Sol Bianca

After that last blog post, I'm sure you're glad to have something a little shorter than the 1500-word onslaught I recently delivered. So, shoot me, one of the disadvantages of growing older is the proclivity to reminisce. Even worse is when it's an anime you've heard about but have yet to watch; as anime years pass, so much product is being released now that we can all agree it's challenging to keep up.

Just think: there is someone right now who has never seen Demon Slayer but desperately wanted to but never got the chance. They'll be scrambling in seven years to watch all the new anime that's come out while trying to catch up on all the classics they missed.

A prime example is the jewel of the day. Sol Bianca is a science fiction anime series that debuted in Japan in 1990 and 1991 as a two-volume OVA series. Sol Bianca: The Legacy is a six-episode OVA series remake released in 1999.

In collaboration with AIC, Katsuhito Akiyama and Hiroki Hayashi directed Sol Bianca. Katsuhito Akiyama has directed and worked on a number of notable anime series, including Gall Force, Bubblegum Crisis (the similarities between Soul Bianca and Bubblegum Crisis are unsurprising), Ai no Kusabi, El-Hazard: The Wanderers, and Pumpkin Scissors. He was also the director of the Beyblade: Burst and Inazuma Eleven GO! series.

The series follows five female pirates who pilot the Sol Bianca, a starship with advanced technology, searching for riches such as the Gnosis and pasha, the most valuable mineral in the galaxy. The show's first episode had an English-language dub, but the second did not. We will stick with the Japanese version for this review because, why not?

So the OVA is divided into two parts: Sol Bianca and Sol Bianca 2. The first part runs for 60 minutes, and the second runs for about 40 minutes.

So the first part of the OVA immediately feels like a sci-fi film; there's talk of jump gates a la Cowboy Bebop, which gives the viewer a sense of familiarity. There's also talk of chaff, which, for those who don't know, is used in aerial combat to throw off an enemy combatant, in this case, in space. Acid chaff scores points for creativity, which is pretty neat because it could be projected into space, land on your ship, and gorge itself on all the metal.

A ship is on its way to Tres, a distant planet, and finds itself the focus of the crew of the Sol Bianca. If I’m being honest, Sol Bianca sounds like a ship that's all about peace, and I guess it is, a piece of this and a piece of that. Piloted by five of the most notorious pirates in space, the crew comprises April Bikirk, Feb Fall, Janny Mann, May Jessica, and June Ashel. Yes, these five ladies are named after months of the year.

While looking for loot, they come across Rim, a young stowaway boy who wishes to visit the planet Tres. He persuades them to take him there by telling them about the Gnosis, a treasure said to be full of great power. They agreed to bring Rim to Tres for the Gnosis due to the high stakes involved.

In the first episode, we see some character development for the five ladies, though most of the focus is on May because she and Rim are close in age. There's no doubt that Bubblegum Crisis was an inspiration for this anime, especially after watching the first OVA and seeing the ladies outfitted in armor of varying hues, reminiscent of the "Knight Sabers" powered exoskeletons.

The women's interactions with Rim reveal facets of their individuality. While Janny and April were ready to shoot him out of an airlock, May was happy to have someone her age around, and Feb, who was frequently spotted with a glass of wine in her hand, was more at ease. What about June? She made no objections. But as they face a more serious challenge, their attitudes shift, especially April's (who plays the role of maternal savior in this episode).

The first film, Sol Bianca, served as a solid introduction, but the action really heats up in the sequel. Sol Bianca 2 is a quest for pasha, which is rare and valuable enough to buy a planet. One reviewer likened this episode to Die Hard," and maybe it is if Bruce Willis was searching for the “spice melange.”

Aside from some straightforward action, there isn't much of a story to speak of the second time around. The girls want the pasha, so they sneak aboard a ship to steal it; the bad guys want it, too, so a shootout ensues; cops apprehend the girls, and we're left wondering how the hell they'll get out of here.

But with great action comes better animation, and the animation in this OVA far outshines that in the first. This time, there's also some nudity. More backstory is also given, implying that the creators had bigger plans for this series than the two-episode OVA.

We finally get a glimpse of Sol Bianca's potential via June, and we are introduced to a man claiming to know April and Feb though Feb has yet to recollect. The mysterious man goes by the name of Yuri Shurabana. Little is known of him or his sleeping beauty, Noaal.

I'll admit that Feb, Janny, and April are waifu material, and Sol Bianca has a great science-fiction setting overall. There is no way of knowing what the show's potential was or would have been. Some viewers have praised it highly, while others have compared it to Silent Mobius and said it's just another Bubblegum Crisis rip-off.

All of those series are favorites of mine, and this one is no exception. No, it's not great, but as I've mentioned in previous reviews, OVAs were frequently used to make money or pique interest in continuing a series. Of course, that didn't work out for Sol Bianca because the show simply couldn't stand out among the other anime on the market.

So, do I recommend this anime? Yes, but only to fans of vintage anime. For those of you who are new to anime, you might want to look elsewhere, but who knows? If you watched it, leave a comment below.