Forum - View topicI do not understand the love of Baccano!
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Darksorrow29
Posts: 412 Location: United States |
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Maybe I am wrong but I always had the impression that Baccano! was pretty darn popular in the US. Many times I see "top fan lists" or whatever I commonly see Baccano!. I went to go look at the forums discussion and was rather surprised to only see six pages worth of discussion o.o. The user ratings however are extremely high.
Baccano! has always been the one show I just simply do not get why everyone loves. It's one thing to not enjoy a show and be like "ok maybe people like it for xyz?" and then it's another to just not understand. This doesn't mean Baccano is a bad show I just simply did not find it entertaining. Reasons I assume people like this show: - The dub seems like it was pretty good. - Not a ton of animes with the exact same setting / mafia style. - They liked the characters/plot. - Some brutally violent scenes. Here is what didn't click for me: 1) The Story Telling - Ok I get it. This show is supposed to have a ton of characters and you see all their perspectives and it's supposed to tie together. Now don't get me wrong I'm not against this kind of approach. I've seen Durarara and although I wasn't a huge fan of it either I thought the story telling or at least how all the characters tied together was done better. There are just so many scenes in Baccano I sit through and I just wonder What's going on? What's the point? I think the part of the story that had me the most interested is why everyone is spoiler[immortal] but you find out like midway into the series... then you realize they're just on this spoiler[train] for the whole time. Also you already know something is going to go down cause they show you how it spoiler[crashes] pretty early on. 2) The Characters - Ok if a show doesn't have the best plot I try to look for other things. Maybe it's funny, has awesome action, character development, drama, pretty girls, or just has a great cast of characters. Here's my problem. There are too many characters. ANNs encyc shows at least 50 characters, granted that includes minor ones. The main cast is probably at least 8 characters. Lets keep in mind this show is 16 episodes. I just feel that you barely get to learn anything about these characters or see them do enough things to like them cause there is only so much screen time for each one. Firo seems like he's a pretty neat character but I feel like I barely see him do anything. I also had a hard time taking any plot seriously when I constantly kept seeing Isaac and Miria (a fan favorite it seems). I guess I can understand if people like Lad cause he's shown quite a bit. So please let me know why you may have enjoyed Baccano! What did I miss or neglect when watching it? What's the big selling point? What kind of fan would you recommend this to? |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 19140 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Objectively speaking, the complaints you make here are the main complaints that could be made about the series. The story is not easy to follow, the size of the functional cast can be overwhelming, and the way it mixes comical bits like just about any scene with Isaac and Miria with immensely graphically violent content can be disconcerting. (I'd also add that it can be a bit too talky for its own good at points.)
However, what I think you're missing is that people love this series for its style and eccentric nature. The title basically translates as "ruckus" from Italian, and that's a good description of the chaotic nature of the series as a whole. It bounces around just like a no-holds-barred fight does, and fans love that feel. It also has a lively and interesting cast with some fantastic character interactions, such as how Ladd Russo interacts with his girl, how the Rail Tracer fits into things (he's apparently a fan fave amongst female viewers), how Isaac and Miria play off each other, and so forth. Me and the others involved in the "Revenge of the 2000s" episodes of ANNcast go into more detail about this in its second half, where the series ranks in the top five on (IIRC) the lists of two of us and is essentially an Honorable Mention for the other two. |
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Darksorrow29
Posts: 412 Location: United States |
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Thanks Key, I actually think that's a pretty solid response. Checking out the podcast now... I think I saw it awhile back when it came out but I forget the points.
Totally worth revisiting it just to hear Zac do that Britney Spears opening. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Unlike many overhyped shows I can at least see why people - especially Westerners - would like Baccano!. It's well animated, the score is superb, the tone is energetic and the cast is full of memorably crazy larger-than-life characters. But I have always been perplexed at how certain people can be so enamoured with a show that is so extremely graphic and sports such fetishistic and sadistic violence, and yet be so against violence in other shows. And despite the show's obvious technical quality and the chronology shenanigans, it is hardly impressive from a scriptwriting standpoint, so I too find it weird that Baccano! makes so many people's top-ten lists.
Yeah, I listened to that podcast when it came out. It's been four months but I remember most of what was said about Baccano!. Although all of you clearly spelled out why you liked the show, Hope was the only one who adequately explained why it is a top-ten show, and that's only because she put it under "pure entertainment". I myself wasn't entertained at all by Baccano!, but entertainment is largely subjective so I had no problem with her putting it on her top-ten list for that reason. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 19140 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I'll agree with you, dtm42, that the writing is hardly flawless; without question it gets too talky in places. (The Ladd/Claire confrontation on top of the train is one of the biggest offenders in the regular series episodes, and the guy with the giant wrench is a big offender in the follow-up OVAs.) I don't recall if I said this on the podcast or not, but that was one of the main reasons it didn't make the cut for my Top 10. (Well, that and I figured that others would probably name it, so I aimed for a bit more diversity.)
