Monday, August 13, 2012

Monday Anime Cinema: Sol Bianca For Your Old School Space Opera

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Back when I was fortunate enough to go to Anime nights down to game store 30 or so miles away on a Saturday night. I got the chance to see this OVA on VHS. There has never been a DVD release of the movie within the American market. Anyhow I used this series as the basis for a Buck Rogers Rpg game that never made it.
 There were myriad reasons for using this OVA. The technology in this anime was light years ahead of anything out at the time. The whole series took place within the solar system so like Buck it was restricted to the nine planets. There was a land mate mecha already within the series. The party were space pirates. There was a weird ending(if you can even find it.The ending is pretty Legend of  The Overfiend)
Anyhow for one reason or another the OVA never made it into the main stream. Even the VHS tapes are getting harder to find. 

So they remade the series into 




So they remade the whole thing into  Sol Bianca: The Legacy. Which i personally haven't seen. 



Here's how wiki breaks the whole thing down. 
l Bianca (ソルビアンカ Sorubianka?) is a two-volume original video animation (OVA)anime series released in 1990 and 1992 by director Katsuhito Akiyama in association with AICSol Bianca: The Legacy is a remake of this series.
The name of the OVA is also the name of the ship that serves as both the home and the interstellar headquarters for an all-female band of notorious pirates. Thanks to a stowaway who hides herself aboard their ship following one of their raids, they learn of the ultimate treasure: the Gnosis (pronounced "G'Nohsis" in dialogue), an artifact reputedly from old Earth itself.
Unfortunately for them, the Gnosis happens to be in the hands of Emperor Batros, the brutal ruler of the planet Tres (pronounced "trez" in dialogue) who is executing great numbers of enemies, real or speculated, as a result of his military occupation of the neighboring planet Uno. Armed with a little luck, a sniper gun that can shoot from orbit, and a technologically advanced ship, the crew of the Sol Bianca are about to make a run for the greatest prize of all.

Characters - 
  • April Bikirk: (Rei Sakuma/Kim Sevier) A skilled pilot and a crack shot, she is the first officer of the Sol Bianca. A headstrong and honorable individual, she will often fight to help others. April and Feb were the ones who discovered the Sol Bianca. April is thoughtful of her actions, but is also as impulsive as Janny when cornered. Most of the time she plays the mother and leader to the crew when Feb isn't sober. She appears very protective of everyone on board. She wears a red battle armor. Her favorite weapon is usually a laser whip/knife or a pistol.
    In Sol Bianca: the Legacy she is the one who inherits the control pistol, recovered the ship and June. As the owner she is the captain.
  • Feb Fall: (Yohko Matsuoka/Laura Chapman) Captain of the Sol Bianca and oldest of the group. A woman of mystery, She is a calm and rational person, preferring to find a peaceful solution, but is capable in her own right. Feb is also cunning and a master at tactics and strategies. In the Sol Bianca 2 it is reveal that she and April discovered the starship. She usually carries a short shotgun. She is also good with a sniper laser. She wears light gray armor.
    In Sol Bianca: the Legacy she is a lot more fond of drinking.
  • Janny Mann: (Minami Takeyama/Sue Ulu) Heavy gunsmith with all sorts of weapons. She's a hot tempered, foul-mouthed young woman that is easily irritated by many people. She's familiar with any kind of weapons, armor suits and vehicles. Naturally, she usually directs the ship's weaponry on her bridge station, but she also can fly the ship when necessary. Most of her past is unknown but when June hacks into her diary in Sol Bianca 2, a few pictures of Janny's previous life are revealed. She wears slate-gray armor. She and June do not get along very well and are constantly bickering with each other.
  • June Ashel: (Yuriko Fuchizaki/Tiffany Grant) Hologram expert with computer skills. She is a selfish young teen who worries over her hair, and steals fancy dresses out of cargo containers. In Sol Bianca 2 it is revealed that June has an empathic link with the ship and its computer, even feeling its internal pain. Most of the time she drives the cargo truck that sucks up all the goodies they steal from cargo freighters or is called upon to infiltrate enemy computer systems. She has a sister like relationship with Mei.
    In Sol Bianca: the Legacy she is found inside the Sol Bianca by April. She is the last remaining member of the original crew. June has a very strong connection to "G", the ship's artificially intelligent computer, and may even be apart of it in some way. She also has a holographic device that creates Sancho (who looks like a genie) that is linked to "G" and has the ability to access and manipulate other computer systems.

May Jessica: (Miki Itou/Kimberly Yales) The youngest member of the crew. She likes frilly clothes, and is the ship's genius chief engineer responsible for the ship's maintenance and repairs. She cares about all the members of the crew who are like family to her. Being so young and isolated, she sometimes views the world fairly simply, and seems to have crush on Rim. May usually hangs out with June. The two are often left in charge of the ship when the others are out. She pilots a powered and heavily armored battlesuit (apple-green and red), similar to a Landmate, for work.
In Sol Bianca: the Legacy she is a stowaway on the ship. April decided to help her find her parents on Earth, only to find out from her uncle and aunt that May's parents have been killed by another group of pirates. She then decided to go with April and the others as a new and youngest crew member. On-board she attends a holographic simulated school life. She is usually lively, and somewhat immature person. She is often more preoccupied with having fun than with getting her homework done.

[edit]
Sol Bianca / OVA 1

  • Rim Delapez: (Daisuke Namikawa/Jay Zeidman) The young boy who stows away aboard a cargo crate, and is found by the Sol Bianca crew. He asks the crew to help him rescue his mother from the planet Tres.
  • Dr. Delapez: (Tesshou Genda/John Swasey) Rim 's father, he works with the leaders of the Uno Resistance.
  • Emperor Batros: (Takeshi Aono/Tristan MacAvery) The Evil Emperor of the planet Tres. He is the antagonist.

[edit]
Sol Bianca 2 / OVA 2

  • Gomez: (Daisuke Kyouri) Leader of the pirate gang the Sol Bianca crew encounters. His treatment of women is bad.

"Yuri Shuraba": (Shuuichi Ikeda) A mysterious man who claims to be someone from Feb and April's past. A major foreshadow for the events to come in Sol Bianca 3.

 Sol Bianca & The OSR 

  Sol Bianca is the perfect model for an old space game. Well minus the tentacle sex/rape stuff. The whole thing is padded out to the perfect adventuring campaign . 

  1. The unique prototype star ship that the party uses for adventuring. The way that the anime handles hyperspace is unique & very much what I'd like to see in my games. 
  2. Landmates are in evidence & are always welcome as an edition in my games
 In case your wondering what a landmate is go Here

3. The fact that this model for the break down of a party is great. You could use this for X plorers, Terminal Space , & it really goes well with the stars Without Number Idea.. 
4. With a little bit of work these ideas can be transferred into my 40s science fiction campaign



Bottomline I'm going have to end up checking out Legacy & see where I go from there. 

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