Baccano! – Episode 1
6 August 2007
Baccano! is probably the only series I truly looked forward to this summer, though I did step into a couple of unexpected series, Sayonaray Zetsubou Sensei and possibly Zombie Loan. It just so happens it was the show airing last. If feels like I’ve waited ages to watch Baccano! Baccano! apparently means ‘stupid noise’. There are so many characters, I’m running out of fingers and toes to keep up with them and it’s the first episode! It looks so complicated, but I’m loving it, I want more stupid commotion!
Opening “Gun’s&Roses”by Paradise Lunch The opening is instrumental and it features the majority of cast. The majority I say, but from the looks of it, they may just be the tip of the iceberg.The way the animation flows from one character to the other in a seemingly random process (Ennis caught in the reflection of a wine bottle) captures perfectly the chaotic story of the show. I really like the colors and font. I really want to make a header with that font. Gah!
Plot The plot, at first glance, is a complete mess. But, as they say, there’s a method to their madness and if you watch it carefully, it all starts to fall together. The episode starts with a little girl, Carole, sprawled across a table, flipping through newspaper archives and books. A man enters the room. Carrying a newspaper and wearing a monocle, the vice-director asks what she’s doing on the table. Carole, hastily cleaning up the mess, explains that she got caught up researching a story from November 1930. The vice-director, sitting down and starting to fold his newspaper, asks if Carole remembers what he told her that time on the train. Cut to flashback on the train: Carole marvels at a rainbow in the distance. The vice-director says that what if there’s a fire at the end of the rainbow, that one can’t stop thinking even after knowing the truth (or something like that).
Anyways, the vice-director asks why Carole chose November 1930 as the start of her investigation. She replies that she’s thought about it and deemed it the easiest this way (or something like that). Apparently, the vice-director and her work through some sort of point system and he gives her 156 points for that response. The vice-director (of the Daily Days, hah, I’m serious) tells her that the story can begin anywhere. It could’ve begun with this eighteenth century sailor who’s apparently an alchemist. It could’ve begun the incident on the Flying Pussyfoot. It could’ve begun with that pair of bumbling thieves, Isaac, who just a cut in his ear and his wife, Miria. It could’ve begun with ‘the boy with the cursed fate’ and the crazy guy in a white suit who shot him twice with a shotgun reducing his head to a bloody pulp. It could’ve begun with the death of Lucky Gandor and the mafia. Or! Getting the point, Carole pulls out a picture and tells the vice-director that this one looks lead character-ish. With a raised eyebrow, the vice-director leans in and asks, “Ish?”
Standing in a desolate street alley, a beggar asks hopelessly for money. People brush past him without a second glance, but a boy in a green suit stops. He calls out to the old man, pulls out his wallet and tucks two (very realistic) dollar bills into the old man’s can. The beggar thanks him profusely, saying that the guardians will watch over him. Shrugging off the comment, the boy walks away. The old man opens a paper bag and asks if the kid would like some flowers he picked this morning. They’ve probably withered and died by now, the boy calls over his shoulder. The old man pulls out a knife instead and charges him. Spinning around just in time, the boy catches the old man’s knife in his right hand. The old man slices off two of the kid’s fingers, grinning seeing that he has the upper hand. Much to the beggar’s horror, the blood and fingers begins to reattach themselves to the kid’s hand and in a matter of seconds his wounds are completely healed. Petrified, the old man waves the knife frantically, retreating, calling the kid a monster. Angered and annoyed, the boy asks the beggar if he knew he was dealing with Firo Prochaniezo of the Martillo family and then punches him out.
New York, New York, 1930. I don’t think we need a history lesson, but the show provides a nice montage with some snappy music of what it was like during the Great Depression. The bootleggers, the gangsters, the tommy guns and drive by shootings, the unemployed, the homeless, the gamblers, the mafia and all that jazz.
There’s a loud mouth gang leader shouting his head off to his minions from a balcony, when his boss in a bathrobe walks out and summons him to his office. The brutish man, slightly bemused, tells his boss that they’ve taken care of Luck Gandor and the Gandors were small fry after all. Greeted by silence, the man continues to tell his boss ‘good news’. Leaning in, he whispers that they’ve ordered new taxi bombs. Dismissing all of this with a wave, the boss asks him about Dallas Geonard. Apparently, the brute killed his brother and father and Dallas isn’t pleased and is out to get him. The boss tells him to take care of the man. The brute asks if he can kill him when he finds him. The boss replies nonchalantly for him to do whatever he wants. Happy to oblige, the brute returns to his balcony and tells his troops to get Dallas instead.
