Baccano! just earned Hulu some serious cred.

[Gregness]

So I was checking on Hulu today to see about the season premeir of house when what should I find but that the entire run of Baccano! is available until Oct. 30th, dubbed, including the three bonus episodes. (http://www.hulu.com/baccano)

I originally heard about it here, so I figured I'd give y'all a heads up.

Edit: I forgot to mention: Baccano! is rated M so you have to register for a Hulu account before they'll let you watch it. It's pretty painless though; takes about five minutes.

[NonCon]

You are my new favorite person for this.

[Julford Hajime]

Never seen Baccano! before. I keep hearing that it's good, but never anything else.

Without giving me a six-page essay on the subject, what is Baccano! about, and why is it good?

[NonCon]

It's about immortal gangsters during the prohibition era, and it is good because every character is awesome for their own reasons, even the whiny one.

[MasterOfMagic]

Never seen Baccano! before. I keep hearing that it's good, but never anything else.

Without giving me a six-page essay on the subject, what is Baccano! about, and why is it good?
Its a practical guide on condensing awesome into 16 30 minute bursts.

Or, its about a very strange event that completely ruins a lovely train ride. It has mobsters, some crazy blood covered thing that mutilates people, and Issac and Miria. They're these people:
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/9876/45bc68e147f4082a4e0063c.gif
(psst. They're the real reason to watch it :D)

[Julford Hajime]

blah blah blah during the prohibition era blah blah blah
Whelp, I'm sold.

And by sold, I mean I'm ten minutes into the first episode. I have to admit, I was shocked during a couple of scenes.

I mean, (Spoilers for the first ten minutes of Ep 1) I can take kids getting shot in the head and their headless body crumpling onto the ground, but somehow seeing the immortal dude getting his fingers sliced off actually shift around a little bit.


Overall looking good. Animation is nice, and it hasn't done anything to make me ragequit the series yet.

EDIT: Also, the voice acting is good. The only character whose voice has come off as grating so far is Carol, but that's because I really dislike the high-pitch female characters that seem to be prevalent in every anime ever.

[NonCon]

Episode two is when you'll really start to love it, I am thinking, and it just gets better and better as it goes on.

[G.I.R.]

I'm on Episode 7 now and can't stop watching it. I like how Isaac and Maria are the lighthearted comic relief to the rest of the show. The story and characters are fantastic as well. I am really enjoying it.

[The Wandering God]

Episode 1 is really good at hooking you in.

Hopefully I'll be able to sort out who's who before too long.

Also, this explains where a good portion of recent avatars have been coming from. :)

[NonCon]

So I just finished the main story and everything about it is so damnably heartwarming. I love it.

[Donomni]

Well, there goes my free time.

[Solid Snake]

...Well, I just watched the first episode.
Absolutely none of it made any sense whatsoever.
I mean it was cool and all, but absolutely none of it made any sense.

[Fifthfiend]

Pretty much yeah. It has this whole "let's jump the plot around among a dozen main characters and half as many different points in time" thing that is pretty goddamn confusing for honestly as many as the first like six eps or so.

Still though I promise that it gets continually more rad, and that it is even moreso once they feed you enough of the plot that you can start connecting up the dots.

[Sithdarth]

Ok so that was the shit. Its like if awesome and amazing hooked up for a one night stand and awesome got pregnant the baby would be Baccano. Aside from the more obvious merits of the show its almost impossible to pull together a story that goes all over like that coherently. Not only was that done extremely well it was also done smoothly in a way that gave the impression of a more linearly advancing plot.

[Magus]

Apparently the anime is based on a series of novels, and the way the plot jumped around probably worked easily from the beginning when in novel form.

I too agree that by the end of the anime it all made sense, of course. But as a novel it probably wasn't as hard to follow.

[ZAKtheGeek]

Well great, now I've finally started watching this. You guys better not have led me on. One bad experience would sour me to anime forever.

...

Oh wait. It's the exact opposite.

[Fifthfiend]

For the record I strongly suspect Gregness is one of those viral marketer spamvertiser type of folks but I'm okay with overlooking that when such people spamvertise totally excellent things.

[Gregness]

Heh, I can see where you'd get that but I've actually been lurking for quite a while now and when I saw Baccano! up I figured now was as good a time as any to delurk.

You are my new favorite person for this.

I guess my instincts weren't too far off.:cool:

[G.I.R.]

