The story of Bacanno! is centered around various story-lines that ultimately converges with each other: the bloody trail of the train "Flying Pussyfoot", the mafia wars, the missing brother, the search for the bottles of immortality, all of them taking place in the 30's; and finally, alchemist discovering immortality in 1711. It goes without saying that the unusual narrative is confusing the first few episodes, as a lot of information is relaid to viewers in a short amount of time, in addition to all the characters involved. It has been mentioned that this work is difficult to follow, yet this is not entirely the case: as long as viewers are focused upon the three mysteries of the anime, it is in fact easy to keep up. What is curious about the anime is the fact on how all these stories are tied to each other, as often the execution and implementation of these can go wrong; yet the anime managed to maintain a satisfying pacing as well as conclusion to the series.
Naturally, with a relatively short duration of only 16 episodes (including the specials), it is not able to fully explore the diverging story-lines, which in turn may leave viewers disappointed. This concerns mainly the mafia wars as well as the alchemist discovering immortality. The lack of development concerning these two hindered the story, as opposed as the other two stories mentioned previously, which were well executed. However, which was a pleasant to see was the setting itself: the 1930's of New York. It was refreshing to see the customs, technology and people and how these differed from current society, not to forget the mafia's which New York was known for in the 30's. Naturally it isn't a perfect representation of New York with the cast of characters, yet this was not an issue at a personal level, as the presentation of the city itself was great.
The characters of Bacanno! are certainly distinguishable from each other, being both likable and varied at the same time. However, due to the vast amount of characters, these are in fact underdeveloped for most part of its short duration. Furthermore, although not much of an issue, these can be basically categorized in psychopaths, forgettable characters, silent and cunning, or just plain eccentric. The problem with some of its cast is that motives behind some of their eccentricities or personalities are hardly explained, making it just feel as it was for the convenience for the plot. This doesn't apply to the whole cast, yet it is clearly visible when a big deal of characters have this very problem.
As for the development itself, the anime offers some in some characters enough development to be satisfying, be it either realization of one self, fear or loneliness. However, the various interactions between the characters is certainly very well done, which in turn makes up to a certain degree the aforementioned issues. Audiences are either engaged on how the author develops and portrays the different encounters between the difference in personalities, be it either Jacuzzi Splot and his kind, yet whiny personality (which surprisingly wasn't irritating) dealing with the strong and arrogant people; or even Claire Stanfield and the silent Chane. Not to mention Isaac and Miria, which can be very entertaining to watch due to their simple-minded nature, yet admittingly could be annoying at times.
Concerning the animation of the anime, it was well executed alongside fluid motions on both characters and environment; some inconsistencies could be found, yet were overall not detrimental to the experience. Nevertheless, the various action scenes were splendidly animated. As for the art style itself, it is nothing out of the norm with satisfying character design being both varied and befitting for the character's personalities. However, both backgrounds and characters were at times blurry and very simplistic, but considering the small budget it was easily overlookable.
The soundtrack used in Bacanno! was splendid and very befitting of the atmosphere it was trying to portray: the 1930's of New York. Jazz compositions are prevalent which serve to attribute the anime a somewhat unique soundtrack (albeit some compositions being forgettable) that complements with the different scenes at given moments. As for the voice acting, these were splendid and just right for the various characters that were presented, which in turn made the distinct personalities of the cast shine. The opening of the series had a great tune to it that gave an accurate representation of the series, whereas the ending was rather disappointing.
Overall Baccano! was a very enjoyable anime with an interesting approach on the narrative as well as it diversity of its cast, in which both sound and the setting matched to convey a great atmosphere. However, due to its duration, the anime had not enough time to properly develop and flesh out most of its cast, in addition to some of the main stories, which ultimately was a bit disappointing at a personal level. The specials of the series do indeed tie some loose ends which may have left some viewers wondering about various outcomes, so I would suggest watching these as well. Regardless of said issues, I really enjoyed this piece and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a non-linear narrative alongside a likable cast of characters.
Thank you for reading.
