Stay on track - Baccano! simulwatch [RS] (14/02 - 01/03)

Episode 11

I'll spare you the details, but all your doubts concerning who does what on the ship or how the old man gets to consume the punks are actually referenced in a conversation later on, @Lordhippos!

What can I say? Well, nothing, hurry up and get to this point or at least the Rail Tracer reveal so I can gush lol
 
WMD said:
My impression is that Szilard goes on a rampage after they all drink and the show is just being screwy with the timeline but I may be wrong.
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Geriatric hedgehog said:
I definitely think they were still playing with the timelines within this single event as well, as I too thought this was the origin of the Re-l tracer one minute, until Szilard is revealed to be the stalker murderer after the demon summoning.
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Yes I think so, but perhaps in a minor way, I think most of the episode was chronological at least.

Geriatric hedgehog said:
They're already immortal themselves, and effectively family to each other to spend eternity with, I doubt they're benevolent enough to want it for everyone, and if it's just to have it for more of their cronies then surely those are replaceable too and don't need to be immortal?
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Yes it's not really explored as a motive, also done in a very poorly planned way, you'd think they'd play it cool at least until they got back on land and had time to evaluate things. Szilard instantly goes murderising.

Geriatric hedgehog said:
I may be lagging behind here for a few days now, but guess I'll enjoy getting confused catching up on multiple episodes/timelines later heh. Oh and on the point of Durararararara, I'll definitely be up for the first season to simulwatch, especially if we can do a couple of episodes a day but maybe with a few breaks in between for catching up.
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Yeah could be a plan then! :)

I am really not sure how it's structured, and I don't wish to spoil it for myself too badly, maybe someone who has watched it could confirm if there would be a decent way of splitting Durararara into chunks.

I think what I'd like to do with it is make the average episode count per day be a bit higher than 1, but maybe not as high as 2, and then instead of having daily discussions, break it into segments of a handful of episodes at once.
 
Episodes 4-6
Still too many characters per episode, I don't think I like any of them even the "comedy relief" couple as their antics are too silly compared to the tone of the rest of the show.

Also still too many time jumps and some date stamped and some not! Plus the supernatural stuff seems to be adding mostly pointless complexity on top. And the next episode seems it's going to add yet another story/timeline into the mix.

It all doesn't make much sense in my logical brain and I really need to like characters to get on with a show. Sometimes even if they start going off the track plot wise or starts annoying philosophising/weird psychobabble, I can still score high because of characters (see Evangelion).

I'll keep plugging on, just so it can be another show I score a lot less than what MAL/popular opinion seems to think.
 
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Episode 9
I love the rail tracer reveal. Its so well done with the back and forth between the info brokers, Ladd's discovery on the train and seeing what actually happened. It's also full of some of the shows most extreme visuals; not just the Rail Tracers kills but Ladd dancing in blood like a giddy little schoolboy finding out he's going to disney world.

The rest of the show moves things along nicely especially the Dallas storyline. He's now firmly in the thick of things striking back at the Gandors with his imperfect immortality.
 
Episode 9

A good episode and nice to finally put a face to the Re-l Tracer. I was trying to work out who it was all this time in the background, and really I am not sure that this character we never met before was really even possible to guess at! Only heard the name from someone in an earlier episode who mentioned Vino.

I was wondering what became of the girl with the bandana on her heard, and now we know. I agree with you @João Gomes lol - just a casual question to ask whilst hanging upside down under the train! 🤣

I thought Re-l Tracer was one of the immortals due to the acrobatics they could do, but nope, misdirection, apparently they grew up as a circus performer.

Ladd is really having the time of his life isn't he? but don't worry, he's got time to stop and promise more killing to Lua later.

Even with his immortality, Dallas is still an amateur isn't he?

I think Czes may well be asking for the kind of favour that Ladd is always up for, a good older bit of killing in the dining cart. What exactly is Czes in all of this though? he's definitely not just a normal kid either.
 
Episode 10

Given Chezlaw has been alive for a ridiculously long time he really underestimated what made Ladd tick!

We understand more about the black suits now and its neat how it ties back to the immortals.

Jacuzzi finally grows a pair and kisses his long term girlfriend!

Issac and Miria continue to stumble from incident to incident and make friends along the way!

Also lol at that dude pretending to be tied up!
 
Episode 10

Czes definitely seems to have miscalculated a bit, or maybe was happy to get Ladd to kill him so he'd get him back in the mood for some good old killing :)

Eves' get away was kind of simple in the end, they just let her walk out, not very good hostage takers are they? I too enjoyed the guy who tied himself up with rope so as to give himself a plausible alibi.

Isaac and Miria see something they want to steal, and they just do it no matter how poorly planned it is. On this occasion they've stumbled across the immortality elixir without realising what it is.

Has Ladd finally met his match in Chane? she definitely seems like she's got the upper hand in raw killing potential. I'm fairly sure even the most talented person would be unable to block shotgun pellets with a knife though, after all the shotgun will have a spread of will fire a number of them that would be impossible to deflect.

Isaac and Miria are not exactly inconspicuous are they? Them saying Isaac had been killed in a previous episode makes more sense, though why would they casually have a thing they shoot in the ceiling I have no idea.

In any case, the elixir is now with them despite them not knowing what it is, and I'm interested to see where the elixir winds up next. They're at an event so it's possible it will be distributed amongst the guests?
 
@Lordhippos You're right in that Vino was never presented or named but he was there since episode 1 or at least since the train boarding scene wink wink and such

I think I've started episode 12 last time and it just reminded me how crazy Baccano is, the good kind - it really feels like it makes the most of the fact it's an anime.

