Sol Bianca takes an intriguing look at the ideas of space travel and interstellar piracy. The visual style is sharp, working well with the technical designs of Sol Bianca to create a unique and fully realised view of space combat. Accented by a driving rock score, Sol Bianca contains well choreographed action sequences which should delight any fan of science fiction anime.
Sol Bianca was released in 1990 by NEC under the direction of Katsuhito Akiyama. Mechanical Designer Atsushi Takeuchi and Sound Director Yoshikazu Iwamani are the two individuals most responsible for the hard driving action and fascinating technical designs that are Sol Bianca's most notable qualities. However, these are not the only qualities of note in Sol Bianca; Character Designer Naoyuki Onda has done his part as well, creating not only the all female crew of the Sol Bianca, but the wealth of other characters that make up the cast of Sol Bianca.
The pirate ship Sol Bianca's crew comprises five female pirates who roam the space ways praying on rich merchants in search of treasure. Feb seems to be the nominal leader of this pirate band. She is a quiet and reserved individual, except when money is involved. April is the most level headed member of this rather eccentric crew. She is the one who befriends the young boy Rim, who has stowed away on a merchant ship the Sol Bianca raided. Janny is an expert sharpshooter and clearly the most aggressive of the five. May appears to be the youngest of the five and certainly acts that way. Immature and temperamental, May is still an important part of the Sol Bianca's crew. June is the final member of the Sol Bianca's crew. June is possibly the most important member of the crew as she shares an empathic link with the Sol Bianca's intelligent computer system Gi.
As the story of the Sol Bianca unfolds we find these five larcenous ladies conducting what would seem to be a routine attack on a merchant ship. However, the attack turns out to be anything but routine as they discover a young stowaway in the cargo they have stolen. The boy is Rim, from the planet Uno. He had stowed away in hopes of reaching the planet Tres, where he intends to search for his mother. Both Uno and Tres are controlled by a powerful and merciless dictator with a penchant for collecting unique treasures. In an effort to gain the asistance of the crew of the Sol Bianca, Rim reveals to them that Emperor Batros has come into possession of the 'Gnosis'. The Gnosis is a legendary artifact said to contain the wisdom of the gods themselves. Such an object would be of incalculable worth, so the crew of the Sol Bianca agree to take Rim to Tres if he will show them where Batros has hidden the Gnosis. However, when they arrive at Tres, Emperor Batros sets his eye on a new treasure to be added to his collection, the Sol Bianca itself. In the conflict which follows there can be only one survivor, Emperor Batros or the crew of the Sol Bianca. Five woman against an entire empire, I would say that the odds are just about even.
Feb: Played by voice actress Yohko Matsuoka, Feb Fall is the nominal leader of the all female crew of the Sol Bianca. Feb often seems disinterested in the day to day running of the Sol Bianca, content to allow the other crew members to do their jobs with a minimum of interruption. This seems to work well as the rest of the crew are more than capable of carrying out their respective tasks. One of the few things that can rouse Feb from her state of complacence is the mention of treasure. Even more so than the other pirates aboard the Sol Bianca, Feb has a passion for wealth and the luxury it can bring. To these ends she can be both commanding and ruthless, but not to the exclusion of her own sense of self preservation or her concern for the other crew members of the Sol Bianca.
April: Played by voice actress Rei Sakuma, April seems to occupy a position of respect amongst the crew of the Sol Bianca, second only to Feb. April has earned the respect and admiration of her friends because of her sensitive and kind behavior. In fact, she seems to be the most intuitive member of the crew. April is a bit of a tom-boy despite the fact she is older than most of the other crew members. April is somewhat idealistic and always willing to help out those in trouble. Even is she may seem a bit standoffish at first, she is a sensitiv woman who cares a great deal for her friends.
Janny: Minami Takayami provides the voice for Janny. An expert sharpshooter, Janny could be considered the weapons exepert of the Sol Bianca even though the others are all skilled fighters. Janny is often course in behavior toward her fellow crew members. In fact, she is unforgiving toward those who she dislikes, and is willing to go to incredible ends to avenge an insult. Janny may be the most ruthless members of the Sol Bianca's crew but she is far from heartless. In fact she would sacrifice her own life, or anyone elses for that matter, to save the crew of the Sol Bianca.
May: Miki Ito puts in an excellent performance as the youthful and immature May. Miki Ito's ability to do young girls' voices is fantastic. This skill has landed her the role of Gally in Battle Angel. May is the youngest member of the crew of the Sol Bianca. Scarcely more than a child, May is none the less a valuable member of the crew of the Sol Bianca, and possesses many of the same skills that the other members of the crew have. She is an excellant mecha pilot and commands the Sol Bianca's largest attack mecha.
June: Voice actress Yuriko Fuchizaki plays the roll of the just a bit more than human June. June is possibly the most important member of the Sol Bianca's crew as she is not human, although she resembles a human in most ways, but an alien life form that shares an empathic link with the intelligent pirate ship Sol Bianca. It seems that at some time in the past there were entire fleets of these powerful ships which were paired with a pilot that could share her conciousness with the ship itself, but in a disastrous battle most of these ships were destroyed. The Sol Bianca and June may in fact be the last of their kind. June is not nearly as aggressive as some of the other members of the crew, but she is still a resourceful and cunning member of the crew.
Rim: Daisuke Namikawa plays the part of the young boy Rim. Rim was a stowaway on a merchant ship bound for the planet Tres, but his trip was cut short when the pirate ship Sol Bianca attacked the merchant and made off with its cargo, Rim included. Rim is able to convince the crew of the Sol Bianca to take him to Tres under the pretext of retieving a legendary treasure from its evil dictactor Batros. Rim true goal, however, is to retrieve his mother who has become an unwilling part of Batroses collection of treasures. Rim is fiercely determined and headstrong. He loves his mother a great deal and will do anything to rescue her.
Batros: Voice actor Aono Takeshi plays the part of General Batros, supreme ruler of the planet Tres and conqueror of Rim's homeplanet Uno. Batros is a heartless dictator determined to rule his own little corner of known space with an iron hand. When his ships encounter the Sol Bianca and learn of its unique properties, Batros decides that he wishes to acquire it for study. Unfortunately for him, the inhabitants of the conquered planet Uno launch a revolt that draws the attention away from the crew of the Sol Bianca. This turns out to be a fatal mistake for Batros.
Sol Bianca is subtitled in English by A.D. Vision. Translators Ichiro Arakaki and Dwayne Jones worked with writer Matt Greenfield to produce this subtitled version. However, it was no easy task. In Japanese there are varying forms of address that can be used to imply different levels of respect, or lack thereof. Many translators refer to these different forms as politeness levels. Level four being denoted by special honourific words and level one reserved for street slang and very informal conversations. The problem in translating these forms into English is that English lacks a suitable counterpart ot these politeness levels. As a result, to try and capture the casual manner in which the members of the Sol Bianca converse with each other, it was decided to include a good deal of profanity. While the original Japanese text might not of contained these words, it would if been equally course sounding to a Japanese listener. It is because the woman of Sol Bianca often use the most informal forms of speech when conversing, like sisters might when speaking amongst themselves, that the English translators chose to include the amount of profanity that they did.
Total running time is sixty minutes. Sol Bianca is licensed to A.D. Vision by NEC. All rights under copyright reserved.