-happy marine into
something more than an excuse for mayhem. The Yuriko/Yamamoto spy story in
Volume 4 features some solid and impressive character interaction, and the
Volume 5 story is cleverly structured, if not terribly satisfying. But taken
as a whole, they're largely devoid of the humor that previously kept
Tylor fresh, and the central plots just mechanically revive
conflicts that have been laid to rest several times already.
Of course, it's always tempting to revisit favorite characters, and SF
fans seem to love sequels as they love nothing else. But at some point,
it's time to let a good thing end while it's still a good thing. It's a bit
frustrating that the OVAs--and the Tylor series--essentially end on
a cliffhanger, just when the first truly new development since the TV
series ended has come to light. But it's probably still for the best that
they've ended.
