Sol Bianca...
Sol Bianca is an older title, in fact it is AD Vision's second release. I picked up Sol Bianca on VHS sometime in the early 90's...
There are some awesome effects in the first volume of Sol Bianca, including some of the best space battles that I've seen in a while. In the second volume, the series takes a nose dive into mediocrity from which there is no return. According to Wikipedia, the series of OVAs was cancelled due to lack of interest in Japan.This is an older title, but, the first volume in the set still stands up to the test of time. I used to have both subtitled VHS volumes of the original OVAs. There was an attempt to reboot the franchise with Sol Bianca Legacy, but, I never bothered to involve myself with the Legacy series. I gave Sol Bianca a 4 out of 5.
According to the liner notes for the Sol Bianca OVA...Volume 1
Treasure's a pleasure... ...but a blaster is a girl's best friend. There's only one thing the all-female crew of the interstellar pirate ship Sol Bianca likes more than treasure ...and that's more treasure. So when a young stowaway informs Janny, Feb, April, May and June that the most legendary, and valuable artifact of all, the fabled "Gnosis", is in the evil clutches of Emperor Batros, the despised dictator of the planet Tres, what choice do they have except to steal it? Armed with a dazzling array of power suits, energy whips and the artificially intelligent, dimension warping Sol Bianca herself, this belligerent battalion of buccaneering battlemaids gives no quarter in their non-stop onslaught against the ruthless despot; and while the ensuing liberation of an entire civilization, the destruction of a few dozen cities, and some of the most amazing air and ground battles ever animated may he purely incidental in our quintet of larcenous ladies, for any fan of fantastic animation, SOL BIANCA will prove to be an instant classic!
Volume 2
It takes a thief to catch a thief... ...but to stop these larcenous ladies will take an army... Unfortunately for the all-female crew of the interstellar pirate ship SOL BIANCA, an army is exactly what they're up against when they try to corner the intergalactic market on pasha, the most valuable substance in the known universe! Actually, make that TWO armies: a blood-thirsty band of ruthless space hijackers AND the galactic police! And then there's also a mysterious stranger who seems much more interested in collecting the Sol Bianca and her crew than the pasha! With hair-raising action, computer-eating worms, topless gun fights, a beam that makes girls' clothing disappear, and the same stunning animation style that earned SOL BIANCA, the title of 1993's Best Original Animation Video from North America's fans (Anime Expo 1993), you can't afford to miss these malevolent misses in action...
As longtime fans or great animation from Japan, it was both a thrill and pleasure to be involved with the release of a genuine anime "classic." What we didn't expect when we began, however, was how difficult it would be to produce an English language version of SOL BIANCA that would retain the overall "feel" of the Japanese dialogue, and still accurately convey the text and subtexts of the original film. Unlike our previous feature, DEVIL HUNTER YOHKO, SOL BIANCA uses a great deal of "technical" jargon, some of which was made up expressly for the film, and contains a broad smattering of English words that are sometimes phrased a little oddly for western ears. Besides the necessity of moving phrases around to fit the meter and pacing of the original dialogue, viewers with a knowledge of Japanese way also be familiar with the difficulty involved in translating "politeness levels" into English. In Japan, it's often not so much what you say, but how you say it, and an extremely brusque or rude tone is the equivalent of a four letter word in the U.S. (Thus the steady stream of "sisterly" insults exchanged by Janny and June.) All of this resulted in a translating nightmare that left half our staff with headaches for a week, while the other half merely hid behind our chairs whenever the boss asked about the status of the completed script.Trivia from the liner notes for the Sol Bianca OVA...
Fortunately, the good folks at NEC-Avenue were kind enough to loan us the original SOL BIANCA shooting script, which allowed us to see changes that were made during the original recording process, and gave us the valuable background information that cleared up many of the "tech-ese" questions. After several test screenings and polishing sessions, we ended up with the version you now hold in your hands. (Please keep in mind, however, that this is not a word-for-word translation of the original dialogue; the gross differences between Japanese and English grammar alone precludes that!) At A.D. Vision, our ultimate goal is to make your viewing experience as easy-to-read and entertaining as possible. We hope you enjoy A.D. Vision's release of SOL BIANCA, and look forward to bringing you many more "Japanimation" classics in the near future.
- The authors of the original screenplay were obviously inspired by George Lucas' STAR WARS trilogy, especially THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. The "binder" process Emperor Batros uses to keep his "collection" of lovely damsels on ice is referred to in the original shooting script as "Carbon Freeze." June refers to this later in an unchanged line of dialogue during the raid on the treasure room.
- "STAR WARS" fever strikes again when the crates fall on top of Rim during the attack on the smugglers ship. The labels on the cargo containers state, (in Katakana,) that their eventual destination is the Dagobah system! Hmmm. And what are those things that fall out, video tapes? Oh no! Video Pirates!
- An interesting "blooper" occurs when the Captain of the smugglers ship attempts to scoop his private stash into a small bag. Apparently the cel levels were temporarily reversed, the result being that his hand appears to pass THROUGH the pile of trinkets, which then magically disappear into the bag.
- For those who may wonder how April can destroy two "Armo" units with a single shot each from her pistol, the answer lies in the fact that this specialized handgun carries GRENADE rounds, not bullets.
- The "golden box" went unnamed in the original shooting script, being referred to simply by three zeroes, (000.) The name "Gnosis," literally "all-knowledge," was created at the last minute.
- Finally, here's a real stumper: The two planets involved in the civil war are "Uno" and "Tres," One and Three in Spanish. So what happened to "Dos," or Two? One possible answer: the metal rings orbiting Tres may be all that is left of that unfortunate planet."
There are some awesome effects in the first volume of Sol Bianca, including some of the best space battles that I've seen in a while. In the second volume, the series takes a nose dive into mediocrity from which there is no return. According to Wikipedia, the series of OVAs was cancelled due to lack of interest in Japan.This is an older title, but, the first volume in the set still stands up to the test of time. I used to have both subtitled VHS volumes of the original OVAs. There was an attempt to reboot the franchise with Sol Bianca Legacy, but, I never bothered to involve myself with the Legacy series. I gave Sol Bianca a 4 out of 5.
