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Uchū Ichi no Musekinin Otoko (The Most Irresponsible Man in Space)
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...a.k.a. The Irresponsible Captain Tylor.
Justy Ueki Tylor is a layabout who wants nothing more than an easy job with a great pension. So he decides to sign up for the United Planets Space Force! Unfortunately, the United Planets is on the verge of war with the Raalgon Empire...
Originally assigned to the pension department (after accidentally sending the recruiting computer into a meltdown), Tylor resolves a hostage situation more-or-less by accident (sensing a pattern here?) and becomes an inadvertent hero, forcing the UPSF brass to promote him. Since they aren't stupid, they give him the Soyokaze, the fleet's dumping ground for misfits and screw-ups. Even an idiot like Tylor can't mess that one up, can he?
Thus begins a series of adventures where Tylor, the Soyokaze, and its misfit crew are propelled into a series of bigger and bigger victories. The Raalgon higher-ups can't figure out if their success is due to unrealized tactical genius, or idiot luck. Neither can the USPF brass. Or Tylor's crew...
It's very much a classic SF series, with a strong sense of comedy but serious elements as well. Nadesico is probably the closest match in feel, though Tylor slants more SF; Crest of the Stars is from the same era and also has some of that feel.
The light novel series consists of three main trilogies, a collection of side stories, and a sequel series. Irresponsible Captain Tylor the anime adapted what looks like the first two trilogies, and a follow-on OAV covered many of the side stories.
The anime was released on VHS by RightStuf, with the DVD release coming as a crowdfunded release before crowdfunding was a thing. I'd call it a cult classic; not very well known, but popular with the people who do know it.
Given its cult classic status, and because it was originally released 20+ years ago, I'm not at all confident how well it would sell; OTOH, if Crest of the Stars was picked up, maybe... It's from Fujimi Fantasia Bunko, same as Amagi Brilliant Park and Full Metal Panic - so again, cloudy but not completely hopeless.
I loved the anime, and it ended at a reasonable spot; but I'd love to see the characters' further adventures, and I'd especially like to read the sequel series that apparently focuses on their kids.
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Sounds a little like the classic Stainless Steel Rat or Dominic Flandry novels from the golden age of Sci-fi
Gets my vote
I read banned books
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Saw the anime.
This series is a riot.
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It's pretty well known among the older fandom, especially for the OVA series which ends on a major cliffhanger. I would love to read the conclusion.
It's been a while since I read them, but RightStuf's liner notes indicated that several changes were made when animating the series, so being able to see the differences would also be interesting to me.
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@jon-mitchell Not really so much the Stainless Steel Rat books. SSR has deGriz as a very smart protagonist, and a big part of the pleasure (for me, at least) is watching him be clever (even if it's in the 'so sharp you cut yourself' way ^^;;)
Tylor, OTOH... as I said, none of the people he deals with are sure if he's a genius, or an incredibly lucky idiot... and neither is the audience. :) To give an example from an early part of the story:
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I'd like to see this one. I think I could possibly get my dad into it, who doesn't think much of things like manga and anime but is big on space series.
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I think we have already a request thread for this series. But you get my vote nonetheless. Man I wish to see more of this series. And to add to the cliffhanger comment. Even the Manga that came out for this had a serious cliffhanger. It ends in Volume 3 and says for a continuation we should read the LN....
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@saskir Hm... I did a search before posting and caught one side reference in another thread, but no thread for the actual series itself. That said, if there is one, happy to throw my support there!
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Coming in quite late, but I loved this anime when it came out and would love to read the light novels now. J-novel printing the old Slayers novels has been a delight, and I would love to see more of these older, but still excellent, series seeing the light of day again.
