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Sol Bianca is a story of 5 female space pirates. It is
an action packed sci-fi series comprising 6 episodes of 30 minutes spread
out over 3 volumes and 3 DVDs.
The episodes are tied in but there are some diversions too. Each episode is introduced by
a short extract from a book be it Dante's Divine Comedy or the Bible.
Characters:
The characters are well developed and we get a good peek at the personality
of each of the women who make up this extraordinary crew.
April:
April is the captain and so the leader of the Sol Bianca.
She was left to fend for herself as a child and is following a pirate's
dream although as one may
imagine it is quite irresponsible a dream. She is strong, stubborn and
steadfast. She is however also over domineering and this leads to great
tensions with another character
Feb - a major part of the plot. During the story a crisis develops when
Feb leaves because she can no longer accept April's choice of life for
her- the buccaneer's way.
April is a loyal leader and despite her self doubts which develop in the
story she comes to the rescue and rallies the crew in their darkest hour.
Feb:
Feb is the most feminine character in the story. She is a
real woman, she wears a dress for one but she also drinks. She uses
alcohol to wash away her
doubts about being aboard the Ship of the Sun as she realises that she
doesn't really want to be there and fears her life will have unfulfilled
goals. Despite this Feb does deliver when it comes to fighting.
Jan:
Jan, what can we say? Jan is the more masculine character of the
group. She is very direct and well she likes her guns and ammo. She wears
comfortable clothing (sometimes a suit of all things)
and as we can suspect she is probably a lesbian. She has a very realistic
view of life and likes to solve problems with a smoking barrel.
Jun:
Jun is a mysterious woman. She is the second youngest of
the lot. Her past is quite unclear and she is somehow more linked to the
ship than any of the others.
She is also the extroverted youthful seemingly cheerful college girl type.
She has a secret
which troubles her and she acts as a perfect older sister for Mayo. She
fears abondonement, perhaps because she had to live through it once.
Mayo:
Which anime would be complete without a little girl mascot like
character? Mayo is the child of the group - she stowed away in order to
get away from an abusive aunt and
to find her parents who are on Earth (it must be said that Earth is a
planet out of touch with the mainstream cosmos) and it seems her parents are somehow linked
with the ship.
Mayo is a quiet, shy, introverted little girl but she's a part of the team
(crew) as any of the others and is most reliable at times of crisis. She also
has her cheeful moments.
The others become a strong family for her especially Jun who takes her in
as a little sister.
The Plot
Basically this is an action packed sci fi show filled with
special effects and a gorgeous cast to deliver them. Okay there is more.
The central story lies in
April following her dream as she retrieves so called artefacts of the once
by gone era of Earth's early space expansion. As it happens Earth is now
out of touch with the numerous far flung colonised planets. The Sol Bianca
is also pursued by a paramilitary group - so called Blue Comets or
The Terran Forces (yes you guessed it, they come from Earth and bear a
very superior attitude to everyone else because of their
direct origins). The plot also contains the struggle for self identity and
purpose motif as mostly seen through the conflict between April and Feb.
There are plenty of emotional and sentimental moments.
The Ship - the Sol Bianca, is a marvel of frontier age technology and is
apparently the most powerful in the universe. The ship is controlled
by means of a giant hologram of a woman goddess. The origin and purpose of
this remain shrouded in mystery.
The Sound and Video:
The video is both celluloid animation and computer
rendered. Whereas the traditionally animated sections - the characters
themselves are gorgeous,
not only because they are beautiful women but also for technical reasons;
the CG sequences (the ship, many backgrounds etc) sometimes appear
to pan too smoothly.
The audio is excellent. Both English and Japanese tracks are in Dolby
Digital 5.1 and the explosions or engine sounds really shake the room, hehe. The music is
also excellent. The background and OP is performed by the Slovak
Philharmonic. The singer is also talented and she sounds a lot like the
vocalist
from the Cranberries.
The opening sequence is especially wonderful. The next
three images are from the opening:
Recommendation?
A great series. I loved every episode. This is more than an ass-kicking
barrel of Sci-fi action and special effects. It has a great deal of depth
and shows that
in a hostile world if 5 people can band together and remain loyal they can
conquer all. There are sequences with sorrowful Macross like piano music, which
really send shivers up your spine and a nostalgic longing for a more exotic
adventurous life. Of course if you possess a kickass DD surround sound
system,
this series will utilise it to the furthest extent possible - be warned of
this :).
As an extra feature Pioneer included an animetronic video on the dics (5 minutes long).
The video consists of scenes from the first two Sol Bianca episodes interwoven together
to the sound of loud techno club music.
I guess if escapism is one of the reasons for watching anime, hehe, this show delivers!
This review is copyright to Sasami.
The show Sol Bianca, it's characters and the images on this page are
copyright to Pioneer LDC / AIC. All Rights Reserved. Used in good faith for the promotion of Anime. |