I am sad now, it's over, I finished watching this morning. That was some real quality stuff. Isaac and Miria are my favorites, but why wouldn't they be! :D


EDIT: They are keeping this on Hulu until October 30th, if you haven't seen it yet, go check it out!

[The Wandering God]

This was indeed, great.

I'm going to watch it through again before it expires. Now with added lucidity!

[ZAKtheGeek]

So I've seen the main 13 episodes, and hey, this is pretty good. I don't really have any complaints, which makes this one of the best animuz I've seen.

Still gotta check out those bonus episodes, and rewatch the first episode.

[01d55]

This is one of the better dubs I've heard. I've noticed that dub actresses often go to their highest pitches in what I presume is an attempt to match the Japanese actresses and it never works out good. That didn't happen in Baccano!

Instead, we get old-tymey American accents.

[NonCon]

This is one of the better dubs I've heard. I've noticed that dub actresses often go to their highest pitches in what I presume is an attempt to match the Japanese actresses and it never works out good. That didn't happen in Baccano!

Instead, we get old-tymey American accents.

Oh, very much agreed. I usually avoid English dubs because I'm not too fond of most of them, partially due to hearing it in Japanese so much English sounds weird, but this is one of the few dubs I hear that I can't really see the Japanese version topping.

[Donomni]

Episode 8 is so much win it's not even funny.

Seriously, they just need to make a Issac and Miria show already.

[Julford Hajime]

No, that'd ruin their awesome. They're fun characters because we aren't exposed to them constantly, and instead get them in concentrated bursts.

Then again I've only finished episode 3 what do I know >.>

But so far I'm kinda mixed on the dub. Everyone is great for the most part, but my god Jacuzzi, I can't like you because of that voice. He seems like the kind of character I'd love, but that voice is soooooooo distracting I keep thinking he needs to be replaced by another character.

But for dubs in general it depends on the English dub quality compared to the original. I'll watch whichever dub I deem better (Cowboy Bebop is better in English, for example. Same as, say, Blue Gender or Outlaw Star. But I can't stand watching Evangelion or TTGL in english because the original feels way better >.>)

[NonCon]

Everyone is great for the most part, but my god Jacuzzi, I can't like you because of that voice. He seems like the kind of character I'd love, but that voice is soooooooo distracting I keep thinking he needs to be replaced by another character.

Man, Jacuzzi is like my favorite character. He is so very melodramatic whiny, and the deliver matches that perfectly.

[Gregness]

The whiney bitch act just makes him more all the more awesome later. It's the episode description for, what, episode five that mentions that heroism is more heroic coming from a coward?

[NonCon]

"Jacuzzi Splot gets scared, cries, and summons reckless valor" or something like that.

[Donomni]

The fact that he's giant crybaby just so he has the balls to get shit done when it needs to be done is probably one of the more probable causes of being a badass ever conceived.

Most people can't just become a badass, yet Jacuzzi does.

Also, much lulz at the end of episode 13. Happy Birthday!

[NonCon]

I really ought to start reading the books, and honestly have no idea why I haven't yet.

[Fifthfiend]

Are they available in English??

The fact that he's giant crybaby just so he has the balls to get shit done when it needs to be done is probably one of the more probable causes of being a badass ever conceived.

Baccano: even the Shinji is awesome.

(He won me in the scene where it turns out he's crying for the guys threatening him, cause'a how hard his badass crew of hoodlums is about to fuck them up).

[NonCon]

Just started reading the novels. It looks like in the novels the story is being told to a Japanese tourist in New York by Maiza, but I'm not 100% sure it's him.

Also, I love the demon in this.

“Did you call me a ‘demon’? Ah, it’s all right. But have any of you have seen God or angels? A word such as ‘evil’ only exists from the contrast of comparison for the first time. Ah, never mind; 103 years have passed since I have been specially summoned. It would have been wonderful if this happened 3 years earlier, but ...ah, never mind. Ah, ‘ah, never mind’ is my pet phrase. Don’t pay it too much mind... I am directly transmitting my voice into your brains, so this thing about pet phrases is a little strange. Ah, never mind.”

[Death by Stabbing]

Why didn't anyone tell me Baccano! was so awesome? I mean really really awesome.
I mean it's like they took a bunch of great movies and then put them all together and made this show.

Also has anyone else noticed that a lot of the best things ever have trains involved or take place on trains or mention a train or just have something to do with trains in general. I mean Baccano!, Full Metal Alchemist, The Untouchables, The Fugitive, The first Matrix movie (subways count as trains), Hellboy, Blues music, I mean the list goes on and on and on...just pointing that out...wondering if anyone else saw that pattern

[NonCon]

Why didn't anyone tell me Baccano! was so awesome?

