Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

I know I posted thrice today already but I just can’t not write about Baccano, considering I just finished watching all 13 episodes.

Super spoilerific picture.

It’s brilliant! When one has watched more anime than four digits can tabulate, he gains the ability to realise when he is seeing something special. Right off the bat from episode 1, I knew I would love Baccano if it maintained the standards. It not only did, over the course of the 13 episodes, but actually got better as we managed to unravel the timelines.

Baccano is a series of novels by Narita Ryougo, and the anime is an adaptation of mainly the 2nd arc (novels 2 and 3), which is "The Grand Punk Railroad", an epic battle royale between 6 factions for control of the trans-continental express train, the Flying Pussyfoot. Interwoven into this main plot are two separate series of events which take place before and after the train adventure respectively. It’s not like a Haruhi-esque episode shuffling where the chronology is affected (eg 4 to 7, 6 to 3), it’s just a consistent moving from one event plot to the other, all 3 moving linearly and independently. As a result, the first episode appears somewhat difficult to grasp but by the 2nd, if you don’t get it, you must be an idiot.

There is only one sentence which can sum up this series, and it is "You HAVE TO SEE IT regardless of whether you’re a moe fan, mecha fan, murder fan, action fan, yaoi fan, yuri fan etc, it’s fucking BRILLIANT!"

With that, I conclude the spoilerless section. Read on for the full review!

SPOILERS!

The three event series are set in 1930, 1931 and 1932, in America when the Italian mafia still ruled. The 1930 one deals with how Isaac, Miria, Firo and other young Mafioso become immortals and defeat Szilard, the big bad guy. The 1932 one is fucking boring and stars Eve Genoard who is searching for her older brother Dallas. The main plot is 1931, which as previously mentioned, is when the big train battle occurred.

The basic story is: A couple of hundred years ago, on a ship, a group of alchemists (Maiza actually) summon a demon who brews a large amount of immortality elixir and everyone onboard drinks it, gaining eternal life and unlimited regeneration. But there’s a catch - everyone can only use their real names and everyone also has the ability to eat other immortals by placing their right hand on another Immortal’s head and thinking "I want to eat". This results in one of the greedy ones, Szilard, devouring many of the other immortals. The remaining ones band together and toss him off the ship.

In 1930, Szilard successfully recreates the formula for immortality but loses it to Dallas and his gang who by coincidence beat up the old man carrying it. They then lose it to Isaac and Miria who, in their ignorance, served it to all the guests of the Martillo mafia family. Szilard assaults the party and kills everyone except Maiza and I & M, but everyone is now immortal. So they rape him together with Ennis who betrays because he’s such a dick.

In 1931, Blacksuits hijack the train, taking everyone hostage. White suits rise up and counter them, murdering many on the way. Jacuzzi and gang fight the blacksuits. Vino, the Rail Tracer, kills most of everyone, leaving the good guys alive. Isaac and Miria save Czeslaw, who was bad and punished by Vino.

In 1932, Eve searches for her brother at an information agency. The Runorata mafia family are looking for him as well. They kidnap her but she escapes with the IA’s help and seeks her brother at the Gandors’, who tell both Don Runorata and Eve the entire story in 1930. Eve and Don Ru head off to save Dallas.

The six factions in 1931 are:

White Suits
They just want to murder! I don’t really like them but Ladd is quite cool, and his battles with Chane are quite spectacular. His final scene was a nice surprise too, he can be considered a bit tsundere. The white suits are quite stupid and Vino fodder.

Ladd Russo - leader of the murderous white suits

Black Suits
The black suits were the first to hijack the train and were threatening the senator’s wife and daughter, because they wanted Huey Laforet back, for his secret of immortality. Chane was originally one of them, but she’s too loyal to Huey. Chane is sooo sexy, I like her. In fact, I like most of the characters in Baccano.

The Delinquents
The vigilantes, these kids were forced to band into a gang by oppressing mafia members. They are deceptively powerful though, see how crybaby Jacuzzi is so manly when he needs to be. Jacuzzi and Nice are also a cute couple. They were intending to rob the train I think, and did in the end.

Jacuzzi Splot and Nice Holyfield - crybaby and explosion fetishist

The Rail Tracer
Vino and his one-man army of massacre was probably the biggest plot twist in the series. He also gets the best action scenes, seriously. Though deluded and self-centred, he is one sexy man. No wonder he and Chane got together.

The Thieves
Isaac and Miria, the immortal thieves who don’t even know they are immortal, didn’t do much during the train battle, except for saving Czeslaw. They are more like a catalyst for many events. Also provides all the comedy.

Isaac and Miria - lovable, bumbling, yet incredibly successful thieves.

Czeslaw
The young shota basically tries to hatch a plan and gets slaughtered. But he can’t die, yet he’s so weak. He was a fool to have drunk the elixir at his age.

Poor emo kid. Can’t blame him, he’s gotten his eyes ripped out and experienced other forms of torture.

Information Bureau
Rachel is their representative on the train, and while technically not a faction involved, she did appear quite a bit. I like Rachel too.

And for the other two timelines we have:

Szilard and Ennis
The bad guy Szilard is the one who creates all the trouble in 1930. He’s a bastard, I hate him. Ennis,his homunculus, is cute and sexy, and gets attached to Firo.

Bad bad man

Lovable Ennis

Firo, Maiza and the Martillo Family
The suave, swashbuckling Firo is the star of the 1930 arc. He defeats Szilard with the aid of Ennis. I like him.

Firo and Maiza - immortal mafia

Luck and the Gandors
They do nothing much at all except look cool. They also sink Dallas and gang to the bottom of the river in concrete.

Luck Gandor - Youngest of the three brothers

Isaac and Miria

Eve Genoard and Family
Protagonist of 1932, useless.

Rurorata Family
Antagonists of 1932, useless.

One of the problems with Baccano is the huge character cast, some of who appear in multiple timelines at once, such as Isaac and Miria. This is solved by the fantastic opening, Guns and Roses, by Paradise Lunch (an all-girl jazz pop group). The opening animation names and introduces all the important characters, this constant reminder prevents you from forgetting.

I love the character designs, the guys look cool and the girls are hot, not in fan-servicey ways but a more classy style.

While the short 13 episodes is kind of sad, this probably allowed the intensely fast pacing of the series. Lots of things go on at the same time, and link to one another. The action is fluid and well-animated, with great choreography which reminds you of those great action flicks, rather than typical anime battles.

Trust me, this is an anime you won’t want to miss! Nobody is really talking about it because of the irregular fansub releases, and there’s not much to talk about actually.

Baccano is totally unlike a typical anime, which is a good thing. Its unconventionality, from the vocalless OP, to the multiple timelines, and the lack of anime-cliches, propels it into the 2nd highest level of Riuva anime grading. It would be up there with the likes of Planetes, Gintama, GitS SAC had it been longer. I like 13 episode shows less.

DO WATCH!!!!!!!!!