Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re going to be embarking on a new journey, as we explore the first segment of six-episode OVA series Sol Bianca: The Legacy. I’ll admit, I know basically nothing about either this series or the original two-episode OVA that preceded it; I’ve frankly never heard of either, but that’s little surprise, as the OVA boom was flush with productions that didn’t necessarily make an international splash.
The original Sol Bianca was actually cut short at two installments due to low sales, and only followed up a decade later by this quasi-sequel. The two share the titular all-female pirate ship, as well as animation director/character designer Naoyuki Onda, who’s enjoyed a fruitful AD career on projects ranging from Record of Lodoss War to Rage of Bahamut. The Legacy’s director Hiroyuki Ochi has also mostly worked in animation direction and key animation, so if nothing else, I’m expecting some luxurious cuts and character art ahead of us. Let’s check it out!
Episode 1
“After the Lord led Abram to Canaan… ‘Lift up your eyes from where you came, and look north and south, east and west. All that land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever,’ said the Lord unto Abram.” Whew, opening with God’s command that Abraham journey to Canaan (modern-day Palestine) is quite a choice! We’ll have to see how this echoes our characters’ journey, but regardless, the expectation is immediately set that they are conducting some sort of holy pilgrimage, being led by powers beyond their control or understanding
A chugging electric guitar melody carries us into a pan over planets and asteroids. “Rock and roll space pirates” seems like it was a hot anime aesthetic around the turn of the century, exemplified by series like Cowboy Bebop, Legend of Black Heaven, and Outlaw Star
“There was once a happy time called the Space Frontier Age. Humans raced out to space, and expanded their territory. And now, 400 years later… where did their passion go?” So it seems that opening quote is actually intended to evoke a “pioneer spirit” that has somehow been lost in the time since the frontier age
The costuming and character art are unsurprisingly ornate and gorgeous. Love the curves of this distinctive space suit
The character art is quite realistic, making no concessions to the increasingly rounded designs of the post-OVA era. Little surprise that our animation director worked on both Rage of Bahamut and Psycho-Pass, two of the only recent productions embracing similarly realistic character designs
These characters feel distinct even from that aesthetic, though; they fall somewhere between Jin-Roh and Yasuomi Umetsu’s distinctive character art, with bone structures and shading like Jin-Roh, but eyes more like Umetsu’s somewhat embellished forms with their prominent eyelashes
Efficient flashbacks inform us this woman’s aunt took her in, and bequeathed her that ornate pistol before dying
“That was when I heard the story about the Ship of the Sun.” The ship she approaches is rendered as appropriately blinding, with a star directly behind it. The Sol Bianca
We cut to a young girl speaking to a stuffed bear, asking “do you remember your mother and father?” Giving an isolated character like this either a toy or a pet to communicate with is an effective way of justifying them essentially offering exposition to an empty room, and thereby communicating what the the viewer needs to know in a believable way
The character animation remains outrageously fluid, impressing all the more so given these detailed designs
The girl’s name is apparently “Mayo,” unfortunately for her
“No, Katie, don’t. You shouldn’t cry.” As with many children, she assigns her embarrassing emotions to her stuffed animal
The Sol Bianca appears to have touched down upon a Mediterranean island, complete with a local colosseum where matadors are currently plying their trade
Impressive shading across these characters as our presumed leader scolds her two subordinates regarding them treating this like a vacation
Lush color design for the backgrounds as well – the scenery looks incredibly inviting as we touch in with Jun, the apparent last of our shipmates, as the sun sets behind her
Both our director and animation director also did animation work for The Hakkenden, and I can definitely see that production’s mixture of realism and fluidity in this show’s movements
The character designs are so realistic it actually takes a little getting used to the character acting; I’m accustomed to a certain degree of aesthetic exaggeration, but everyone here is obeying human rules of bones and musculature
In a shadowed room, a round table of suited gentleman admire an old-fashioned pistol, which is presumably the item our crew is seeking
