Review Piece: Baccano! (Secret Santa)

A life of crime can last forever...
Don't let nobody tell you there's no future in a life of crime, because some rackets can last forever. But we'll get around to all that immortality jazz later. 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 hit-men and the dames they love, mad bombers going boom, monsters going bump and soul sucking alchemists bootlegging an elixir of eternal life.


Just remember, Baccano! ain't about beginnings and ends. It's about the twists and turns, bub. Paths don't cross in this story - they collide. Every Dick and Jane plays the lead and it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Opening Thoughts
This year for the Reverse Thieves' Secret Santa Project I decided to take a look at Baccano! I heard it was a good series and it was made by the same people who did Durarara!. It also has been on my 'Want to Watch' list for a long while as well. 'Making The Great Depression fun' was what I thought Baccano! was all about. Boy was I wrong for good and bad reasons. Still let talk abut the good reasons first since that really helped me finish the series then we go into the bad.

The Good 

The characters of Baccano are all so wonderful! There was surely a large cast and some character may not seem important at first but as you watch the series you can see how each one of them tie together to the overall story. At first you don't care about some and think that some of them are just bumbling side characters but as the show moves you find out that they have the heart of heroes.The characters in Baccano truly moved the story but then again what kind of story would this be if the characters didn't have anything to do with the story.

Fear these brutal thugs! haha

Two character that I really need to mention are Issac and Miria because they were the main reason why I finish this series. Their involvement in this series was just amazing and they may have been out of place with the tone of the series but I feel that this series would have been incomplete without them.  There were times while watching Baccano where I was only watching just to see what Issac and Miria were going to do next. Each time these guys hit the screen was a guarantee laugh. This was a great way to cleanse the plate after watching somebody's head getting blown off. Nothing like a good laugh from awesome people to make you feel all warm inside.

"First we take the train to our destination right? Yeah...And then we do the robbery...And then we get back on the train and then leave right?"

"Thats the way they been done for years!"
-Isaac and Miria on train robberies

If anything I would consider Issac and Miria the main characters since it feels like you follow them for the majority of the series. That is a bit untrue since all the character seem to get equal time but you really do end up caring about Issac and Miria. One moment you see them doing a robbery and then move on to another thing thus making you wanting to know what the heck they were doing and when we get back to them. That says a lot about two simple characters who are maybe the most normal people in the show.  The truth is that Issac and Miria brings in the funny factor for Baccano! since they are so silly but they have their 'serious' moments like when Issac is trying to 'explain' something to Miria or when they pause during their robbery to help a grieving young girl (who is part of the family that they are currently stealing from). You can't help but laugh at them and their antics.

Two words...Cap Daddy. haha

For this review, I watched the series dubbed via DVDs and I have to say that it was great! Funimation did a great job in picking the cast for Baccano. The script really helped set the tone and made you feel like you were watching something from the 1930's. The accents were a bit of a surprise but it helps set the tone since Baccano! was set during The American Great Depression. So the accents are justified and don't feel over the force compare to the Hetalia Axis Powers dub. The voices for Jacuzzi, Issac and Miria were awesome to hear since they were full of energy. Jacazzi sounded just as he should as a nervous wreak with a heart of gold while Issac and Miria were perfectly done as the lovable duo. Watching this dub really helped keep up with the show and the voices were just an extra bit of spice that was much needed. J. Micheal Tatum and Caitlin Glass were perfect as Issac and Miria. The pair worked great together and had such great chemistry. Overall Funimation did a great job with the dub of Baccano!.

The Bad

One thing that Baccano is guilt for is doing a lot of scene jumping or in reality time jumping. One moment you will see something happening in 1933 and then you will find yourself in 1931. It made following storyline a bit confusing at times since you are not sure where(/when) you are. During the beginning of the series I was thinking that Issac and Miria being in New York was after them being in California. So one can get confuse really fast if you are not paying attention to the year.

 The story was pretty interesting but the whole time jumping thing didn't help it since you can find yourself a bit disinterested and confused. Baccano feels like it drags it feet in the beginning with all the time jumping and so many loose strings running around. The time jumping really distance everybody from each other during the beginning of the story. It does turns out that the loose string do end up being tied together in some form or way and if you love the game 'Six Degrees of Separation' then Baccano can be a good setting for it. The time jumping was a great tool to help create a greater impact when you realize how everything ties together but boy was it annoying when you wanted to see what was happening during something only to be pulled to a different time period. haha Good thing Issac and Miria were there to help keep you moving. haha

"Hey guys! I am not filler!"

Anothing thing that brings the series down was the 'epilogue' episodes of the series. The series could have ended nicely at Episode 13 but for some reason three more episodes were tacked on. If you are not familiar with the light novels that Baccano is based on then you would think they were filler but in reality they are actually part of the cannon. It kind of surprise me since for a while I truly thought that Graham was a filler character created to be conflict for the last three episodes. He just acted like a copy and paste of Ladd from the story before. Turns out that I was wrong and that Graham was actually part of the actual story.

These last three episodes felt a bit slow and I blame that for the lack of Issac and Miria involvement. haha It was nice to see a bit more of a conclusion for Chane but it was kind of hard to care since the episodes felt like they were just there.

The Ugly

Gore and blood. Lots of gore and blood! So much of it that it really pushed the limit of how much gore and blood that I can see (Not much of a fan of blood and gore.). If you have a really weak stomach then it is going to get hard to watch Baccano around Episode Three when Ladd and the Rail Tracer start making their move. Sometimes they will show the bloodiness for a quick second then either pan out or move on to another scene or they will just blatantly wave it in front of your face for a bit. It can be very disheartening at times to see so much blood and something that you shouldn't show your little brother unless you like to hear yells late in the night.

I heard that Baccano can be a bit bloody but I didn't expect this level of blood and gore. Good thing that they found a good balance with the blood and comedy because most of the time you will see a bloody stump of an arm then next go to something funny to cleanse the mental plate.

Overall Thoughts: 4 out of 5

Kind of funny that I started the 2010 year watching Durarara! and now ending it with Baccano!. I went into this series expecting something like Durarara with lighthearted humor and some seriousness but got much more then that. I can see how Baccano! is a bit Durarara!-ish but maybe I should be saying that Durarara! was more Baccano!-ish seeing that it came first. haha

Baccano! was a good series. During the time that you are watching it, you will really grow a connection to some of the characters even with all the time jumping that is happening. If anything you will at least love Issac and Miria as they were the moving force of Baccano! It is really surprising how much involve they are with the main story even if they are so aloof. Funimation did a great job with the dub and I would think this is one series that you have to watch dub since it is based in America during the 1930s for goodness sakes! It be like Americans doing a movie of an Asian culture with just White actors and that would be a crime! Then again Baccano! is about crime. haha