Elsewhere, Eve Genoard, looking at an old photograph wonders where Dallas, her brother, is. Back with Carole and the vice-director, now that they’ve mentioned almost all of the players in the story, the vice-director, with a smirk, remarks that they themselves might just be the center of the story. Not once did the vice-director actually mention himself as the main player.
New York, New York, 1931. Berga Gandor is beating the crap out of a guy who attacked their, the Gandors’, turf. Bloody and bruised, the man doesn’t say anything. Luck, along with two other men, walk into the room. Luck calls for Mr. Tic, who appears through a crack in the door. Mr. Tic, a foxy little man, replies that he isn’t finished with the other one, the corpse of another man in the background. Mr. Tic remarks that it’s going to be painful and then disappears with a snip of his blood covered scissors. Seeing his hopeless predicament and his fate at the hands of Mr. Tic, the monster, the man relents and says that he’ll tell them anything. Luck, bending down, asks menacingly who made a beehive out of him.
Apparently, Luck was in a bookstore, flipping through some pages of Edgar Allen Poe, when Firo greets him. Luck reads aloud a few lines of Poe and Firo claps. Luck says that the poem used to scare him as a kid, but after that incident a year ago, it stopped bothering him. Sensing Firo’s confusion, he asks if Firo ever thought about it. When Firo replies no, Luck tells him to forget what he said. Firo tells him there were some strange guys on the Martillo’s turf and that if a push comes to shove, he’ll be there to help. Luck refuses the offer, saying that the Gandor’s can’t get the Martillo’s involved. Before anything happens, a car pulls up outside, several armed men appear and without a word, fires into the bookstore.
Elsewhere, along snow covered train tracks, the police are finding bodies of passengers dumped at a intervals. Two inspectors grimace as another policeman uncovers the body of a victim. As the two inspectors return to their car, the policeman asks what them what this was all about. Turning around, they reply that it was top secret. In the car, Sullivan, one of the inspectors, asks if it was an immortal. The other replies that yes, there was one on the train, his name was on the passenger list. Another policeman appears, Sullivan rolling down the window to hear what he has to say and the officer tells him that they’ve found a survivor.
Back in the bookstore, the owner looks up from behind his desk at his ruined shop. He sees hand emerge from the rumble, followed by the head and body of Luck Gandor. The shop owner, stunned, says that he was sure he just saw Luck get shot, multiple times. Cut all the way back to Isaac and Miria. Isaac, who was yelping in pain, suddenly realizes that it didn’t hurt anymore, the wound had already healed. Elated, he says that it was some magic. Miria agrees, saying that next there’ll be pigeons. Standing next to them was the blonde woman who had cut him and a whole slew of other people, some already introduced in the store. Cut to the train and the little boy who got his head blown up. The boy’s head slowly regenerates from the bloody pool. He sits up with his newly reformed head and mutters something about a useless man, assuming that he’s referring to Ladd Russo, white suit shotgun man who had ‘killed’ him.
Returning to the bookstore shooting, Firo, who is also immortal, leaps from underneath books and broken bookcases, out the front door, jumping on the roof of the shooter’s car and kicks one of the guns in the face. Inside, Luck calls out for Firo, looking for him in the ruins. Firo announces that he’s here and dumps the shooter inside, clapping his hand satisfyingly, he says that at least he could do this much. Seeing that they’re both okay, Luck tells the store owner that they’ll pay for the damages and that he should keep quiet about what happened today. The store owner replies that he has seen nothing, nothing happened, even if he says anything, they’ll just toss in an asylum. Surveying the mess, even though they’re unhurt, this was going to be a mess.