Fifth had a whole thread about how awesome it was not too long ago, and I hardly think that was the first mention this forum had seen of it. We can't be blamed that you don't pay attention.

[Death by Stabbing]

Fifth had a whole thread about how awesome it was not too long ago, and I hardly think that was the first mention this forum had seen of it. We can't be blamed that you don't pay attention.

To be fair it's not like anyone listens to Fifth...:D

[Buddha Fett]

I watched this show after the last thread you guys spent recommending it, and I've got to admit that it's freakin' fantastic.

It's probably the first time I've seen a really disjointed storyline pulled off well, and I'm still amazed at how easily they made me relate to over a dozen characters in only sixteen episodes.

Also, Ladd Russo is pretty much my new favourite homicidal maniac.

[Julford Hajime]

Just got through Episode 8, "Isaac and Miria Unintentionally Spread Happiness Around Them". I'm sold on Baccano! being my favorite show of everything I've seen this year, and I haven't even finished it yet.

Everyone is great for the most part, but my god Jacuzzi, I can't like you because of that voice.
And I totally take back this Jacuzzi hate I threw around before. Jacuzzi Splot's VA is totally awesome, though it takes a few episodes to like him. The only character I'm honestly not caring about is Lua, and that's just because she hasn't been prominent yet. Hoping that'll change so I can see what the hell her deal is >.>

[01d55]

Just got through Episode 8, "Isaac and Miria Unintentionally Spread Happiness Around Them". I'm sold on Baccano! being my favorite show of everything I've seen this year, and I haven't even finished it yet.


And I totally take back this Jacuzzi hate I threw around before. Jacuzzi Splot's VA is totally awesome, though it takes a few episodes to like him. The only character I'm honestly not caring about is Lua, and that's just because she hasn't been prominent yet. Hoping that'll change so I can see what the hell her deal is >.>

Her deal is she is in no way a hidden badass and we never learn shit about her. Weakest part of the show imo.

[The Wandering God]

So after re-watching the first episode, I realize there is one scene that I can't quite place.

At 18:30 into the first episode, you can see a woman attack Issac with a spear. In the background, you can see Jacuzzi, Nice, Ennis, Chane, along with several others.

So, what the heck is with all those extra people and when is that scene supposed to take place? (After they become immortal obviously, but that's not much to go on.)

My best guess is this is something from one of the later novels that the anime doesn't cover.

Also, it is MUCH easier to follow the second time through. Shame there isn't more to watch. :(

[ZAKtheGeek]

Her deal is she is in no way a hidden badass and we never learn shit about her. Weakest part of the show imo.
Since we never learn shit, how can we say she's not a hidden badass? She could be the most hidden badass of all.

[Premonitions]

So, damn this show is awesome. Like, everyone just keeps astounding me, the last show that did that was TTGL, so that shows the level of crazy going on in this show.

questions
Why did the rail tracer look so weird in the beginning? like, he did'nt look human at all until after we find out who he is.
Jacuzzi is pretty awesome, but, Seriously? ten years and no kiss? the hell? his "Be a pussy till I need to be awesome" policy does'nt apply to banging his girlfriend?
Even Still "I HAVE A GUN IN MY HEART!" is right up there with the drill and peircing the heavens and whatnot.
Miria an Isaac were just SO awesome! just amazing! Love them!
On Vino, I just kept expecting him to die, with all his talk, the fact that he did'nt just compounds his awesome. Like a villain who keeps going on about being invincible and a god, you figure he gets killed by a real immortal who drops a pithy quip, but no, he just keeps on being crazy and awesome.
Did anybody else get the impression that the News guys had never seen their boss before? the looks on their faces as Sugar Cube went around the stack of papers sorta implied that to me.
So, what happened to Dallas? did he break himself out? if so, that'd be pretty damn cool,

[neoadept]

*Picks up jaw off the floor*

I find that I must damn the Vice President for declaring that it ends when it does.

After rewatching the series I have just two questions:
What is The Item that the senator wants so badly? What did it have to do with the train?
And what does the Devil get get out of all this? I'd say he was in it for the kicks, but he seems personally concerned when chaos breaks out so soon on the ship. And he wonders if the time is right. I get the feeling he wanted something, but have no idea what.

And less of a question than an observation: Does being a psychopath automatically give you superpowers? Even Szilard was pretty formidable. Other immortals die and come back, he just stands there and takes it.