Baccano! - The Complete Collection

As someone who isn't a huge anime fan, I hadn't heard of Baccano! until it became available for review and, after a little research on the Internet, I decided to give it a look. From the very first episode I was hooked and went through all four discs fairly quickly.

First premiered on the Internet and then on DVD in 2009, Baccano! is really something that almost defies explanation as it is so rich, dense and character driven that you're almost better off knowing who the characters are rather than what each episode is about and where the narrative takes you.

I should probably begin with saying that this is set in Prohibition era East coast America and jumps back and forth between 1930, 1931 and 1932 following key events in the lives of several characters with a gangland war in 1930, mass murder on board The Flying Pussyfoot train in 1931 and then, in 1932, a young girl looking for her brother. If it weren't enough to jump from one year to another in the same episode, you also have events that take place in the 18th century when an alchemist summon a Demon to make him and his friends immortal plus, near the end of the series, a sequence that takes place in 2001 where some of the immortals are still hanging about.

Anyway, the characters, as far as they go, comprise:

Isaac Dian and Miria Harvent:
These two manage to span all three years as they are petty criminals who always appear to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, being hit by a car, (unknowingly) stealing from gangsters dressed as baseball players and pulling off a variety of heists in different places in different years. Miria has a habit of basically repeating everything that Isaac says as he is clearly the brains of the operation and she is there just to help him along. As revealed in a conversation about what would happen if this were real, they would be the heroes.


Maiza Avaro and Firo Prochainezo:
Maiza is one of those strange alchemists who made their deal with the devil back onthat boat in the the 1700s and is closely associated with the Martillo family amongst the various members of the New York underworld. His protégé is up-and-coming gangster Firo Prochainezo, who was on the verge of becoming a big player in the family.

Keith, Berga and Luck Gandor:
These three brothers have their own crime family but are in the middle of a small turf war with their bitter rivals, the Runoratas. As with any small gangland feud, this one is bitter and bloody and things only escalate when a small-time crook called Dallas Genoard finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time (or right place at the right time, depending on your point of view) and makes off with two bottles of elixir of life which the owners desperately want to reacquire.


Szilard Quates and Ennis:
In the 18th century, Szilard and his merry band of alchemists called forth the Devil and made a bargain for the elixir of life. The bargain is that only one of their number can know the secret to the elixir, and that person isn't Szilard who has brought forth a diminutive female helper, Ennis, who has decided to explore ideas of liberty and free will just about when Szilard is on the verge of finding the answer to his lifelong dream.

Ladd Russo and Lua Klein:
A psychopath and his girlfriend who are just about as ill matched a couple as you would possibly find; Ladd, a homicidal psychopath and perfectly suited to his job as an assassin, only seems to be able to keep Lua because he has reassured her that she will be the last person he will kill as everyone else is far more boring and more likely to be killed. Ladd works for the Russo crime family as an assassin and they really couldn't find a better one as he loves his work and relishes in each and every kill. Most of the action involving him seems to take place on board The Flying Pussyfoot where Ladd leads a group of white suited murderous on the journey from Chicago to New York on the pretext of taking the train and its passengers hostage but in reality he's just there to kill every single person on board.


Huey and Chane Laforet:
As one of the original alchemists, Huey is an immortal but this doesn't serve him to well when he was imprisoned in 1931. His rather unique position has given him followers such as the Lemures group who want to be immortal and, with Huey's daughter Chane, have boarded The Flying Pussyfoot along with an influential senator's wife. Chane has been entrusted with one of her father's most closely guarded secrets and is, as a result, literally dumbstruck.

Jacuzzi Splot, Nice Holystone, Nick and Donny:
Crazy name, crazy guy. Jacuzzi is the head of a small gang that make their money running bootleg liquor but, in a run in with Russo gang, have eight of their members killed. Because of his remit, members of the Russo gang are on The Flying Pussyfoot where they run into Ladd and his armed thugs. The weird thing about Jacuzzi is that he is terrified of just about everything to the extent that he would burst into tears but, on the flipside, despite an extremely dangerous as he will run into a fight. It is this blind fanaticism that makes him such a feared leader and why scarred explosives expert Nice Holystone, Nick and Donny will follow Jacuzzi to hell and back.


Dallas and Eve Genoard:
Dallas Genoard, a petty thug with an explosive and violent temper and second in line to the head of the family, has the uncanny ability to get into trouble which means that he goes missing midway through the series. His younger sister, Eve, will follow him anywhere but, just like older brother, has a habit of being exactly where she shouldn't.

Czeslaw Meyer:
He may look like an innocent 10 year old boy but he is more like 210 as one of the group of alchemists who drank from the elixir of life back in the 18th century. As he knows how easily an immortal can kill another, he really keeps himself to himself but one journey on The Flying Pussyfoot will test his desire for anonymity to the limit.

