Medium: TV Anime (13 episodes + 3 DVD-only OAV episodes) Genres: Drama, Adventure, Mystery, Comedy Adapted from: Baccano! (ongoing 2003 light novel series) Director: Takahiro Omori Studio: Brain's Base Release Date: Jul. 26 – Nov. 1, 2007 (JP – WOWOW), December 2009 (US – FUNimation), Oct. 2010 (UK – Manga UK) Rated: 18 (UK BBFC, due to frequent swearing and frequent intense violence) Ed. Note: Welcome to our fourth and final "Anime Secret Santa Review." Our reviewers were given review requests as gifts from their Secret Santas, and are now unveiling their opinions of the shows they chose. For more information, check out our 2010 Anime Secret Santa introductory post. Before I talk about Baccano! proper, I'd first like to thank my Secret Santa, whoever they may be. All three of your choices were excellent. I had already seen and loved Kino's Journey, but when it came to choosing between Baccano! and Eden of the East, it was a close run contest. What made my mind up for me is the following sequence of events, which I shall dramatize for you: : "Hmm, I want to watch both Eden of the East and Baccano! - what to do?" : "Hey, Hey Elliot!" : "What's that?" : "Hey there!" : "What the?" : "Hey there, Elliot, we think you should watch Baccano!. That would be for the best." : "Why?" : "Well, look how happy we are! Don't you want to find out why we are happy, and be happy yourself?" : "I guess..." : "Do it!" : "Agh! Okay, okay." : "Excellent....." It went something like that. What I present here is more something of a trip report than a full review. Now onto the show itself. Having watched the main 13 episode series, I have come to regard Baccano! as a series of victories and small wonders, furnishing the viewer with a massively entertaining show that manages to satisfy without outstaying its welcome or stretching too far. I will admit that until sitting down and watching it I have avoided all discussion or reviews of Baccano! (Including the Ani-Gamers review) as whenever someone has mentioned the show they have taken pains to point out that almost anything is a spoiler when it comes to the shows twisting plotline. I even avoided reading the synopsis on the back of the DVD set before watching. (I’m glad I didn’t — whoever wrote the one on the Manga UK DVD set appears to have been drunk.) To outline the show: set primarily in the early 1930s, Baccano! follows the exploits of a wide range of characters in both Manhattan and the transcontinental express train "The Flying Pussyfoot" as they all go about their personal business. The narrative jumps between different time periods and different characters with such frequency that the show's creators saw fit to make much of the first episode a primer for what is to follow. For most of this episode, Norio Wakamoto (with full R-rolling in effect) and his assistant prepare the viewer by discussing in a broad sense the different time periods, settings and characters that you are going to spend the following 12 episodes with, as well as showing the viewer some juicy snippets of what is to come. This initially flummoxing first episode nearly turned me off of the show. It felt like a warning, telling me "Hey, if you aren't down with what’s going on now maybe you should just give up and put this back on your shelf. Oh, here is a quick cut of a young boy getting shot in the head. Bet you're interested now, eh?" Then, at the end of the episode something awesome happens (that I won't spoil) and I was hooked. To cut to the chase, the plotting works marvelously. The highest praise I can lavish on Baccano! is that even with all the switching of character, time period and setting, the entire plotline comes together into a coherent whole that is massively satisfying, like watching a good detective story. The timing and placement of character and time zone transitions feels meticulously thought out and perfectly judged to maintain viewer interest without causing confusion or irritation. When transitioning between different time periods the show will throw up a black static image with the year that the following events take place in - the genius of these cuts are that they act as welcome breathing spaces in the action, heightening tension. The presentation reminds me an awful lot of the Guy Ritchie film Snatch, which also uses multiple viewpoints to weave together a coherent and thrilling tale. I was worried towards the end that Baccano! would contract a fatal case of "Dumb Anime Ending" syndrome, but I was proven completely and wonderfully wrong. The ending was not bombastic or laden with sudden twists, but was immensely satisfying and ties the disparate plotlines up wonderfully. The characters themselves also do a lot of the lifting when it comes to drawing you into the story, in part because there are so damn many of them but also because they are genuinely interesting. One particular character is called Jacuzzi Splot, and when I first saw him, i hated his