Postby MomentOfInertia » Mon Aug 25, 2014 10:49 pm
Well, here we are again.
I've been watching some older anime. I can't really explain why, I guess I'm just looking for something different. Both of these shows were on hulu and they were dubbed.
Rambling commences.
The Irresponsible Captain Tylor
How do I describe this? By genre it's a comedy/scifi/military show, but that doesn't really tell you much.
The following is an overview of the first three episodes.
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: It's the story of a young man named Tylor who signs up for the navy for the free food and a nice easy desk job (the bit where he explains this to the guy at the enlistment office, and the guy tries to stop him is hilarious). He gets assigned to the pension office where he manages to walk into a and defuse a hostage situation involving a retired admiral. Seen as a hero by the press Tylor is promoted to captain and placed in command of a ship. However the high command has pigeonholed Tylor as a lucky idiot and the ship they give him is the destroyer Soyokaze, the misfit dumping ground of the fleet.
This is the tale of the obsolescent destroyer Soyokaze and it's crew of misfits lead undisciplined, lazy captain (who is either a lucky fool or some sort of crazy genius) as they try to survive the war between the United Planets Space Force and the Holy Raalgon Empire.
What I liked about this show is that it manages to be a good episodic comedy while maintaining a decent overarching plot. Almost every episode advances something important to the overall story. And not just in a brief interlude at the end of the episode, most of the time the goal of the episode contributes to the main plot, while the comedy comes from the execution of that goal. As an example in one early episode Tylor destroys a small enemy fleet, this act gives him the reputation of being some sort of tactical genius; the actual story of the battle is something less heroic involving surrender, an unopened gift, and a catastrophic malfunction of the enemy computer systems.
Content wise this show is pretty safe. It's a war series, so there's some violence and death going around, I don't recall any blood but don't hold me to that. Very little that could be called fanservice. There is a "beach episode" where they have a beauty contest for the female members of the crew, but even the swimsuit segment is more modest than the regular clothes worn in many current shows (and they do not spend time emphasizing the physique of the participants ether, no slow panning cleavage shots or anything like that). There are two brief scenes with characters in a state of undress, both are part of sets of short clips of what the crew's up to, and in neither case is there anything sexual going on.
I enjoyed this show and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for some older shows to watch. Provided of course that I get to them before the local fans of Giant Robo* and LOGH** can corrupt them and assuming that they wouldn't be more interested in something like...
Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro
A self-contained adventure of the legendary thief Lupin III and his friends, directed & written by Hayao Miyazaki, the big guy at Studio Ghibli. After a heist leaves him and Jigen holding nothing but counterfeit bills —and not just any counterfeits, but Goat Bills; the best counterfeits never detected— Lupin decides to go find the source, shut it down, and steal anything that isn't welded down. His quest takes him to the Duchy of Cagliostro, where he quickly gets entangled in the arranged marriage of a pretty girl to the Duke. As is to be expected Inspector Zenigata and Fujiko turn up in fairly short order with Goemon not to far behind. (Technically Fujiko appears before but is identified after Goemon)
Now that doesn't really tell you much if you aren't familiar with Lupin, so I'll throw in a quick explanation of who all those people are.
Lupin III-- The most wanted thief in the world. He tends towards the noble rogue sort of thievery, sealing from, or tripping up villains most of the time. Acts kind of goofy, he is the comic relief character in any scene he appears in. Has a weakness for pretty girls, especially Fujiko.
Jigen-- Lupin's main partner in crime. He is the serious one, the strait man to Lupin's antics. A first class marksman and expert quick draw.
Fujiko-- Lady thief extraordinaire. Favors infiltration over Lupin's wacky smash and grab style. Always running her own operations (they just run into each other a lot), and has no qualms about double crossing Lupin or anyone else for the loot.
Goemon-- Samurai-type guy with a really sharp sword, doesn't show up as much as the others.
Inspector Zenigata-- Always one step behind Lupin, always. Depending on the iteration he may be a bumbling cop or just not quite sharp enough to get Lupin.
Content wise it's an action show, violence one scene has some blood. some language in the dub. There were a couple of deaths that could have been rather gruesome if we hadn't cut away from them as soon as it became clear that they weren't going to get away.
Again it's a good entry point into older anime and being a movie it's a smaller commitment that watching a whole series. I'd recommend it to ... just about anybody really.
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*Which I have seen.
**Which I plan to see.