Baccano! The Complete Collection [DVD]

I'm actually on my second viewing of this series and I only first watched it yesterday.

Firstly I should mention there are no heroes in this, just a veriety of villians who you can't help but like (well more or less all of them). I should also add this is not for the faint of heart, if you can't stomach graphic violence stay away or better yet toughen up because you don't want to miss out on this.

Ok so the story. It's kind of hard to explain without spoiling the story but i'll do my best. It's set during the early depression and follows several groups of criminals, including thieves, gangsters and bootleggers. It mainly covers the strange events on the Flying Pussyfoot (a transcontinental train which travels across America) Oh don't let me forget to mention it is also a supernatural tale. The story is not told cronologically but jumps around different events in each episode. You will feel confused for quite some time but by the time you've watch several episode the story starts fitting into place. This is the reason I can't tell you more about the plot as it will ruin the series.

The voice acting is supurb. In fact it's the best dub I've ever watched. I love the style and the animtion. It really does have a 1930s feel to it. Oh lets not forget the musical score, obviously to fit the time period it's Jazz and suits the series unbelievably well.

Of course I do have one big problem with this series. 16 episodes is not enough, I mean they did tie everything up but I still want more (I know it's just me being greedy but if you watch it you'll understand)

Anyway purchace this series. I will be when it's released. If you need further convincing I'm sure you could find a trailer for it on youtube. Once again I apologise for not being able to say more but you'd hate me for it if you choose to watch this. I can't recomend it enough.

Came on time and everything works beautifully. Amazing anime with such a unique atmosphere. The english dubbing i think is some of the best i've heard! Plot is gripping, exciting and a bit of a puzzler. If you like an anime that gets into thje dark stuff and makes you think then you'll love this, and it has great action scenes as well :) Buy for sure :)

Baccano! is probably one of the most interesting animes I've seen more recently. Based on it's premise alone you know that its going to be a great show. Taking place in 1930's America where there is a gang war or turf war between the Martillos, Gandors and Russo crime families. The cast of Baccano! each get their share of character development, mostly reserving an entire episode to showcase their history and involvement up to the point of a fateful night on a train called The Pussyfoot, where a highjacking goes horribly wrong. Using that night as a focal point, Baccano! implements a series of sizable flashback sequences that take us ever deeper as viewers into the bizarre and twisted view of a Prohibition-era America and beyond, intermixing the harsh reality of that period with otherworldly ancient occultism. This approach allows the characters to seem less archetypical in nature and more individualistic, allowing us as viewers to get to know their mannerisms and personalities.

At first the show might seem a bit confusing since there were so many characters, but once the show progresses you'll get a better understanding of what's really going on. There were also many flashbacks with each of the characters and many subplots that are inter-wived within the series, some might be confused by this but this was definitely a great and addictive show. The supernatural element also plays a prominent role as some characters are immortal, they drink some magical elixir that is explained in one of the episodes. The characters were mainly thieves, psychotic criminals, gangsters ect. and so they were a very interesting cast, I particularly liked Isac and Miria who provided the comic relief as a pair of bumbling thieves. they wear all kinds of costumes and then tell themselves to act normal while robbing a store only to screw up, which was hilarious and Lad Russo who plays a typical Joe Pesci type gangster/sociopath.

Although the Japanese voice dub did a great job with the characters I actually preferred the English dub since they captured the characters perfectly, with the heavy New York accent. The series was a lot of fun but also included violent scenes which would make it unsuitable for younger viewers; the actions of 'Rail Tracer' might give them nightmares. The animation looks fantastic, the slight sepia tint giving it a period look and distinctive characters made it a joy to watch, it also had a great musical score to accompany it. The extras provided by Funimation had some trailers and a couple of commentaries which I recommend you listen to since it explains alot of plot details. This anime comes highly recommended.