Godfather meets FullMetal Alchemist meets Pink Panther
J. C. Kinder | Cambridge MA USA | 01/31/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Think the review title sounds nuts? Think the product description sounds nuts? It is. The show is sixteen shades of crazy. It's tragic and hilarious and full of action. There are even some beautiful, lasting romances. By crazy people. Very, very crazy people. Most of whom have knives, guns, explosives or some combination of all of the above.
Baccano is a collage of sorts, jumping backwards and forwards in time, skipping between characters and locations. Mostly it's set in the gang wars of the 1930's. The main set piece is a train robbery, one that lasts for the entire series. The problem is that, while one group of people wants to rob the train, another group wants to take a small group of passengers hostage, a third group of people want to kill half the passengers and ransom the other half, there is a genuine article monster on board, or three or more depending on how you define 'monster'...
Short version? It's fun. It's really fun. The animation is good, the music is good, the voice acting is good (in Japanese anyway, have not heard the dub) the action is intense and the characters are very memorable. Rail Tracer and Ladd. I am just saying. Watch the show. You'll find out.
I recommend this to anyone who can stand a bit of gore, non-linear time lines and really sadistic things happening to something that looks like a child."