guts. He had a dumb tattoo, a whiny voice, and a melancholy outlook on life. His one redeeming feature was that listening to Japanese voice actors try and pronounce "Jacuzzi" was endlessly amusing. But after a few appearances I began to root for the guy as his development on screen was so engaging and interesting to watch. This happens a lot with the characters — you might not like them, but you come to understand them through their actions. I can honestly say that Baccano! is one of the few shows that have had me rooting for a mass murderer. Multiple mass murderers, in fact. Not only are the characters interesting because of their actions, but they also look great. Everyone is stylishly drawn and with a great deal of care, something that really helps out not only in learning names but also in deciphering expressions and intentions of the cast and helping you connect with them. This ability to empathize with the characters really pulls you in, and I feel is best outlined by two of its best characters, Isaac and Miria. I love these two, so very much. Isaac and Miria are a pair of loud, boisterous, idiotic and immensely lucky thieves and the fact that they feel like believable characters while acting in such an absurd manner for their entire time on screen is a credit to the series. They are used just the right amount — too little and they would become a throwaway gimmick, too much and they would take over the show and ruin the magic. I mentioned that the characters were stylish before. In fact the whole series is damn stylish. Every character, backdrop and action has style in spades. What makes this work is that the style is completely cohesive and well thought out to work as a single whole experience: no sudden SHAFT-style insanity, no winks at the camera, no snickering to itself behind the stage curtains. Every element presented on screen has a purpose and it was put there to contribute directly towards viewer enjoyment, drawing you into a coherent world that has a tangible feeling of authenticity to it. To sum up my thoughts on Baccano!, after the end of the 13th episode in my third non-stop viewing session, I stood up to retrieve the DVD from the disc tray and thought to myself: "Wow. That was really enjoyable. I wish more things were made this well." I only regret I waited until I had to be pushed by Santa to actually sit down and watch it! [Highly Recommended] This review is based on the Manga UK DVD box set, purchased by the reviewer.
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Review: If there were Best Screenplay and Best Editing Awards for anime, Baccano! would be a locked winner. The shear strength of script, direction and unique style of storytelling is conspicuously visible throughout the show. Without these qualities, Baccano! would … Continue reading →
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I know this looks kinda silly given that I just posted the first impressions but being able to taste the NEET life gave me amazing marathoning powers that I put to good use. So I ended up marathoning the whole … Continue reading →
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I know I still have Princess Tutu to finish, but Durarara!! managed to impress me last spring. Since Baccano! was from the same production crew and I happened to have it lying around on DVD, I decided to check it … Continue reading →
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Gangsters, immortals and monsters, oh my - the transcontinental train the Flying Pussyfoot has problems, and there's a real doubt that its passengers will reach their destination alive. The information brokers at the Daily Days newspaper have a handle on what's been going on on-board, though, so here are the details... Read more...
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Gangsters, immortals and monsters, oh my - the transcontinental train the Flying Pussyfoot has problems, and there's a real doubt that its passengers will reach their destination alive. The information brokers at the Daily Days newspaper have a handle on what's been going on on-board, though, so here are the details... Read more...
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We held the Anime Selection Meeting today and Baccano! got so many votes that the officers couldn’t even bother counting them. So yeah, starting next week, we will be screening an episode of Baccano every Wednesday until we’ve covered all 13 episodes. After that, another Anime Selection Meeting will be held to choose the next series that we will be screening, probably [...]
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It pains me to say this, since there’s so much about Durarara! that I enjoyed to some extent: In the end, Durarara! just isn’t all that great of a series. Much has been said about the similarities and differences between Baccano! and Durarara! It makes sense, what with both being written by the same author. [...]
