List of The Irresponsible Captain Tylor characters

This list contains the primary and notable secondary characters in "The Irresponsible Captain Tylor", a Japanese anime series.

Characters

United Planets Space Force

* Justy Ueki Tylor: The mysterious, irresponsible man. Tylor, age 20, joined the United Planets Space Force for, what he hoped would be, an easy life. Originally assigned to the Pension department, he unwittingly foiled a terrorist plot to kidnap and kill a retired UPSF admiral when he tried to deliver a late check by hand. For saving the war hero's life, Tylor was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and placed in command of the destroyer Soyokaze (the UPSF dumping ground for trouble makers and the unwanted). Tylor has, as his superiors have put it, 'The Devil's own luck' and usually can get out of any situation relatively unscathed, avoiding multiple assassination attempts and defeating enemy groups of vastly superior numbers. He is very laid back and does not really care for the rules, using his authority as captain to change whatever regulations seem too uptight for him. He is also easily led by his crew, who are able to convince him to allow them to wear comfortable clothes on watch, hold a swimsuit competition, and let the surgeon drink while on duty. The UPSF and the Ralgon Empire are constantly debating whether Tylor possesses the most brilliant military mind or whether he is just a lucky moron. Tylor's name, "Justy Ueki Tylor," is a play on words: in Japanese, the English phrase "just lucky" would be pronounced in a way that is very similar to "justy ueki."

* Lt. Commander Yamamoto: A very strait-laced, by-the-books military man. Yamamoto is the first officer on the Soyokaze and tried mightily to interject an air of professionalism to the outfit. Constantly enraged by Tylor's lack of discipline and his loose command of the troops, Yamamoto spends much of his free time in the medic's office taking tranquilizers and making use of the neuro-cleanser. Yamamoto sees Tylor for what he is, a bumbling fool, but is torn between the unwritten soldier's code of supporting and obeying your superior officer, and telling the UPSF brass what is REALLY going on. He is always on the lookout for a chance to get some form of command, hoping to get a ship of his own one day.

* Lt. Commander Yuriko Star: Another by-the-book officer. Yuriko joined the UPSF to give her life structure and attepts to obey the rules in almost every situation. However, she, unlike Yamamoto, has no problem telling Tylor that he has done something wrong and will even resort to slapping him when he gets too far out of line. Yuriko also tries to downplay her gender, making herself a soldier first, and then a woman. This is a sore subject for her when someone comments about Tylor's obvious attraction to her looks, pointing out that she has never used her appearance to get ahead. Yuriko is one of the most rational and level-headed officers on the Soyokaze.

* Nurse Harumi: Assigned to the Soyokaze as the doctor's assistant, the beautiful Harumi has every man on board lining up at the infirmary for minor things like cut fingers or stomach aches. Harumi is very professional with all of them, but seems to take a large interest in the captain. It turns out that she is a Raalgon spy, first sent to learn about, then to track, and eventually to kill Tylor. He manages to talk her out of her assassination plans (further impressing the Ralgons) and feeds her just enough information to make it look like her spying is working, but not enough to endanger the Soyokaze and her crew. Her role in the light novel is much smaller than in the animated television series. In episode 14, she openly confesses that she is in fact not "human", but an android, which was already shortly mentioned in episode 12 and the preview to episode 14.

* The Marines: Soldiers led by First Lt. Andressen and Master Sergeant Cryborne, the Marines are a rough and crude bunch who are always spoiling for a fight. They usually keep to themselves in their section of the ship and run that part pretty much as they see fit, bristling whenever Yamamoto or Yuriko venture down and demand a cleanup. Not many of the Marines get much exposure or character development in the show, with the notable exception of the hockey mask clad Marine named Jason, an obvious reference to Jason Voorhees of the "Friday the 13th" horror film series. Whenever something inexplicably explodes or breaks, Jason is the first one blamed, as he is often seen wielding a chainsaw for no real reason.

* Kojiro: The star pilot of the Soyokaze. Kojiro is famous on board for his misogyny, not allowing any women near his plane or himself. Despite this, Kojiro laters volunteers to teach the twins how to be fighter pilots when he sees their natural abilities in the cockpit. Kojiro is also very hot-headed, getting into fights with the Marines at the slightest provocation.

* Emi and Yumi Hanner: Daughters of Admiral Hanner, one of the UPSF's most decorated war heroes, the twins first came into contact with Tylor when he came to deliver their father's pension check and saved them from being killed by the terrorist's bomb. They immediately signed up with the UPSF and used their father's influence to get themselves assigned to the Soyokaze to be with Tylor. Once aboard, they trained to be pilots under Kojiro, who recognized that they had natural talent that exceeded what a standardized pilot's test could measure. These twins are never seen apart, and in fact each have one half of their hairstyle.

* The Brass: Admirals Mifune and Fuji are Tylor's superior officers in the UPSF. They know that Tylor is not qualified to be a captain, or even to work in the Pension department, but his successes keep forcing them to commend and promote him. Mifune and Fuji tried to kill Tylor on a couple of occasions, but later shunted he and his crew out to the Demotion Sector, far from the fighting and, more importantly, far away from UPSF headquarters. Whenever one of his plans to discredit or get rid of Tylor fails, Mifune will sometimes go into hysterics and attempt to commit seppuku with his trademark daito sword. He is always restrained from doing so by his staff. Ironically, it is Mifune, the admiral who dislikes him most, whom comes to appreciate him for his unconventional (and thus non-stagnant) approach to warfare. This becomes most evident in the later productions in the Tylor universe, where a grudging Mifune frequently turns to Tylor as a troubleshooter for sticky situations.

The Holy Raalgon Empire

* Azalyn: The 16-year-old empress of the Holy Raalgon Empire. Azalyn is a child, forced into the unenviable situation of having to assume power of the empire once her parents are murdered. Prompted by her advisors, she gives the command to attack the UPSF (assuming that they were behind the assassination plot). Having not had a chance to be a child, Azalyn must now be strong for the entire empire, and it's a task that she is afraid of taking, but even more afraid of failing.

* Wang: Chief advisor to the Empress, Wang yearns for greater power. He is a master at twisting the opinions of the court, forcing Azalyn to take his suggestions, in effect letting Wang control things as he sees fit. Even this is not enough and Wang makes a couple of attempts on Azalyn's life in hopes that the reins of power will fall to him.

* Captain Dom: Dom is the commander of one of the Raalgon fleets. He speaks candidly with the Empress, in stark contrast to the bowing and scraping and lying of the rest of her court. Dom gains Azalyn's trust and becomes one of her more valued advisors. Dom is also very interested in Tylor, feeling that Tylor would be not only a worthy adversary, but also a challenge for anyone to decipher and defeat. It is Dom who assigned Harumi to spy on the Soyokaze's enigmatic captain, but even with the constant data coming in from his valued spy, Dom is still unsure whether Tylor really knows what he is doing or if he is just a fool.

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.tylor.com "The Irresponsible Captain Tylor" official English site]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106076/ "The Irresponsible Captain Tylor"] on the [http://www.imdb.com/ Internet Movie Database]
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