Baccano! Specials

Regardless of the fact that this is purely bonus content for fans of Baccano!, which is a fine series and franchise, these 3 episodes tend to feel more like a weight pulling it down rather than something to lift it up.

While this does indeed give us more information about the characters, and maybe ties up a loose plot line or two for the few people that actually cared about them, we still have to ask ourselves why these three episodes exist, who they are for, and what do we do now that we have watched them. As far as I can tell, this was ... made concurrently with the main series which is why it looks and sounds exactly the same, so when they realized that the plot was very neatly concluded after the 13th episode, they decided to use their remaining resources on... this.

This is a direct sequel to the Baccano! anime, and it shows us just a little bit more after the events of the series. The problem is that for the most part it shows us very, very little. Honestly it feels like the story just wants to continue on, which of course it does in the original visual novel form, but this is just 3 episodes.

In fact, these three episodes do have the potential to make the original series worse in retrospect because it just muddies the waters a bit. It ties one or two plot lines together but then just leaves so much undone and even sets up things that we will never, ever see. Not in a way that is interesting like, "Oh there they go again", but more like "I'm about to do something really awesome, sure would be a shame to miss what I'm about to do next" and then it ends. The emotional climax definitely happened in the 13th episode of the main series, and it felt really good the way it ended.

Worst of all, compared to the other Baccano! series, these episodes are boring. Most people will probably watch this thinking it's part of the main series because they are usually listed as Episode 14, 15 and 16. While the main series is full of violent interactions between insane personalities, these three episodes are almost entirely devoid of violence, interactions, or personality. I know it seems like I'm being hard on a mini OVA but it's because this is tacked onto the main series in a way that will make the viewing experience worse for most people.

Truly content for Baccano! fans only, and you should only watch this after you've taken a break from the series. Maybe a few months after watching the 13 episode series, if you feel like you have some itch to play the visual novels or read the manga or play the DS game, maybe THEN you should watch these 3 episodes just to get your toes wet in the larger lore before jumping in. That's why overall it's a 4/10 and just a Bad Anime because it only exists to try and push you out of watching anime and into the rest of the franchise content.