Back on the Flying Pussyfoot, a strange man standing atop the train, facing the blood red sunset declares to no one in particular that he will find him. Then, he runs off. Sometime later, at Grand Central Station, Firo, Luck, Ennis, Maiza and some other guys from the Gandors are waiting for people they know and friends aboard the Flying Pussyfoot. Firo is interested in seeing the train, but Ennis explains that something had happened and the passengers were transfered to flatcars. Luck adds that even if the actual train arrived, the first car would’ve been replaced by an electric car before entering Manhattan, so he would’ve have been able to see all of the train anyway. Slightly disappointed, Firo turns his attention the person they were waiting for, asking Maiza what kind of person his friend was. Maiza replies that he’s a selfless person, always trying to carry the burden by himself. Berga Gandor adds that his friend was the complete opposite of Claire, who is bright but selfish. At this point, I have no idea who Claire is.
And we go back to the Flying Pussyfoot…The two survivors were the shotgun suit man, Ladd Russo and his wife, Lua. Both are presumed to be immortal, even if in the scene Ladd only has a stub for an arm, waving it around and scaring everyone.
The passengers disembark from the train. Among them, a strangely dressed kid who I’m guessing to be the weird “I will find you” man from a couple of scenes before. Jacuzzi Splot (one helluva name he’s got) and Nice and another guy (who was in the scene with the blonde woman with the spear) accompany him. The threesome draws some attention from Firo and the gang as they walk pass. Among the passengers appears Isaac and Miria who greets everyone noisily, with lots of hugs. The boy who had his head blown up also steps off and makes eye contact with Maiza, who seems to recognize him. And that’s how it ends.
Ending “Calling” by Kaori Oda All I ave to say is…there are more characters!? The ending is quite simple, background of rolling train tracks and shots of characters. The song’s melodic and gentle, fitting. What’s really shocking is that among the shots of characters we’ve already met, are even more characters! Where do these people come from!?
Preview Not much to say, the story’s too complicated for me to make sense of what can possibly happen next time. But it looks like it’s focusing on that “I’m going to find you” guy and Jacuzzi.
Impressions Officially the last time I’m ever doing such a length summary for Baccano! not to mention I probably left out or messed up some parts. The story, the characters, so much, too many! Stupid commotion? Commotion is a blatant understatement. Try chaos, pandemonium, even. Alright, so we’ve got more than a dozen characters in the first episode. More characters that we’ve not seen are appearing in the ending. It’s just jaw dropping how many different things are happening and how they all appear to completely related. Even more perplexing and interesting is the whole thing about being immortals and this immortality booze and what that has to do with everything. And! What’s with the train? What happened on the train?
Alright, deep breath, calm down. So, what are my impressions besides a whole bunch of incoherent ramblings? The first episode was damn good. A little less than what I expected, maybe because the story is a bit confusing and there are too many characters, but overall, I’m loving the way the show feels. For one thing, the show takes place in my current city of residence, New York City! Didn’t you see the shot of Grand Central? I consider, for some strange reason, the first half of the twentieth century to be the most interesting part of contemporary history (the two world wars, the 20’s, the Great Depression…mainly just the second world war). Baccano! combines my love for anime and history so I can enjoy them, together.
And again, there are just so many characters! Blah! Mr. Tic reminds me of Gin from Bleach. That little kid who got his head blown up reminds me, strangely, of the vampire twins from Black Lagoon. Don’t ask why. Luck reminds me of someone, I can’t place who it is, but he most definitely reminds of someone. The way he smiles, the eyes, who is it?! The shouting, nameless brute from the Runorata family reminds me of that priest from Hagaren. Firo, Firo, like Carole said, seems lead character-ish. He reminds me of every from Edward Elric to Allen Walker.
Funny thing, I just watched Darker Than Black 18 (yet to blog about it), and apparently, Hiroyuki Yoshino was the seiyuu for both Kenji Sakurai and Firo. The vice-director is voiced by Norio Wakamoto who was also Vicious from Bebop. Besides those two, there’s Masaya Onosaka (Vash from Trigun), Chiwa Saito (I only know her from Zombie-Loan as Yuuta), Keiji Fujiwara (Maes Hughes from Hagaren, Reno from FFVII), Marina Inoue (Chiri from SZS), Masakazu Morita (Ichigo from Bleach) voices “young conductor”(I’d just like to take a moment and say that when a main character of a show is simply dubbed ‘young conductor’, you start thinking maybe they ran out of names), and the list goes on and on and on. There are just so many characters, so many bleepin’ characters and they’re all voiced by pretty well know seiyuus. It’s crazy.
