Hi there, following Andrew's suggestion, I will now be posting feedback threads for reviews, in this case "The Irresponsible Captain Tyler". Please post contructive criticisms, your own opinions, and indeed any issues raised by the anime.

That said, its its awful, please tell me

I'd comment here that I disagree that light novel (or short story) adaptations can be flawed with "the lack of an on-going story" as you put it. It is actually refreshing to have the middle ground of an ongoing world (or projected long-term story - ie; each episode has some impact on future happenings but it is perhaps mainly character development/background stuff) which isn't necessarily rushed, but is basically made up of a lot of interconnected stories taking place over time.

This contrasts to the "fill a season with plot, AND PLOT IT SHALL BE!" versus the "sketch" style series (ie; entirely plotless or even doing different things each episode - perhaps not too common in anime but TV series can do this, esp. in comedy). Full plot seasons are fine but they are hard to pull off well and keep people interested - drama peaks are difficult too (ie; it's only at the end, or if not, then it is dragged out melodramatically - and they are so long in any case, it doesn't fit well into a normal plotting curve).

This applies to lots of things mind you. For instance I'm watching Wallander; Swidish Police Detective Procedural basically - it's plot-o-the-week (with each episode being 1:30 long, so think Morse style), so it is almost the same; but still brilliant - there is continuity between stories - but would you need an ongoing overarching plot here? Not particularly - the cast (or characters) are the better part of the show, thus the focus is correct - we don't have some long-term serial killer to catch, so more frequent and varied things can happen to the cast, and thus more development of them in general in addition to interesting things to face.

On the curve, you get the middle ground of an ongoing setting/plot but many smaller adventures in and around it. Some things also mix plot and more one off episodes (Cowboy Bebop for instance) where there is almost an entire absence of an ongoing plot for much of it, and only separate episodes are shown with it included at the forefront (although perhaps the others reference it, Haruhi is kind of like this too).

I think this aptly describes many Anime series mind you because it is perhaps harder to do - you list some in your review. A lot of comedy series' in general use the same-cast-different-plot-o-the-week to get by too; all the classic British sitcoms do for sure (Blackadder, Red Dwarf, Faulty Towers, etc. - as for drama examples, Morse and detective shows, and so forth).

Mind you, comedy can be a different bag of course - and whatever way you pull it, adding plot to a comedy is dead bloody hard. Any attempts made might be applauded just for the audacity and attempt, since so soooo many just fall flat on their face - being paper thin (which is fine and ignorable), hopelessly tacked on (urg...) or needlessly complex (no!!!) or not even funny (which isn't so fine!). You don't see many anime series' recommended both for their core plot and humour!

(Also, is Spice & Wolf a comedy? Kind of I guess...? Mmmm, in any case!)

Series looks half-interesting; although your review purports to better offerings elsewhere, I just wanted to bring up the point that I wholly endorse the "smaller plots in a large setting" that some series' provide.

Well andrew, with respects to your points, I'd like to respond that I take all-or-nothing approach to continuity and plot.has to be completely episodic, or it has to have a strong plot thread in the start. Just adding bits. What a lot of anime tend to do is just wander aimlessly, ignoring any elephants in the room. What this beens in relation to novel adaptions is that while there is often a strong narative, it is coming in chunks, imcomplete pieces, not a whole, and an imcomplete plot is more noticable than no plot. As you rightly point out, an anime doesn't really need a long term plot, Cowboy bebop is the best example.

As for Spice and Wolf, perhaps I could have worded that better. It has comedy elements (Holo's apple fixation), but it is more of a drama.

Thanks for the feedback.

Fair enough point if you've viewed enough anime to simply discard those which don't do it well - thus feel it is necessary to be all or nothing!