Sol Bianca: The Legacy Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2006-07-09 (updated 2012-08-08)
• 3 stars out of 5 (?)

Sol Bianca: The Legacy is a prime example of early 21st century "postmodern" anime--stylish, loaded with pop-culture references, and willfully avant-garde. Throughout its six episodes it covers a lot of ground, but despite a few very good dramatic parts and lots of creative storytelling it never feels comfortable in most of the genres it touches on. The too-silly first two episodes start it off on the wrong foot, and when it swings back toward drama it goes so far that the action is almost unnecessary. The Legacy feels most at home in its emotionally complex, character-driven scenes, which are subtle and realistic (if ill-explained), but you'll have to forget some pretty sour notes and put up with some rather weird plot to get to them. At least it's flat-out gorgeous, and has some very fine acting in both languages, as well as quality music.

You don't need to be a fan of the originals to appreciate Sol Bianca: The Legacy, and indeed you might enjoy it more if you're not due to the character changes and simultaneous shift toward more silly and more moody. Regardless, it's halfway between a very attractive action series and a moody, style-heavy drama, but is so uneven and takes so long to get its footing that I have trouble recommending it even with all its strengths.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2006-07-09 (updated 2012-08-08)
• 3 stars out of 5 (?)

Sol Bianca: The Legacy is a prime example of turn-of-the-century "postmodern" anime--stylish, loaded with pop-culture references, and willfully avant-garde. It's also a significant departure from the movies on which it's based, and so hugely inconsistent that I can't even decide whether I liked it or not.

You needn't be familiar with the original two movies to appreciate The Legacy, although existing fans will find somewhat different characters, notably more silliness, and at the same time a darker, moody plot.¹ On its own, the series takes a very long time to find its footing. When it eventually does, the ongoing story is interesting enough, the characters are surprisingly three dimensional, and there's a respectable amount of very slick action.

The Legacy follows the basic Pioneer theme of starting out with a lot of unexplained stuff going on, then slowly filling in details, but it feels different from most of their previous series in everything from the all-English alternative rock intro to the outrageous superweapons. Filled with creative editing and bits of nonlinear storytelling, the whole production oozes style and mystery.

Everything about The Legacy is simultaneously conscious of past art while flaunting its modernity. The flashy, computer-assisted visuals draw on pop style from Macross to MTV, and look spectacular. Director Hiroyuki Ochi (best known for Armitage III) brings a distinctive live-action-inspired style influenced by US action movies, John Woo, and more. The story references everything from the Bible to classic science fiction, and the world and characters infuse classic anime prototypes with a stiff dose of Y2K attitude.

The spectacular visuals are almost unquestionably the high point of The Legacy. Beautifully drawn, darkly stylish art compliments the slick, realistic character animation. The character designs update the attractive realism of the originals with an angular finish, and the costuming is a running fashion show. The mechanical design is equally creative, from the sweeping curves of the Sol Bianca to the rest of the CG ships, all of which blend well with the cel-based art. Locations range from the rustic, Spain-like town the story begins in to a cyberpunk metropolis, and include neat spots and otherwise familiar locations with creatively weird touches. Finally, there is a hefty dose of pure artistic flair, mainly in the last couple of episodes--everything from giant holographic goddesses to artificial eclipses.

The series does suffer from a few uncomfortable-looking pans early on, but is otherwise free of the flaws of other early computer-composited anime.

Then there's the action: Fast, furious, and fluidly animated. Highlights include a brief but spectacular dogfight in episode two and a ship-to-ship battle in part one with an impressive sense of mass and scale. Shown from the perspective of the town it takes place over, the ships loom huge in the sky as shockwaves rattle buildings--vivid and very cool. This is tainted by some exaggerated weapons and a silly mess of a gunfight in the first episode, as well as part three, which puts style over believability or excitement.

The girls the series revolves around are anime stereotypes with a serious modern tweak. They may be pirates on a space ship hundreds of years in the future, but they're cell-phone-equipped, fashion-conscious, and outfitted with realistic, troubled personalities and plenty of attitude. From Mayo's shattered childhood to Janny's seething personality and chiseled physique, these are not the anime heroines of yesteryear, or even of the previous Sol Bianca incarnation.

Feb and April are both notably more mature than the average action babe, but most impressive is to-the-limit tomboy Janny: Physically beefy and un-feminine, her personality is similarly rough-hewn, with an air of being angry yet aloof and just barely under control.

The series features an all-new and very talented Japanese voice cast, though I was still a little disappointed since the originals were so good. The veteran Yoshiko Sakakibara is a solid replacement for Yohko Matsuoka as Feb's voice, though June's new voice, relative unknown Eri Miyajima, isn't as distinctive as Yuriko Fuchizaki (June being my favorite of her roles).

