Baccano!

Just finished watching the series a few weeks ago. Man that was awesome! This show is basically like if you took the music in Cowboy Bebop, the writing and character prestige of Full Metal Alchemist, and the impeccable linearity of Haruhi Suzumiya and just threw it into the The Roaring '20s. As Dallas Geonard said "It's freakin Unbelievable!"

But ok, just who is the main character? Isaac and Miria? They're barely the focus!

edited 19th Apr '12 1:37:03 AM by Mattonymy

...There is a main character? I wasn't aware of that.

Seriously, though, the series doesn't have a main character...

edited 19th Apr '12 1:36:28 AM by deathpigeon

I know, that just how I troll.

But anyway, this series has a lot of replay value in that regards. The first time I watched it, I was mainly focusing on Isaac and Miria's storyline, this time it's Jacuuzi & Co. It's like the story that never dies!

Who did the music for this show? Some kind of rival of YokoKanno's?

edited 19th Apr '12 1:42:16 AM by Mattonymy

ANN says the music was done by Makoto Yoshimori. I haven't heard much of his music outside Baccano, but he did a pretty awesome job getting me hooked to jazz. After I watched it, I dusted off my clarinet and tried to play for the first time in years.

If you're curious about what happens next, you should check out the light novels. So far the story goes as far forward as 2002 and as far back as 1705.

Isaac And Miria are the default main characters since they meet everyone in the story.

Is that what 'main character' means, though?

Main or not, they're the best characters.

I know that the opening is done by Paradise Lunch. Probably the main theme too.

I love this show. Saw it in my anime club.

Then later, we saw Durarara, and I adored the cameo made by Isaac and Miria, different voice actors notwithsanding.

This series need way more love than this.

and no, the main character would be Karoll, since she's the one listening to the whole story, told by MR. VICE PRESIDENT/NORIO WAKAMOTO.

What are you talking about? Who watches the japanese dub of this show?

No, the main character is Mr. Vice President Count Gustave St. Germain, obviously.

People who don't like dubs.

I rank the baccano and Drrr!! English dub among the highest, they even surpass the original Japanese dub for me.

I don't usually like dubs but the Baccano dub is just amazing. One of the two anime series I watched with dubs. Like seriously. And it would make sense since the series is set in America.

The light novels begin with a random Japanese guy having his camera stolen, and eventually having to resort to visiting the Camorra to get it back. While he waits, Firo entertains him with the story of how he became immortal, essentially narrating the story. By the end, the Japanese guy returns home, and, to my knowledge, is never seen again. Eventually, it gets harder to figure out who the main character is, as the stories are told centuries apart, with not even the immortal characters being repeated. The cast gets bigger and bigger and, unlike the anime, where every character knows somebody else somehow, they are remote and far separated, but yet essential to the plot.
Each subplot in Baccano! is like it's own book. What the anime does it tear all the pages out of those books, mix them up together and present it to you like that. Each book, however, has it's own main character, but the anime as a whole, doesn't. Isaac and Miria are supporting cast in each of those books, but one of the very few common points they have. They still don't count though, and besides, the point is moot when it comes to the light novels anyway. To prove my point, the following are the few definitions of the word I found online, but none of them fit anybody.
1) The Protagonist as one who enters to counter the Antagonist: But then again, who IS the antagonist, as pretty much everybody (including Isaac and Miria) are not walking on the straight path? There are multiple antagonists, after all. In the events aboard the Advena Avis, for instance, the protagonist would be Maiza, because the antagonist is obviously Szilard. However, when the Claire-Chane romance begins, Claire is the hero against the antagonist Graham.
2) The Protagonist as the champion of a cause or a course of action: There are so many causes in the story that it makes everybody a champion for something or another. Eve takes up the cause of finding her brother Dallas, while Isaac and Miria are trying to go straight.
3) As the Focal Character: Obviously not the case as the point sort of happens to be to tell the story from different viewpoints.
4) As a character the audience empathizes with: Again, this depends on the viewer, because, by the end, people have often stated that they empathize with ALL the characters on some level, the most prominent being Jacuzzi Splot, whom is pretty disliked initially, but becomes likeable by the end.
Just read the page quote and you'll figure out why Baccano! shouldn't have a main character.

edited 9th Jan '15 11:08:29 AM by Espun

...oh hey, I was involved in that topic! :D For what it's worth, my current position is that the protagonist is the character who has a concrete goal which drives the action (while the antagonist puts obstacles in the protagonist's way, and the dynamic character provides what the protagonist needs in order to grow to be able to deal with the obstacles). What makes Baccano work so well is that pretty much every character is all three of those in different relationships with each other character.

At least in the frame narrative, though, the protagonist is Carol (who wants to organise events into a traditional narrative structure with a main character and a beginning and end), the antagonist is the setting (because things don't work that way), and the dynamic character is, naturally, Mr. Vice President Gustav St. Germaine.

Honestly, I don't know about Carol being the protagonist. While it IS sort of the frame story, there are a few inconsistencies as the actual story of Baccano often presents information that Carol had no way of knowing. Take, for example, Ennis' monologues over how 'eating' that one alchemist helped her develop emotions and look at new perspectives. This isn't exactly information Carol would be privy to from simply reading books; this isn't information Ennis presents openly to anyone.

Well, that's true. I'm not sure what difference that makes, though? (If it's important that the Daily Days have all the information presented in the story, it's arguably possible that they obtained that information offscreen - by reading other correspondence between Ennis and Isaac and Miria, for instance - or learnt, from Firo perhaps, how memories and emotions of the consumed are integrated into the consumer's mind and how it can affect their character growth, and theorised that this is why Szilard's homunculi inevitably become independent.)

There's a much better example of things in the series Carol can't possibly know, actually - the frame story obviously takes place some time in the 1930s (I'm not sure if they're actually on-screen with any other events, but I think I remember they walk past Ronnie shortly after Elmer meets him again? Which would put them in 1933), and Isaac and Miria won't discover their immortality until 2001. :D

edited 10th Jan '15 6:51:51 PM by Noaqiyeum

Sorry to necro this thread, but, stating the obvious here, love Baccano! with all my heart. Caught it by chance on Adult Swim a while back, binge-watched it all the way through (minus the three post-main-series episodes), 'twas a glorious experience. But, what the bloody hell happened to the streaming rights for the series in the U.S.? Hulu, Funi's official Youtube page and official website, Netflix, iTunes, nowhere can I find an official streaming source to rewatch this! What the hell, man?

Couple of years back while I was still in college, I ended up binge watching this series on Netflix on a whim. I had just finished watching DRRR on Adult Swim and I noticed that this series had the same animation style. I figured I'd give it a go.

I have to say, this probably ranks in my top 5 favorite anime.

Claire.

What a character.

Apparently there is a scenario where Ladd Russo proposes to Vino.