Product Details

• Actors: Yôko Matsuoka, Rei Sakuma, Minami Takayama, Yuriko Fuchizaki, Miki Itô
• Directors: Katsuhito Akiyama
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, Subtitled, NTSC
• Studio: Section 23
• VHS Release Date: November 11, 1998
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000005HYE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #455,718 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice anim. Almost a must have., June 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sol Bianca 1 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It's about 60 min of animated movie. The hi-tech starship Sol Bianca and its complement of five beautiful girls is used for space piracy. In this movie, the search for a treasure called the Gnosis leads them into a conflict involving a two planet empire and the final confrontation between Emperor Batros and the rebelion on planet Uno.

At first glance I thought those girls would be ruthless and cold blooded. Those characters are somehow charmy, tough but not heartless, and not as tough as the character Taarna in "Heavy Metal" the movie. The story is simple, not a deep drama as you may see in "Ninja Scroll" or "Wings of Honneamise", but it is entertaining. The story quality in my opinion is far superior when compared with the commercial-common-place story of "Street Fighter II".

The animation work is impressive, a clean style is used, tech designs are very tasty. There is some action and background music is not widely used.

One of my concerns was the level of violence contained because there is a legend on the cassette "Contains graphic violence, brief nudity and mature language". I must say that this movie has a couple of short violent moments. About nudity... well, I think "Sailor moon" has more nudity. Perhaps this warning is refered to the previews included before the motion picture. And there is mature language.

The subtitled in english version includes a bonus video portfolio where the sketches used for this movie are shown.

All in all, this is a nice and entertaining action anime with beautiful girls and stunning animations. If don't go for the drama this is an almost-must-have.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Highly enjoyable!, August 9, 2000

By 

Cafe - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sol Bianca 1 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I enjoyed this movie quite a bit, although there are some fairly large plot holes. Why does Rim's presence on board keep the ship from jumping into hyperspace? Where did the ship get that cool supercannon it used in the end? And how did the pirates fly safely back to the shuttle with half the Tres airforce on their tail? These problems notwithstanding, it was fun light watching with some really sharp animation. Among my favorite effects are the Sol Bianca submerging and reemerging from hyperspace, and Feb perched on the orbital ring, firing at the surface with a sniper rifle (well, she said it was designed for long range. . . .)

The music ranges from unremarkable to cheesy, mostly showing up only in the fight scenes. You'll probably never even notice that it has music, and skipping it would detract little from the movie.

One of my favorite parts of the movie is the characterization of the pirates. They are definitely self interested pirates, far more interested in plundering space lines than saving the world. While not particularly ruthless (they don't kill too many people in their raids,) they are most definitely pirates, and only heroic in comparison to truly evil people. For example they are more than happy to threaten Rim with spacing out the airlock if he doesn't volunteer more information about his presence on their ship. The quarrel and argue in a very convincing (if occasionally overly cute) way, they manage to fall somewhere between Errol Flynn's "Robin Hood" and Long John Silver.

I'm curious about the name of their ship: "Sol Bianca." The planet names are Spanish (Tres: Three, Uno: One,) so the ship name could also be Spanish, but I can't find a meaning for "Bianca" in any language, other than it being a girl's name. If you spell it "Sol Blanco," it translates as "White Sun," which is not only appropriate for a white ship, but a cool name in any case.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real Girl Power, January 8, 2000

By 

mr c ng (North Wales/U.K.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sol Bianca 1 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This animation is very entertaining and original, straight from the start, the nature of the heroines objective is clear! Superb animation, great story line, a must for all action fans of animation. The only let down is the statement in small letters on the box which can put some people off. Contains "brief nudity" but their isn't any, only from the trailer for another film? This is a must see animation for die-hard fans!