They plot to jack up the pistol’s auction price. “This is an artifact from earth, after all,” they say, implying earth has at this point been abandoned
“They say the flintlock is going to be in a shady auction.” Efficient explanations catch our crew up to speed immediately, and we’re off to the auction. I appreciate the confidence and efficiency of this storytelling – we don’t need copious explanation to understand the dynamics or intentions of this crew, just following them as they conduct their operations is enough
Love this hover-hot rod they drive to the venue, continuing the mixture of science fiction and Americana
The girls approach bearing instrument cases, presumably housing their weapons. Feels like part of this show’s reason for existence is to combine these extravagantly designed characters with all sorts of fancy costumes, and I am here for it
Both our protagonist and the organizers are worried by the absence of the gun’s intended purchaser
Then a “Terra Force” spacecraft arrives, seemingly housing the man of the hour
You can sort of see the director’s animation-based origins in the boarding of action here; layouts are designed to accommodate shifts in character blocking, the movement dictating the staging, rather than the other way around
As a result, the show has a fairly propulsive energy in spite of a lack of overt action, as each cut is always moving towards some new result, rather than capturing a static image
The Terra Force crew storm into the auction, declaring that the items on block are stolen fragments of earth’s legacy
“We are Earthlings.” “That can’t be! Earth is…”
Our lead announces that the item is her gun, and the shooting begins
More of a focus on iconic posing than action choreography so far; the Terra Force soldiers put up no fight, and our team is soon fleeing to the Sol Bianca
The vast CG Terra Force ship looms above the delicately painted city, a contrast reminiscent of Simoun
I continue to enjoy how confidently we’re dropped into the life of this crew mid-adventure; their world feels larger because there is so much implied beyond what we are seeing, so many jobs they’ve presumably taken before the show began. I feel like far too much of modern storytelling is caught up in explaining origins, too afraid of leaving the audience behind to actually start a story in the middle of the action
The Sol Bianca’s control system is actually in Spanish, continuing the general Spanish theming of this environment
As Mayo is caught up in its energy, her bear is left behind, a clear demonstration of her separating from her past life
God these backgrounds and colors are lovely!
Fun interpretation of a ship coming out of warp drive, framing the air itself as a body of water that the vessel is rising from. A cute way of maintaining the “space as an ocean” metaphor that adds some age of exploration-era grandeur to so many scifi narratives, while also leaning into this show’s more specific pioneer ambitions as implied by its opening quotation
The Sol Bianca emerges into normal space, prompting a shockwave across the land
Meanwhile, the Terra Force vessel is pursued by the entire goddamn island, which is apparently a spacecraft in its own right
Ooh, I like this colorful conceptualization of digital space as one of the crew works to link their ships. The actual internet is boring, I’m always up for some fanciful Tron-world alternative
Beautiful transformation for the Sol Bianca as its “masts” rotate outwards, and a digital sail appears between them. Also quite like the portraits incorporated in the ship’s digital readouts, which seem reminiscent of Mucha’s Seasons
Their commands summon a giant holographic archer, with the Sol Bianca framed as the point of the arrow
As our heroes escape, their pursuer turns over a sun tarot card, adding yet another prophetic art tradition to this production’s stew of influences
After the battle, the crew discover their stowaway
“I can see them if I get on a spaceship. I can see Mom and Dad.” Our pilgrimage introduced at last
Her parents are on a planet called Earth, which is at this point such a distant memory that our captain’s subordinates haven’t even heard of it
And Done
Thus the Sol Bianca sets off on its grand journey, tracing a path back to the cradle of mankind. A classic tale to be sure, but here richly furnished with this production’s distinctive character art and beautiful backgrounds. It’s always a pleasure seeing this sort of ambitious realism in animation, and I’m furthermore happy to see such confidence in the show’s narrative, which wastes no time with preamble and trusts in its audience to understand the trajectory we’re charting. If the following episodes continue with these luxurious backgrounds and beautiful, personality-rich flourishes of character acting, we’re in for a satisfying scifi adventure.
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