I can also certainly understand why some would be mystified by the appreciation of the graphic violence, as this series is undeniably in the top 1% of all non-hentai anime series in that respect. While I don't necessarily regard that as a detracting factor, my appreciation for the series comes more despite it than because of it. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4287 |
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That's kind of similar to my complaint with the show {and in my mind, it's a deal breaker}: it's all premise but no plot. The characters are great, the setting is fantastic and the violence is fine in that there's a lot of it and it's well done. And these are things you can get in all great action shows that have characters and violence and humor and all that entertaining stuff. But in addition, you get a lot that's more than a series of spoiler[coincidences that are set up as being a lot more insidious or meaningful or mysterious, interesting even, than they really are.]. In the end, the only reason I got why all the timelines/stories cross one another's flow, making everything more complex and confusing, is to obscure the fact that they're not that involved or intertwined. Or, ultimately, entertaining. The series tried to be Pulp Fiction but missed the point of how and why combining different stories with some of the same characters could interplay, riffing off of audience expectationsspoiler[Playing the immortality card with most of the returning characters didn't help]. The simple reason of that is because the show was based on individual stories that were told linearly; The show's producers just wanted to be "artistic" about adapting it. In the end, I got tired of continuously thinking "oh, is that it?" |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 8016 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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My requirements for a top notch series:
1. Story-Is it well-written and engaging? (Check) 2. Characters-Were they interesting? Was there character development? (Check) 3. Emotional Impact-Did I laugh, cry, etc? (Check) 4. Technical Aspects-like animation, music, etc. (Check) 5. A Decent Conclusion-Does it wrap up loose ends? (Check) I don't know if it's in my top ten, but Baccano aces the test, which is why I gave it high marks, but then so did 75 other works out of the 1,202 I've seen, so take from that what you will. Last edited by Kruszer on Wed May 15, 2013 2:14 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Mr Adventure
 Posts: 1598 |
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I enjoyed the main series quite a bit. I loved it storytelling technique.
I did however find the final (3?) OVA episodes exceedingly boring however. It really felt like the show creators ran out of things to say once the main storyarc was concluded. |
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TsunaReborn!
 Posts: 4713 Location: Cheltenham UK |
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I also felt that the OVA's where unneeded, I don't think I watched the final one as it was tainting my view - at the time - on what I thought was a very good series. I was a little disappointed that the all the stories didn't interlink in someway like Pulp Fiction or Crash but I personally though the main story of the show was very enjoyable.
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ScumbagYoshi
 Posts: 140 |
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It's okay, I understand it either, but then again I don't get love for half of the popular masterpiece anime out there, so maybe I'm just dumb. I ended up giving Baccano like a 7/10 or something so it's still good I guess. -3- Also as far as characters are concered, I don't think Baccano's problem was too many characters (I believe Katanagatari had far more characters than it and still excelled) but the fact that few of its characters were particularly engaging. Maria and Isaac are the go-to set when people describe Baccano because they stand out the most, but I can rarely pinpoint the names and faces of other characters and the ones I can are ones I'm not particularly fond of (maybe Chane is an exception, but that's because she's hot?). |
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2636 |
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Baccano was one of the cases where a large cast was done right for me. I ended up loving practically every character by the end.
I don't know if I would say Baccano is flawless but it was sure damn fun. I couldn't ask for anything more. I also really liked that while I was confused at first, everything really did come together in the end. |
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potatochobit
 Posts: 1373 Location: TEXAS |
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baccano is not a very popular show.
just people who do surveys and polls and blog on the internet like it. basically it has alot of fanboys like naruto or final fantasy. |
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Riddley
 Posts: 536 Location: Ireland |
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My avatar says everything...
If I had to say something about Baccano! I would probably just end up parrotting Key, so I'll leave it at that. The only thing I would say is that it's the only series where I found myself completely enthralled by a beautiful mute woman who only appears in like, 2 episodes lol. I'm damn critical when it comes to the shows I like and even more critical about the characters. So that came as a big surprise for me. |
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ScumbagYoshi
Posts: 140 |
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Isn't that the definition of popular? >.> |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Pretty much what you're saying. |
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