Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise.
Theatrical feature, 1987. Director: Hiroyuki Yamaga. 125 minutes. Price & format: $29.95 DVD. Distributor: Manga Entertainment.

Royal Space Force was a milestone in Japanese animation history. A small group of young animators persuaded entertainment giant Bandai to fund their new studio's first theatrical feature; an intellectual sci-fi drama with no merchandising tie-ins. The movie bombed financially but won critical raves that established Studio Gainax's reputation. Also, the movie's video release helped demonstrate the potential of Japan's new anime video market.

The movie typifies much of anime in emphasizing art -- richly-detailed backgrounds and costumes -- and story rather than full animation. Royal Space Force in particular has stunned audiences with its elaborate setting of an alternate Earth. Rather than merely showing normal society with fictional nations or historical figures, RSF depicts a completely original civilization with unique yet plausible designs of everything from religions to clothes and household artifacts. Even the symphonic score by Ryuichi Sakamoto has an unusually sharp metallic undertone that enhances the exoticism.

Shirotsugh Lhadatt finds himself amidst the scenery of war. © Bandai Entertainment.

Shirotsugh Lhadatt is a young sailor assigned to the Kingdom of Honneamise's tiny disaster-prone space program just as war looms. The commander is determined to orbit an astronaut before the Space Force is absorbed into the military effort. Shiro's enthusiasm at being chosen as the astronaut is tempered by the realization of all the safety testing they are bypassing. An equal worry is that the launch site is right on the border, and is sure to be captured or destroyed if fighting starts before the rocket is completed. Royal Space Force strikes a delicate balance of realistic, serious technological research; the drama of political tension, espionage and warfare; and the inspirational uplift of a young everyman's consideration of the space program's moral and social considerations (Shiro's girlfriend worries that the rocket could be used as a new weapon) and conviction of its positive benefits.

Sol Bianca: The Legacy continues the tale of an all-female pirate crew on a ship with unmatched technology. © 1999 AIC / Pioneer LDC, Pioneer Entertainment (USA) L.P.

Sol Bianca: The Legacy. V.1, Lost Treasures. V.2, Separation. V.3, Going Home.
Original animation video (OAV) series, 2000. Director: Hiroyuki Ochi. 60 minutes each. Price each & format: $29.98 subtitled video, $24.98 dubbed video, $29.98 DVD bilingual. Distributor: Pioneer.

There is a school of thought that animated cartoons should look pretty but do not need to make much sense. Sol Bianca: The Legacy certainly plays to this philosophy. Yet its empty-headedness is unusually intellectual. Viewers will recognize the Alhambra in a palace on a distant planet, or that soaring holographic statues are based upon Alphonse Mucha's Art Nouveau posters. A giant maze is boastfully acknowledged to be a mechanical recreation (with deadly traps) of the levels of Dante's Divine Comedy. And where else would you find attacking space pirates dressed as though they were attending an opera?

This is a sequel of sorts to Sol Bianca, a 1990 OAV space opera from A.I.C. (Anime International Co.) about a band of sexy all-girl space pirates who steal only from despicable planetary dictators. It was a mindless Star Wars imitation, but had very nice art design by Naoyuki Onda. Ten years later, A.I.C. has upped the ante with this second Sol Bianca, a serial consisting of six half-hour episodes, two per volume. It nominally presents the same crew in a new adventure, except that the characters have different origins and relationships. What is important is that there is no longer any pretense that the story is important.