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A mafia turf war is raging on the mean streets of the Big Apple, a place where regular joes bounce between backdoor booze joints and the breadline. But this caper ain't about a simple gangland brawl. It's about hoods who can't seem to die proper after catching a bullet or five between the eyes. Sadistic hitmen and the dames they love, mad bombers going boom, monsters going bump, and soul sucking alchemists bootlegging an elixir of life. If you watch the first episode of Baccano! and are thoroughly confused by it, don't worry, that's supposed to happen. The story is presented in a very disjointed way, constantly jumping back and forth between the years that it takes place in. The whole thing is very confusing until you get far enough into the series and things start getting explained, which inevitably leads to the story jumping around in time more to show previous events from a different angle. Baccano! really isn't something you can just stick in your DVD player and let play in the background while you do something else. You'd never be able to  understand what was going on as you really need to give it your undivided attention. This isn't helped by the fact that there is quite a large cast of characters for such a short show, most of whom play a major role in the story at one point or another. So many character and organization names get tossed around so frequently that it's easy to get overwhelmed by them. With a cast as large as this it would be impossible to talk about each one and still keep this review a reasonable length. Instead I'll just focus on the few that really stand out. If I had to pick one character who really steals the show, my choice would easily be Ladd Russo, a central character in the part of the story that takes place aboard a train named The Flying Pussyfoot. He's a completely sadistic, murdering bastard, who stands out simply because he has no ulterior motive. He doesn't kill for money, or to reach some goal of world domination, he happily slaughters people because he just enjoys it. Ladd is perhaps a bit disturbing, but he's at least an interesting character to watch. From dancing in someone's blood to skipping gleefully because he hears gunfire, he simply revels in the suffering of other people. He's not a deep character in any away, he's just thoroughly fascinating in his simplicity. The runners up for stealing the show would have to be Isaac and Miria, a hopeless pair of thieves. These two are the comic relief characters of the show, giving us a break from all the blood and violence. Truth be told they're probably a little out of place in a show like Baccano! with it's rather serious nature and content. But there's something endearing about the two that makes them such great characters that it doesn't matter if they don't belong. They're both extremely weird, yet entirely loveable characters that I wish they had gotten more screen time, which isn't to say that they don't have a lot already as they're at least somewhat involved in each major story going on. I've mentioned that the series is bloody and violent, but I really need to put more emphasis on that. This isn't the sort of violence you can just shrug off like in something along the lines of Naruto or Bleach. You have the normal things like characters getting shot or stabbed, but then there are things like characters having half their heads cut off, or throats being slit accompanied by the appropriate ridiculous blood spray. The violence in the series culminates with one character whose preferred method of killing is hanging people over the train and dragging their arms or faces along the tracks. Needless to say it can be quite grisly if you aren't prepared for it. Baccano!'s art does an excellent job capturing the mood of the setting. Scenes set in Great Depression era New York have a very drab colour scheme to them, making liberal use of grey. You rarely get a chance to see how fluid the animation is, but during the few fight scenes set on top of the Flying Pussyfoot the series finally has a chance to show what its capable of. The fluidity of the animation for these particular scenes is more than you would expect for a series that doesn't place emphasis on fighting, and it's more than what you see in some series that actually do. The character designs are all fairly normal, but still great, sometimes going into incredible detail in close up shots. It's an excellent production overall. Funimation's dub of Baccano! does things quite differently than the original. They made the smart choice of giving the characters accents, though they made them sound more like something from a movie set in the 1930's as opposed to more realistic ones. That isn't a bad thing, although some may feel that the cartoonish sounding accents don't necessarily fit with the content of the series. As far as individual performances go, once again Ladd Russo steals the show. Brian Massey gives a phenomenal performance in the role, perfectly capturing the absolutely sadistic personality of the character, which is helped by some minor script changes that really accentuate how insane the character is. Chuck Huber also shines in his role as the Devil, mostly because the Devil is more of an ethereal voice than a person. This gives the actor a chance to focus on just acting without having to worry about matching lip flaps, and how much that helps really shows in his performance. Something this dub has going for it is that it doesn't rely too heavily on the normal stable of Funimation voice actors, or at least when given room to really stretch their legs in a role it doesn't sound like it uses too many of them. It's a phenomenal dub overall that really helps heightens the experience of the show. Extras on the DVDs include the normal textless opening and closing, and trailers. We also get commentaries for four episodes, which seems like a lot for such a short series. Whether they count as extras or not the set also includes episodes 14 to 16, which weren't originally broadcast in Japan. Some places list them as an OVA but really they just feel like the last three episodes of the series, either way they're there. Other extras include a short promotional video, and a short documentary of the production of the series titled “Baccano! Propaganda Program.” Nothing really great as far as extras go but still more than what we get from most sets. Baccano! is an excellent series, if perhaps a bit on the violent and bloody side. Its storytelling may be a bit confusing for the casual viewer, so unless you're really interested in what Baccano! has to show you it may not be the series for you. But, if you don't mind all the blood and violence and are willing to devote your full attention to it, the great story and interesting characters make Baccano! a series that you absolutely must see. The Packaging        <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=anthsrevi-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=bpl&amp;asins=B002R0LRGW&amp;fc1=D5D3D3&amp;IS2=1&amp;lt1=_blank&amp;m=amazon&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;bc1=000000&amp;bg1=121212&amp;f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>
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Really, Chane's awesome hair-glare is reason enough alone to watch Baccano!
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Alright, this will be a double sided post.  First I’ll cover my thoughts on the series, etc. as expected.  And then I want to make some remarks on the second half, that being, what makes a proper bad guy?  Oh yes, and I’m linking to fanart at random throughout this.  So feel free not to [...]
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I created a poll not more than a few days ago. The poll said something along the lines of: What show should I watch next? The choices? Well, see for yourself if you want, but the bottom-line is, some people left comments telling me to watch Baccano, which was actually what I planned on doing, but just [...]