A lot of people, myself included, instantly thought of Hagaren when I heard alchemists. The two shows are not that far off, Hagaren is right across the pond and only a decade or two earlier. Hagaren takes place in a fictional world built like turn of the century Europe and is focuses more on the alchemy. Baccano! takes place in a very real place, a very real time revolving around a bunch of not very real people and events and focuses on the history. There are certain parallels, but past the words ‘alchemists’ the two shows have really nothing in common. Sure, Baccano! is reminiscent of Hagaren in minute respects, but after the first episode, they’re completely different.
In the end, the complexity of it all might be Baccano!’s only flaw. It’s nothing striking, but the story is intriguing and certain characters (Firo, the little kid, white suite shotgun guy, Luck) has my attention, as well as the place and setting of the story and what it’s about. Being the most anticipated show of the summer season, for my anyways, Baccano! didn’t disappoint. I’m looking forward to seeing where this crazy train of an anime goes and how it’s going to carry its passengers. And never again, never again, so many screens, never again.
Only a little confusing?
I watched it twice and still don’t get all of it. So I’m glad for your summary and review. Fortunately, episode 2 seems to have done away with all the multiple flashbacks and tells a story more or less chronologically.
Firo is practically the only reason I picked up Baccano!, because he is just so drattedly good looking.
I don’t really associate Baccano with FMA, although maybe it has something to do with the colour tones. FMA is a lot more brightly coloured, and the lines are more simple manga style. Baccano! seems to have a more complex character design as well as a stunning background. And I quite like its soundtrack, even though I’m not much for jazz.
Okay, okay, maybe a bit more than a little bit confusing. But it got better the second time around, right? XD
Phew, dodged a bullet right there. The summary took me such a long time and I’m certain I skipped bits. No lengthy summary next time! Glad you thought it was helpful, at least I’m not writing for no reason.
And yes! Firo is freakin’ good looking! I loved the promo art and the character design, he stuck out the most, and it was imperative that I watch it. After DtB is over, at least I can still have Firo. lol
I love the background, New York City looks almost edible. I have to agree with you, stylistically, Hagaren and Baccano! look nothing alike. It’s as if I’m looking at an aged, sepia colored photograph when I’m watching Baccano!
I’m beginning to really like jazz thanks to anime. DtB had such a good soundtrack and Baccano! is sounding pretty darn good. Gotta love the stuff you pick up from anime. O_o, and then they tell me I have no life.
Hello. I’m French and I’m trying to understand something but nobody answers my question :'(
Maybe you can help me…
Isn’t the guy you describe as “a loud mouth gang leader shouting his head off to his minions from a balcony” Berga Gandor ? Because he relly looks like the guy in the opening of the video…
If he is, then I don’t understand why he tells the men to exterminate both Martillo and Gandor families and why he is proud to announce that they killed Luck Gandor. :/
If he isn’t it is still quite strange because he talks to Luck Gandor just after he told the men to exterminate the Gandors.
@Slyther – Actually, I’m not so sure who the “loud mouth gang leader” is, which is why I referred to him as the Brute or something of that sort for the post. I’m really sorry. T_T I didn’t catch his name but I’m sure he’s not Berga Gandor, despite the fact that they look similar. It wouldn’t make sense if that were true. Why would Berga be trying to kill his own brother? O_o
Oh ok. So the “loud mouth gang leader” is not the same man as the one we see in the next scene talking with Luck !!!
They sure look like each other ^^
I think you’re right because when I’ve looked closer I’ve remarked that the “Brute” has a “crooked” nose (I’m not sure that’s the word) and a wrinkled face whereas the other is better looking (though not gorgeous ^^).
Well thanks. It really bothered me to misunderstand the story.
@Slyther – Yeah! That’s the thing about Baccano!, there are so many characters and you get confused as to who is who after a while, and this is only the first episode! They also dress differently, the Brute wears a scarf, or at least in episode one. I’m under the impression people don’t change cloth in anime. Think about Ash from Pokemon! Five hundred episodes and three or four sets of cloth! O_O…Anyways,I’m glad I cleared that up for you! =D!