Baccano!
Synopsis:
Based on the award winning light novels of the same name, this anime adaptation follows several events that initially seem unrelated, both in time and place, but are part of a much bigger story—one of alchemy, survival and immortality. Merging these events together are the kindhearted would-be thieves, Isaac and Miria, connecting various people, all of them with their own hidden ambitions and agendas, and creating lifelong bonds and consequences for everyone involved.
(Source: MAL)
Why You Should Watch This:
Baccano! is a series that doesn't take its audience's intelligence for granted. This is most obviously displayed by how Baccano! chooses to tell its story. It throws the audience head-first into the plot and tells it out of order. In Baccano! you constantly switch perspectives as you follow the individual stories of characters that eventually merge into a larger tale. This means that there is rarely a dull moment in Baccano!, as we follow whomever's story seems most exciting at the time. There is a lot of enjoyment to be derived from guessing at connections between characters and events.
What really makes Baccano! excellent, however, is its cast. The cast is diverse and full with eccentric personalities. The characters are also, like in many of Narita's works, not conventional good guys. In fact, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that Baccano!'s cast is comprised of psychopaths. Despite this Baccano! manages to sell you on their personalities by treating nearly everything that happens in the series with whimsy and exaggeration. Coupled with the charisma that oozes from even the worst characters it's basically guaranteed that you will find one character you love.
There is one downside to the massive cast of eccentric characters: there is not enough time to develop all the characters. This is only made worse by Baccano! refusing to treat characters like side characters. Every character is the protagonist of their own story, and that means that Baccano! tries to give everyone equal development time. This in turn, means that there are a few characters who do not get enough time to develop, and none of the protagonists have a character arc that you might expect from a character-driven story. Don't get me wrong, the characters are still more than their eccentricities, but it is clear that thirteen episodes and three specials do not do the series justice. Luckily, there are the Light Novels if you want to continue with the series.
All this excellence is wrapped up in a package that is easy on the eyes and sounds wonderful. Especially the dub!
(...It's possible? Remember the Trigun movie?)