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Just a few days ago I finished Baccano! from a downloaded torrent with dual audios on it. As always I tend to try the English dub first to see if it stand in quality but to my amazement the English voice actor played the characters well and totally fits the 1930’s feel of the mafia, [...] Related posts:It Always End. What Will Next Year Be Like? Kimi ni Todoke Anyone? Interesting New Anime Lining Up This Winter
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It's not what you think. Okay, maybe it is.
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Available from Amazon Available from Right Stuf Baccano Vol. 4 Released By: Funimation Released: 6/16/09 Reviewed: 8/20/09 Related Reviews Rated: 17+ The Story In the final four episodes of Baccano, all three years will be more or less tied up. In 1930, a standoff in the alley will finally reveal who drank the juice of immortality and who is devoured. Quates and Ennis have [...]
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  Baccano! Released By: Funimation Vol. 1 Vol. 2 Vol. 3 Vol. 4      
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Baccano! is so good! Never before has so much madness and fun been crammed into such a short series and I'm so in love with Baccano!.Story: (10/10) – AwesomeBaccano! follows several events that initially seem unrelated, both in time and place, but are part of a much bigger story - one of alchemy, survival and immortality. Because of this, one will never feel bored watching this series. I almost dropped this series as I couldn’t understand the first episode at all. Thank goodness I didn’t as this series goes from the incomprehensible first episode to a captivating mystery series. This series is so engaging and captivating that I managed to finish the entire series (13 episodes + 3 OVAs – too short!!) in two nights. The perfect combination of comedy, drama and action, makes this series very fun and exciting to watch. I must say Baccano! has one of the best story writing I have seen thus far.Character: 10/10 - AwesomeOther than a great storyline, Baccano! also has a fantastic cast of ageless immortals, alchemists, homunculus, mafia, thieves, assassins, journalists, and an insane serial killer. The unique thing about this series is it has no main character. There are at least 15 important characters and many other supporting characters. Though this series has so many characters, the creators did a great job in giving each of them a distinctive identity, a clearly defined role, and a unique personality. The characters are over the top, ruthless, lovable, and great fun to watch.It’s not easy to name my favorite characters as all the characters are lovable in their own ways. Here are some of the characters I like:Issac and Miria - They are so dumb, so naive, so kind and so cute! They can make everyone around them smile. ^-^Firo – I find him cute and cool!Czesław – He’s so cute!!Claire (also known as Vino or Rail-Tracer) – He’s very brutal but yet romantic!Jacuzzi – Even though he’s a cry baby, he’s really sweet and brave.Art/Animation: 9/10 – GreatThe art is very detailed. It’s so detailed that it even shows the minor details of the brutal violence left on victims. As for animation, though this is not a pure action series, I’m very impressed with the action scenes. It’s really intense and the movements of the characters are fast and yet smooth at the same time. The only downside is some of the scenes are too dark and I can’t quite see what’s happening.Music: 9/10 – GreatThe soundtrack is jazzy and it suits the mood of the series perfectly. Within a single episode, the background music can be gruesome and frightening one moment, lighthearted and charming the next, and occasionally both simultaneously, with a very natural flow.Enjoyment: 10/10 - AwesomeThis series is very addictive to watch!Overall: 10/10 - AwesomeThis is an awesome series! It’s full of wins and I can’t think of anything bad about it except that it’s a little too violent and bloody. If you don’t dread blood, this series is a must-watch!I try my best not to reveal too much in this review as it will spoil the mystery and fun. This is a surprisingly under-watched series. I feel that such a series definitely deserves more love. ♥
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Available from Amazon Available from Right Stuf Baccano Vol. 3 Released By: Funimation Released: 5/5/09 Reviewed: 7/27/09 Rated: 17+ The Story The three stories involving 20+ characters in Baccano will finally start to move towards their collective climax in these episodes. Starting with the conflicts of 1930, Dallas and his friends are now facing a brand new lease on life thanks for Quates [...]
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Available from Amazon Available from Right Stuf Baccano Vol. 2 Released By: Funimation Released: 3/24/09 Reviewed: 7/17/09 Related Reviews Rated: 17+ Ok, let’s see if I can explain this one without getting it jumbled in the process… The Story In the next four episodes of Baccano, three years will play out further starting in 1930 when Dallas Genoard and those he associates with stumble across [...]
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And so, I finished watching 16 episodes of the anime so far. I’m still looking forward for further OVAs as well. The story is very whimsical. You won’t really be ready what to watch out for in this anime because the cliffhangers from the previous episode doesn’t really connect that much to that of the next [...]
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