Story 9: A brilliant story told in a brilliant way.
Art 9: Unique and different. The artist actually researched American history.
Sound 10: Outstanding soundtrack and good voice actors in both sub and dub.
Character 7: Unique, but with not enough episodes to get personal with all of them.
Baccano is a story I stumbled upon by chance after watching Katekyo Hitman Reborn and I am glad I did because I enjoyed this anime from start to finish. Unlike so many anime before it Baccano challenges the way a story is told and tells it in clusters out of chronological order leaving the audience to piece it together. To some that may seem unappealing and difficult, but it is not as a hard as it seems and it leaves the viewer to become like a detective and gather the clues to get to the bottom of the story. What is the story? The story is not just one story, but three that come across as unrelated. One is about alchemists in 1711 learning the secret of immortality. The second is about the tragedy that happened in the transcontinental train, the Flying Pussyfoot. While the last one is about the war of the Mafia causing a ruckus. As you watch this anime which is mostly set in the 1930's you feel like you are actually in Big Boomer America. The accuracy of this story is so good and I applaud the author. From the slang to the clothing you feel like you entered a time machine.
The settings is in the Big Apple mostly, that's right, New York. Particularly in the tough ol' Manhattan swarming with mobsters. The characters match their time period. Their is not a wild hair color or clothing that is too Pilgrim to be of the 1930's. The colors of the backgrounds really shout to you and come to life. The biggest masterpiece in this anime though is the train, The Flying Pussyfoot. It is detailed greatly and accurately.
However you can't have a good anime set in the 1930's in the Big Apple without some killer jazz to set the mood. The soundtrack is what will win your heart. The upbeat theme song followed by nice blues and jazz ballads playing in the background gives this anime a sitcom feeling. For the dub fans the dub is wonderfully so don't worry. The accents are amazing and you feel like you are watching actual Italian and Russian mobsters. I did not watch this in sub, but people who have said the sub version was nice as well so for sub fans you will just have to give it a shot. On the other hand the ending theme song is the only thing that is flawed. It's not that it's bad, but it just doesn't fit the mood of the anime, too Japanese.
This anime is not just equipped with a killer soundtrack, but it has a big cast of great characters. There are too many to list and no of them is the main character,it's more like they all are main characters. Still two characters still shine farther than the rest and that is Isaac and Miria, the wacko thieves that bring comedy and kindness to the tough world of Baccano. The main flaw in this anime lies in the characters. While the characters aren't bad and are very unique and and have few cliches about them you feel as if the anime leaves you hanging. You fall in love with the characters and with 13 episodes it's not enough to get to know some of them like you would like.
Overall, loved this anime and I did enjoy it. If you are looking for a change in pace in anime watch Baccano.Also this anime is good if you are thinking of finally venturing in the historical anime genre. Give it a shot and I bet you won't be sorry.
