Sol Bianca: The Legacy

—by Mark L. Johnson

It has been a long time since I saw the original SOL BIANCA, a one shot tale of an all female pirate crew on a ship with unmatched technology. While it certainly contained many standard anime clichés (not the least of which an entirely female crew), SOL BIANCA was a decent action story with likable characters. SOL BIANCA: THE LEGACY takes a smattering of this core theme and adds style. A lot of style.
SOL BIANCA: THE LEGACY is a six episode OVA series still under production in Japan. It is great to see anime coming over the ocean faster, though now we have the same wait that the Japanese normally feel between volumes. The show starts out with an introduction by April, the captain and leader of the small crew. We learn a bit of April's past, and see hints on how she first found the amazing spaceship Sol Bianca. Then the plot enters their modern day, a future beyond the "Frontier Age" where humans left Earth with gate travel and then expanded rapidly through the galaxy. Now it seems the "Frontier Age" is over, as the various settlements and colonies are tired and worn, their ambition gone.
There are two 30-minute episodes on this volume. The first, "The Emblem," brings the Sol Bianca to a backwater planet and a Spanish-style town. The other characters are quickly introduced, and the laid back nature of the crew is easily noted. While April is adamant about re-obtaining a lost item, the others treat it more like a vacation at a beachside town. Jani is the muscle of the group, and practices shooting at a range. Feb, maturely beautiful and eternally tipsy, visits a bullfight and picks up a man. Jun, the computer expert, comes back late from fashion shopping. And while the young shy girl Mayo is not yet a member, we see a bit of her story and her fateful enlistment into the crew.
While this first episode is mostly character introduction, the group also makes enemies of the mysterious Terra Force so a gunfight and chaotic ship fight quickly ensues. This is where the true style of SOL BIANCA comes out, and the ship Sol Bianca proves itself not only to be technically superior, but truly extravagant with its showy effects. The second episode is primarily a character piece on Jun, as the crew travels in search of rare artifacts to an abandoned and "cursed" planet (with a light theme of the journey to hell from Dante's DIVINE COMEDY).
Many of the plot elements require a reasonable suspension of disbelief, and there are many cases where the crew seems far too confident in themselves. However, this is also part of what makes SOL BIANCA what it is (much like the coolness of Ryo in CITY HUNTER.) Above all, SOL BIANCA: THE LEGACY is fun to watch mainly for the interesting characters.
On the visual side, SOL BIANCA advertises itself as "Fully Computer Generated Digital Animation." This is not to say the entire show is CG, but rather computer assisted in the cel coloring, movement of backgrounds and the occasional CG object or spaceship. In many other cases I would not consider this as a benefit, as computer animation can lead to a few too many shortcuts. SOL BIANCA, however, at least marks itself as a mostly successful attempt, but not without its problems.
The character animation is the best visual element in my opinion. The motion is high quality, and the character designs are detailed and consistent. The backgrounds are vibrant in color, but they feel very flat and lack detail. And, unfortunately, the simpler CG spaceships look out of place in comparison to the characters. The OVA budget does show through, especially with the character animation, yet I can still see room for improvement overall.
From a DVD perspective, this is a beautiful disk. The transfer is great, the sound is in 5.1 for both Japanese and English, and the menus are probably the most stylish I have seen. Audibly the music is a good mix of symphonic and modern beats, and the main theme "To Be Free" is rather catchy after a few listens. Pioneer also included as a bonus a ten minute long music video (in order to hype their Animetronic line) featuring footage from the episodes and a custom electronic BGM track.
More than just a futuristic action show, SOL BIANCA: THE LEGACY's strength is in its character personalities. The crew of the Sol Bianca is fun to watch, and their hidden pasts and meetings are sure to be better explained in the later volumes. After a couple of viewings I was surprised how much I enjoyed this DVD. Even though the plot was light in parts and technically a few corners were noticeably cut, overall this is a high quality presentation and worth checking out.

Released in North America by Pioneer Entertainment
VHS / DVD, 70 minutes
English dubbed/subtitled DVD - PIDA-2361V, $29.98
Dubbed VHS - PIVA-7181D, $24.98
Subtitled VHS - PIVA-7181S, $29.98
Available now in USA
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