Okarin_Kyouma said:Anime4Normies said:Yeah, I'm with OP- Baccano feels like a big, confusing, pointless mess to me. To be fair, I still have 2 eps to go, so *maybe* it'll do something dramatically different to the first 11 eps, and everything will suddenly make sense... but I can't see that happening tbh.
And to the geniuses saying "whats the point of any anime? Whats the point of anything?" (who notably never actually identify any point or climax to Baccano) Most anime (or any movies/tv/narrative stories) *do* have some clearly identified point or focus; Death Note is about the struggle for control of the world, One Piece and Dragonball are about the hunt for One Piece/the Dragonballs. Kimi no Na wa is about 2 people falling in love, and their struggle to get together. Berserk is about a freindship betrayed, and the hunt for revenge. Baccano is about... a train... and it's the 30s... and a lot of people get killed, but thats no biggie... and some of them are magical for some reason?
I agree with you. But I could understand why so many people love it. Actually, I also liked this anime.
Initially, the first episodes was quite boring for me. But Baccano! has unconventional narrative style. After got used to it, I liked this anime (but I still do not like the narrative).
Baccano! is an unusual anime. There is no point. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this anime. I think that this unusual style and playfulness made Baccano! so popular.
Yeah, I don't *hate* Baccano; I'm not a big fan, I think it's frustrating and over-hyped, but I can also see why people like it.
The production standards are very strong- art, animation, music, and pacing all work well together. It's definitely not bland; it's very effective at creating a distinctive feel- the fast, frantic dialog, the way the story jumps from place to place, person to person, era to era etc. It all looks very nice, really captures the era it's set in, and conveys that frantic 'noisy' vibe it's named after very well.
But... for me personally, in anime (film in general, really) the story/narrative is the foundation that all the other stuff is built on. You can have beautiful, skillfully-made, super-ornate curtains and furniture, but if your house's foundation is crap, the whole house is screwed and the nice curtains can't redeem it.
On_the_Lam said:Anime4Normies said:Yeah, I'm with OP- Baccano feels like a big, confusing, pointless mess to me. To be fair, I still have 2 eps to go, so *maybe* it'll do something dramatically different to the first 11 eps, and everything will suddenly make sense... but I can't see that happening tbh.
And to the geniuses saying "whats the point of any anime? Whats the point of anything?" (who notably never actually identify any point or climax to Baccano) Most anime (or any movies/tv/narrative stories) *do* have some clearly identified point or focus; Death Note is about the struggle for control of the world, One Piece and Dragonball are about the hunt for One Piece/the Dragonballs. Kimi no Na wa is about 2 people falling in love, and their struggle to get together. Berserk is about a freindship betrayed, and the hunt for revenge. Baccano is about... a train... and it's the 30s... and a lot of people get killed, but thats no biggie... and some of them are magical for some reason?
Yes, hi. This thread was created in a point in time when I was having an existential crisis, so the question I phrased is silly and shouldn't have an answer. I do still feel Baccano is rather uninteresting for how action-packed and "cool" it presents itself as.
Fair enough. Personally I think that you raised an excellent point (even if you feel like it wasn't worded perfectly. Seemed fine to me tbh)- if you didn't bring it up, someone else would have. (Me. I would have. Probably others too- there are plenty of people who share that opinion)
Some other people love Baccano, and that's fine- I'm not trying to take that away from them. But I think Baccano's high production values, nice art and audio can distract from the fact that it's narrative has glaring, fundamental flaws, and that's a legitmate discussion to have (inevitable, even) on a forum like this. |