Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Baccano!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Lost: The Anime.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 11, 2011

Remember when Lost had captured the cultural zeitgeist like virtually no other show before it? Watercooler discussions, chat boards, texts and emails abounded with theories about what exactly was going on with Jack, Kate, The Others and a host of supporting characters that had the odd propensity to become more than just something analogous to the “red shirts” of Star Trek fame. A truly labyrinthine story unfolded with pretzel-like fluidity that slowly but surely provided an incredibly interlinked set of backstories that of course became one of Lost’s stocks in trade. When the series started to introduce elements of time travel, immortality, long ago wizards and parallel universes, the appellation Lost perhaps most accurately described the audience’s state of mind. When Lost delivered an enigmatic finale that may have raised as many questions as it ostensibly answered, a lot of longtime fans were left asking, “That’s it?” A laundry list of unsolved mysteries soon filled watercooler discussions, chat boards, texts and emails, but over the ensuing year-plus since the series’ demise, that chatter has died down, at least somewhat. For those of you who may be Jonesin’ for a new Lost-esque fix, you could do a lot worse than the challenging anime series Baccano!, a similarly labyrinthine set of stories built around a disparate group of characters who briefly at least intersect at various moments. And just for good measure there’s even immortality and wizardry thrown in.

If you were one of Lost’s ardent coterie of followers, perhaps you realize just how hard it was to concisely sum up what the show was about. A bunch of people have crash landed on a mysterious island doesn’t even come close to scratching the surface, at least if the depth and nuance of Lost’s multitude of characters and interlinked storylines are addressed. And that is the same obstacle any summation of Baccano! must overcome. While the anime is certainly not in the same league of storytelling that Lost was, it is a decidedly complex undertaking for an anime, and one which consistently stretches the boundaries of just how many characters and shifting plotlines its audience can keep track of. In fact, I would place a bet that most viewers of Baccano! will only have fleeting moments of comprehension on their first voyage with this plethora of characters, and the show, much like Lost, only slowly and deliberately reveals its secrets and its own backstory as various episodes play out with their own self-contained plotlines.

It’s rather fascinating to realize that the source for the anime is what the Japanese refer to as a “light novel,” i.e., a book written for a tween or teen audience, for Baccano! is certainly an inordinately convoluted set of interwoven stories that would probably tax most adults’ attention spans, let alone younger readers. While the light novel spanned several centuries, for the most part the anime deals with a timeline more or less centered around the early 1930s. Taking a cue from countless Warner Brothers gangster melodramas, we get a Depression era world of Damon Runyan-esque criminals, mixed here with part of Baccano!’s intriguing backstory, which involves alchemists and an immortality elixir. A huge variety of characters is introduced over the course of 16 episodes, and it may in fact take even the most focused viewer a second trip through the Baccano! universe to completely straighten out the many different story details and how some of these characters are interlinked, if indeed they are at all (unlike Lost, not every jot and tittle turns out to be part of an overall whole).

There’s a certain Rashomon-like element to parts of Baccano! as well, especially in the overarching conceit the anime adaptation takes, wherein publisher Gustav St. Germain (look up St. Germain if you’re not familiar with that “surname”) and his assistant Carol attempt to decide when and where exactly a series of events they’re investigating actually began, and who, in their self-made “story,” should be considered the main character. This sort of “meta” approach actually does very well in helping to give Baccano! a feeling of unity and at least passable cohesion which it probably otherwise would not have had. Lest our cultural references be limited to just one or two iconic television series or films, Baccano! manages to work in a gangster turf war which is at least somewhat redolent of some plot elements in The Godfather, as well as the development of a high speed intercontinental train, including a bevy of passengers, that might (might) be seen as a sort of sibling of the great Hawks screwball comedy On the Twentieth Century.

Among the many—many—other characters you’ll meet as you traverse the wild and wooly patchwork of Baccano! are Isaac and Miria, two bizarrely out there people who are both a couple and bungling thieves; Claire, a mercenary hitman whose killings are an extremely messy affair; several crime families, all of whom have several members, including the Martillos, the Russos, and the Gandors; and a handful of disparate characters who have all sipped from the immortality cup and each of whom play into different stories as the series progresses. While the sheer number of characters is initially daunting, Baccano! does a very good job delineating these manifold people with distinctive design elements and especially voice work.

The best way to approach at least an initial viewing of Baccano! is not to worry too much about details, or indeed even about large plot elements, and to simply go with the flow. Each episode is full of bizarre interactions that may not immediately make sense, but over the course of the 16 episodes, some answers at least are forthcoming and a second viewing actually helps to reveal even more that might not have been obvious on an initial go-through. Baccano! is artfully conceived, managing to slowly work in several really fascinating aspects of the light novel, including the alchemical backstory which is really the primary genesis of what sets so much else in this lumbering, novelistic story into motion.

Baccano!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Despite being upconverted from an SD master, Baccano! looks surprisingly sharp and well defined courtesy of an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is an anime which has been drawn with quite a bit of care, and directorial touches abound which mimic traditional film devices like pulling focus, deep focus, montage and the like. Colors are very well saturated, line detail is very sharp, and the overall image is very appealing. There's very little blank canvas throughout Baccano!, and as a result there's almost always a lot to be looking at, something which this new Blu-ray iteration supports very well. While the series might be faulted for relying a bit to heavily on the brown-beige end of the color spectrum, alert eyes will pick out an amazing variety of hues, albeit sparingly chosen from time to time.

Baccano!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Baccano! is supplied with two lossless tracks, both LPCM 2.0, one in the original Japanese and a surprisingly artful English dub. There's a really unexpected, perhaps picayune, difference between these two tracks in terms of openness and clarity, with the English coming out on top. Though quite subtle at times, the difference can be heard if you simply toggle back and forth during the opening theme music credits sequence. What's really interesting to do with this jigsaw puzzle of a series is to listen to the English dub with the English subtitles on, as the subtitles, hewing more closely to the original Japanese, give all sorts of supplementary information that the English dialogue, timed to match lip movements, doesn't get into. One way or the other, both of these tracks are very spry and well modulated, albeit obviously across a narrow soundfield. Baccano! features a very enjoyable jazz inflected score which is very well represented on these three Blu-ray discs. Both the Japanese and English dialogue is clear and well voiced, and even those who don't usually like English dubs may end up preferring that choice in this instance.

Baccano!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Textless Opening (HD; 1:31)
• Textless Ending (HD; 1:31)

Baccano!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Unusual both in setting as well as basic (if anything in Baccano!'s twisted universe can be termed basic) story, Baccano! also is ambitious in the sheer scope of characters and various plot elements it attempts to tackle. This is not an "entry level" anime that can be enjoyed or even partially understood without paying fairly close attention. That said, don't get hung up on minutiae the first time through the series—simply enjoy it for the often madcap enterprise it is, and then go back again after you've had time to digest the various strands it weaves (not always together). For anyone looking for something unusual and, yes, challenging, Baccano! is Highly recommended.