I can nit pick and point out that the rapport isn't as strong, and they're not as much fun, but the dramatic acting is forceful and nuanced. April (voiced by Rika Matsumoto) and Feb are backed by the most impressive performances, though the other three all get their turns. Tomo Saeki as Janny is dramatically believable on top of a singularly dry, angry performance.

The English dub is well cast, well scripted, and well acted, with consummate veteran Wendee Lee as April being the real standout--a fine performance.

The music, by Seikou Nagaoka, is another highlight. Background themes range from mellow countryside guitar riffs, to atmospheric vocalizing, to some very cool techno-choir pieces, with an occasional action theme reminiscent of the one from the first movie. The end theme is an appealing and unusual alternative guitar piece, and I'm quite fond of the intro, an upbeat but slightly wistful alternative rock song with a hint of techno. Both songs are in English, a trend with Pioneer/Geneon.

I've been raving up to this point, but that's only half of the picture. The problem with The Legacy is that it hits so many genres it can't seem to make up its mind about what it's supposed to be, and it's halfway over before it starts to pull anything coherent together.

It's so scattered that it makes the most sense to give an episode-by-episode breakdown:

Episode 1 is a lot like the two movies: The women plan something, then have their plan go awry or ignore it entirely and make up for any shortcomings with serious firepower and wild action. Dramatically, it includes some surprisingly affecting scenes with the traumatized Mayo. Sadly, the action is uncoordinated and over-the-top. The gunfight choreography is terrible--first nobody is shooting, and once they do bother to open fire nobody can hit anything (even though Janny looks to have enough firepower to level the entire building). Janny's immense guns look like they belong to an action figure, and the Sol Bianca's superweapon, a towering holographic goddess, reminded me of a summoned monster attack in a video game--out of scale and so flashy it's silly.

Episode 2 is a mess. It features June and Mayo wending their way through a literary-themed, trap-filled labyrinth that should have been cool. Except June has a silly holographic genie straight out of a Disney cartoon with a database of knowledge that takes the pressure off her to know anything. Instead of a harried brainiac being drug through danger, June ends up blindly walking along letting him do everything, including killing any sense of risk. It may work for Aladdin, but not here. Adding injury to insult, everything takes a sudden turn toward serious in the last two minutes, which has no impact thanks to the awkward comedy leading up to it.

Episode 3 is another tangent centered on Janny. This time it's dead-serious and laid out very much like a hard-boiled John Woo movie--lots of stylish action and subtle, harsh character development. The concept and emotional structure are interesting, but the execution is flawed; it tries to compress a lot of action, some allegorical political plot, and a grim love/family story into 25 minutes. The result is so choppy and underdeveloped that it's hard to empathize with the characters and it feels as if everything that would have made Janny's reactions make sense was dropped for time.

Episode 4 is where the series finally starts to get its footing, coming back to what was started in the first episode and exploring the relationship between April and Feb. Here we have a grim, emotionally complex drama seasoned with a bit of action, but that in and of itself is something of an issue: The serious drama is almost completely at odds with the blatantly violent methods of the Sol Bianca's crew. It also has nothing to do with the light mood of the first part of this series (or its predecessors).

Episodes 5 and 6 bring together all the dramatic threads started through the series: Mayo's past, Feb and April's relationship, and the slightly-too-mysterious political intrigue. It also adds a dose of tragedy and more mysterious tie-ins with the Sol Bianca, but even here things don't quite add up. The character-driven scenes that make up most of the final episodes are handled properly, but as in episode 3, much of the deep emotional turmoil isn't given enough time and setup to make sense. The subtle emotions work, but a firm "why" is conspicuously absent, and it all seems a little hurried, cutting down on the impact. It still makes for decent drama, but it's rushed and, combined with some very weird stuff going on between the bad guys and the Sol Bianca, rather confusing. The end, incidentally, leaves almost all of the mysteries in the series unexplained, though it does firmly wrap up the plot.

When you put all that together, the series covers a lot of ground, but despite a few very good parts and lots of creative storytelling it never feels comfortable in most of the genres it touches on. The too-silly first two episodes start it off on the wrong foot, and when it swings back toward drama it goes so far in that direction that the action is almost unnecessary. The Legacy feels most at home in its emotionally complex, character-driven scenes, which are subtle and realistic (if ill-explained), but you'll have to forget some pretty sour notes and put up with some rather weird plot to get to them. On the whole I'd say it's halfway between a very attractive action series and a moody, style-heavy drama, but is so uneven that I have trouble recommending it, even though I want to.

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Related Recommendations

Aside from the original pair of Sol Bianca movies, other similarly style-heavy, action-oriented postmodern anime series include the sci-fi Cowboy Bebop and its alternate-past kin Samurai Champloo, both of which are much better on account of more solid worlds and consistency.