Baccano!
| Baccano! | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Original Manga | |
| Director/Artist | Takahiro Omori |
| Format | Anime (TV) |
| Made By | Brain's Base |
| Episode Length | 25 minutes |
| # of Eps/Volumes | 16 |
Contents
Genre
Sum it up in a Sentence:
Follows the lives of immortals during the 1930s while being presented in a non-chronological manner.
Main Description
In 1711, a group of alchemists seeking eternal life gathered on a boat to summon the demon that held the secret. The demon agreed to give them what they wanted: an elixir of life, the ability to create more, and the secret to ending their new-found existence. The following night, alchemists began disappearing, "eaten" by one of their own. Realizing the threat posed by being in close proximity to each other, they decided to scatter across the world.
Centuries later, in Prohibition-era America, the immortals have come together once again, and chaos ensues.
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Personal Opinions
IShallRiseAgain
The series effectively uses its non-chronological storytelling to make it interesting and suspenseful.
JimBobDole
I can't recommend this series enough. It's a great story with even better music and fleshed-out characters. For those of you who have seen it already, it's worth it to check out the dub. It's not bad and adds to the "American-ness."
Relambrien
The most fantastic thing about this series is its characters, by far. Every character has some specific strength or otherwise endearing quality, and the viewer cannot help but respect and admire them. The conspiracy and trickery surrounding the characters is very fitting of Prohibition America, and the alchemy aspect is integrated seamlessly into the setting. If I were to use one word to describe the characters in this show, that word would be "competent", which is rare for a series to be able to do. Baccano!'s spiritual successor, Durarara!!, also contains excellent characters as its strongest point and is also an excellent show.
DethMarine21
This show was literally fun to watch, if that makes any sense. A large number of interesting and endearing characters, lots of humor, mysterious supernatural elements, and non-chronological storytelling that keeps you guessing all combine to form a show where you can't wait to see what happens in the next episode, all the way until the end.
Robert Denby
This is one of the very few anime shows I would freely recommend to people who aren't at all familiar with the medium, albeit with a few warnings beforehand. There's a lot to keep track of thanks to the hefty amount of characters, meaning it's a show that lends itself to watching several episodes in one sitting. Also, there's two comic relief characters (Isaac and Miria) who seem kinda out of place, but actually do move the story forward.
Baccano! is all about effective and entertaining storytelling, extremely well-written, exciting, and nicely self-contained. It's a very unique mix of genres and time periods that flows together seamlessly at a steady pace, instead of the lazy, cliched 'let's mix x time period with y modern day elements or z inappropriate supernatural element'. That's not to say that parts of it won't seem familiar to you. There's echoes of "On the Twentieth Century", Howard Hawks' "Scarface", and even a little bit of "Highlander".
The only real flaw of the series is that while the design is all well and good, the animation in the first few episodes is a little shoddy, and the first episode will seem incredibly jumbled and confusing at first glance.
You can pick the series up pretty cheap online, and it's worth owning since it holds up well to repeated viewings and you'll probably be loaning it out a lot.
ViggyNash
Put simply, this is a clusterfuck between a massive cast of batshit insane characters knitted together with some of the best storytelling I have ever seen. Seriously, this is a masterpiece of storytelling at the very least. Each and every one of the characters is absolutely ridiculous and insane in varying degrees having fun in a psychotic party of bloodshed. Every one of the characters are interesting, though some are far more interesting than others. The way this story threads together the lives of Baccano!'s absurdly large cast of main characters through various meetings across several different arcs that take place at different points in times is breathtaking.
The non-chronological storytelling was the heart or this bloodfest. It was almost magical to watch the dozens of various mini-arcs come together and transform into one grand tale that spans centuries, though the meat of the tale all takes place in the 1930's. If you can get over all the blood and the disturbing insanity of some of the characters this show is just loads of fun. It's a fascinating story with great presentation, amazing(did I mention insane?) characters, and a fantastic dub. No doubt one for the favorites list, if not my top 10.
