William French
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Baccano episode 13 part 2!
🕑 Added 2021-06-01 01:16:35 +0000 UTCClick here for the full episode.
Click here for just this half.
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What a show. That was loads of fun. A bit too gory at times, it started to feel a bit suspension-breaking, but great nonetheless.
Isaac and Miria are all-timer characters for me. I’m going to treasure my time with them for a long time to come. They’re so sweet and adorable and fun and so fucking stupid. I love them to death. I hope I get a lot more of them in the OVAs.
Firo...well. “Main character-ish”...In this ensemble piece, it’s hard to argue against that, given his importance in defeating Szilard, but he was not in it as much as I thought he’d be based on that initial declaration. He was basically only in one of the time periods--he made brief appearances in two of the others, but his influence was basically limited to one, and not even what seemed to be the focus section, either (that would be the train).
Maiza was in this pretty much exactly as much as he needed to be, though. He was used very effectively and his narrative weight was just right.
Luck was also in this much less than I thought he’d be. He was a necessary cog in the machine, but he was largely a passive element.
Keith and Berga...why did these two have nameplates in the opening title sequence? They’re barely there, they barely speak, and they’re the single most irrelevant nameplated characters to the plot in the entire piece.
Ladd and Lua...Ladd just loves to hear himself talk. It got pretty annoying at points, to be honest. Not really a fan of the character. And his fight with Claire was barely a fight at all--it was a bunch of them monologuing at each other and then Ladd being ineffectual and throwing himself off the train. Seeing as he didn’t die of blood loss and trauma before the cops found him hours later, he must have survived the day, but I hope he wound up in prison for a long, long time from the testimony of the passengers. Lua is basically an afterthought, too--she’s treated as an object by the plot, something for Ladd to fawn over and be mutually creepy with. I did like that she was genuinely enthusiastically into him--it was way more interesting than if she’d been a hostage bride or something, and I wish they’d done more with that.
Czeslaw...what a little turd. “Cool motive, still murder.” He can have all the traumatic backtory-induced psychological damage he likes, he still wanted to have an entire train car full of innocent people murdered to make it easier for him to find specific people he wanted dead. I found it hard to find his tears at the end as cathartic as the show seemed to want me to find them--he’s centuries old at this point and very far removed from being a child, and, as I mentioned, is kind of evil. I’m glad Isaac and Miria got through to him, but that’s more a point in favor of them than of him.
Jacuzzi Splot and Nice...these two were a lot of fun. Jacuzzi Splot’s whining was a bit off-putting at first, but once I saw the willpower behind him I started to enjoy him more. I enjoyed his relationship with Nice and his minions, and liked that he was effectively the protagonist of the train section.
Eve and Dallas...Dallas was ALSO a little turd, but he was a small-time turd compared to Czeslaw. Czeslaw was impressive--an immortal foe with a mission in mind and the willpower to see it done--while Dallas was a small-time crook in way over his head whose reach exceeded his grasp by far. I would have liked to see what he was like when they pulled him out of the Hudson, to be honest. It feels like his and Eve’s story just kind of ended more than it finished.
Claire and Chane...Well, he’s certainly...over the top. Caked in blood and hellbent on murdering his way through the people attacking the train. Evil vs evil is almost always fun to watch, and I liked that he mostly got down to business, but he got in a megalomania-off with Ladd and it got a little tiresome. Chane, though, straight-up wasn’t in the story enough. She wasn’t developed, she wasn’t used much, she basically just saves a little girl and has a traintop knife fight and then fucks off after, apparently, falling in love at first sight with a blood-drenched megalomaniac. I wish we’d gotten more of her, gotten to see more of her motivation or really more to do with Huey at all with any of his followers. Still, for what little time she was on screen, she was certainly striking.
And, finally, Szilard and Ennis...Ennis was interesting, and I wish we’d gotten to see her more. Her face turn felt a little sudden, seeing as she’d only been the recipient of small kindnesses over the course of one day, but she must have been so kindness-starved that that was all it took for her to turn on the master she was so loyal to. I’m glad she had a happy ending.
Szilard...man, that’s a good villain, and one whose villainous presence far overshadowed his actual screentime. His ageless quest to understand the secrets of immortality, his all-consuming desire to amass knowledge and experiences, all of it made for a great, engaging, interesting, and intimidating villain. Not bad for someone who started out old and stayed that way. I wonder how many from his inner circle were actual friends and how many were snacks for later. I guess they already had the non-ageless version of the immortality goop, so he could have eaten them at any time. He’d probably have done so when they were on their deathbeds, regardless.
Overall, while it underutilized some characters, overutilized others, and was kind of disjointed was occasionally hard to follow in my specific watch method, I very much enjoyed this show. The good parts far outweighed the bad, and I’m glad I got to watch it. If you’re not squeamish, I do recommend this show--though if you’re reading this you’ve almost certainly already seen it.
That’s not going to be the end of my Baccano liveblog, though! The patron who picked it also wants me to do the three OVA episodes, so those will be up next in this slot. I’m looking forward to that, and I hope we get more modern-day adventures out of the cast.
Up next in a few minutes will be the second half of episode 12 of A Place Further Than the Universe! Look forward to that!
As always, thank you for tuning in, and thank you to my 63 patrons who make it so I can do this for a living! I’ll see you in a few minutes for A Place Further Than the Universe!