The Rail Tracer:
This legendary creature is reputed to stalk the Trans Continental Railways and, once gets on a train, won't stop until everyone on board is dead. It's a great spook story to tell children on a long train journey to break up the tedium but this spook story is more real than anyone expects, especially when it wants The Flying Pussyfoot.


The episodes are:

1. The Vice President Doesn't Say Anything about the Possibility of Him Being The Main Character
2. Setting the Old Woman's Qualms Aside, the Flying Pussyfoot Departs
3. Randy and Pecho Are Busy Getting Ready for the Party
4. Ladd Russo Enjoys Talking A Lot and Slaughtering A Lot
5. Jacuzzi Splot Cries, Gets Scared and Musters Reckless Valor
6. The Rail Tracer Covertly, Repeatedly Slaughters Inside the Coaches
7. Everything Starts Aboard the Advenna Avis
8. Isaac and Miria Unintentionally Spread Happiness Around Them
9. Claire Stanfield Faithfully Carries Out the Mission
10. Czeslaw Mayer is Forced to Rework His Tremble-Before-the-Spectre-of-Immortals Strategy
11. Chane Laforet Remains Silent in the Face of Two Mysterious People
12. Firo and the Three Gandor Brothers Are Felled by Assassin's Bullets
13. Both the Immortals and Those Who Aren't Sing the Praises of Life Equally
14. Graham Specter's Love and Peace
15. The Delinquents That Arrive at the High Class Neighbourhood Are the Same as Always
16. Carol Realises That the Story Cannot Have an Ending


I have to admit to go into this with high expectations based on everything I had read online and it didn't disappoint at all with such fantastic re-creation of America under the Volstead Act and with so many well rounded characters that it becomes absolutely engrossing viewing from the first couple of minutes of the first episode and stays that way until the end credits roll on the 16th and final episode.

This is a show that really doesn't skimp on violence and gore with plenty of scenes in which people are badly beaten up, shot through the head or, in the case of the Immortals, completely drained and absorbed by someone else. All of this is animated and directed extremely skilfully with a great deal of energy and vibrancy to proceedings and, even if something takes place offscreen, you still have the sound effects to remind you exactly what is going on.


















The Disc

Extra Features
Across the four discs, there are four audio commentaries all involving the ADR director, Tyler Walker, who is joined by various members of the English cast on episodes four (with Caitlin Glass (who plays Miria) J Michael Tatum (Isaac) and Brian Massey (Ladd), seven with Chuck Huber (writer and Devil) and R Bruce Elliott (Szilard), nine with Ian Sinclair (Dallas) and Jerry Jewell (Clare Stanfield) and fifteen with Joel McDonald (Jacuzzi) and Chris Patton (Graham Specter). These are of varying quality and tend to be the ones in which the participants have a better time providing the commentary than you have listening to the thing as there is a great deal more trivia and laughter than hard information about how was made which isn't surprising as I imagine most of that information would only be known by the Japanese members of the cast and crew.

You also have a selection of textless opening and closing credits, a brief look behind the scenes and extended trailers.


The Picture
Baccano! is an extremely handsomely designed show with great attention to detail and scenes that vary between being bright and colourful and fog shrouded and quite gloomy depending on where you are, what the mood is like and what is about to take place. Going purely by the running time for each episode, I would guess that this is an NTSC-PAL transfer but it really doesn't have the traditional artefacts to give such a thing away as it is a sharp as you would want with excellent colours and contrast levels and no hints of smearing or aliasing in the quick moving action sequences.

When there is a fight scene, it is extremely well choreographed and animated and carries a real visceral sense of people being injured or killed -- this isn't a show in which people get punched and are back up on their feet the next moment as if nothing has happened -- with the exception of the Immortals, or someone as dead, they stay dead.


The Sound
You have the choice of Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo or English DD 5.1 and, much as I liked the native language track, I just felt that the English worked better considering this show is set in America and all of the signs and newspaper headlines are written in English. The actors have the accent is pretty much spot on, with Brooklyn twangs mixing with the Chicago accent so you get a sense of place for each character. This track also has the benefit of the surround speakers and LFEs when it comes to the action sequences.

If you do select the Japanese track, the subtitles are excellent and free from any annoying spelling or grammatical errors that would spoil your enjoyment.

The music is absolutely brilliant with the kind of piano and jazz music that is now in just about synonymous with the Prohibition era and speakeasies and you have this music from the menu to the end of the episode. It's not there too much to annoy you as it drifts in and out at the perfect times and I must admit to quite liking the opening and closing songs -- the former is quite oddly called 'Guns & Roses'!


Final Thoughts
Baccano! is one of the finest anime shows I've ever seen and, although I freely admit that that list is pretty short, it is up at the top by quite some distance. It really has a sense of the epic and is more like a feature film in scope with some elements reminding me of Sergio Leone's sublime gangster film Once upon a Time in America although with a supernatural element. If you haven't yet bought the American release, then this is really the one to add to your collection as it is the sort of show that you will watch until the end and then decide to start all over again, knowing little bit more about each character and how they all interact and fit together over the three-year timescale.