Jacuzzi's gang stays winning and Vino is, before all, a train conductor and will see his job done. Love his internal logic, even if he's an egomaniacal, megalomaniacal, extremely violent killer lol

Gotta wrap this up today, sans OVAs because tomorrow is Elden Ring day and I don't know when I'll get back to anime 😫 Kaiba on standby, I cry - episodic shows man, it's hard to get attached.
 
Episodes 7-9
The immortals are so because they summoned a demon and he just gave them! Just for s**ts and giggles I guess! Even for a 'bottle episode' they couldn't resist f**king with the timeline!

The "comedy" double act are so dumb that they've fooled people into not taking them seriously even as they commit their crimes and thus haven't been caught!

So the supernatural thing on the train is a really a person who's very good at acrobatics and killing people who just decides to go on a rampage. I can't remember why the other conductor was pointing a gun at him though, frankly I can't be arsed to switch discs again to find out!
 
Episode 11

Ennis and Firo make a cute couple, even if she can be killed by the will of Szilard at any time. I wonder she would die when he dies even if he doesn't will her to.

Re-l Tracer proving that sometimes being immortal can be a negative, for example when you can get killed over and over and have to suffer torment, it must be pretty hellish. What's Cez's back story then? seems like he has been used as a torture device more than a person.

Once again people who have Ladd at gunpoint fail to shoot him, and he just blusters his way through. He might be a crazed killer, but he's not immortal I don't think. I remember we saw him in episode 1 outside of the train with a bone for an arm. At a guess Re-l Tracer will do his favourite method of torturing people, shoving his hand into the tracks, and that will give him the bone of his arm (I am the bone of my arm...) which he'll wield like a sword to stab Re-l Tracer.

Quite a tense 3 way battle on the roof of the train there, those two bakemonos are bad enough without Re-l Tracer getting involved as well.

We're going for the trope of people not listening as well, Maiza advises them several times to leave, but nope, no trust there at all. Mow em down Szilard, they probably deserved it. Not surprised the elixir appears to be missing, I mentioned last episode but I think it's likely being served to the guests along with the alcohol. Why doesn't Szilard just eat Maiza though when he's at his mercy? Seems it's another trope of not taking advantage of the situation.

Jacuzzi Splot makes a splash, and takes over the train, much to the happiness of the bar staff. White and Black coats seem mostly dead so far.
 
Episode 12

Rachel (bandana head girl) seems to be playing the role of saviour despite having no affiliation with any group in particular.

Dallas definitely can't catch a break.

Poor Czes, think he made the right move though eating his tormentor, maybe the tables should have been turned if Fermet was so interested in wondering how far the immortality went, just a twisted individual.

It seems that at least Isaac is immortal, and maybe Miria as well, after presumably being served the elixir at the event, possibly without them knowing about it.

Re-l Tracer and Ladd have a real heart to heart discussion, Re-l Tracer is definitely a bit unhinged with his rant.

Nice seems to love the explosions a bit too much haha, Jacuzzi finally stops whining and starts taking action, and Isaac/Miria learn to drive (badly). Re-l Tracer is definitely looking after his passengers expertly, as long as he likes them, if not then they get a good killing.

Have to assume that Isaac and Miria are both immortal in the car, so even if they get killed they won't die.
 
Hey, almost up to the OVAs! I actually started OVA 1 yesterday which is actually just another episode of the series, but Elden Ring happened, so that's on standby.

So, you enjoying this overall @Lordhippos? Loved the ending and it kinda reminded me how the series has no qualms about some hardcore violence but maintaining a feel-good vibe throughout. It always feels fun and funny! Love this thing.
 
Episode 13 (finale)

We know that Ladd survives along with Lua, she gets to die another day, the man punched a metal tower thing to protect them.

Re-l Tracer definitely has a strange sense of justice and rules, instead of killing Chane, we get a marriage proposal. Not sure I'd want to marry a psycho, but you do you, girl! :)

Jacuzzi finally proves he's more than a cry baby, but it's somewhat uncharacteristic of him. Whatever, he defeated flame thrower guy so that's the black coats crossed off the passenger list.

Szilard gets his just desserts and Firo gets his waifu, and as I predicted they served the bottles to the guests at the events, so all the people that got mowed down survived. I still don't really know why Szilard didn't eat Maiza when he had the clear chance to do so, nor why he made Ennis when he knew that his homunculi eventually turn on him. He doesn't seem to want to surround himself with capable people like the others do.

Czes gets a good ending and finds people who don't just want to abuse him.

Jacuzzi's gang seem to also get a good ending, all of them surviving.

They finally find Dallas (again). He's sleeping with the fishes like I thought. I think that's what we saw earlier with Eve watching them dredging which was why I thought he was, well, that and the drowning animation in the OP he has.

Pre OVA thoughts about the main series:

This was a chaotic and interesting watch, I guess my thoughts are summarised briefly as follows.

I think the first episodes in particular are still a bit of a confusing mess, with timeline skips and a whole bunch of characters being introduced, I don't think it aims to ease the viewer into the show easily, instead it's a struggle to work out what we're seeing.

I am not sure the timeline skips were as necessary as they thought, what would a Baccano with a more chronological order look like I wonder? maybe there was a better middle ground where they were used less often. Still, with all of the skipping about it does at least make for a fairly unique viewing experience.

Most of the characters were a little one-dimensional, and with so much going on and so few episodes there wasn't really much time to flesh them out with good backstory. This is less a complaint and more an observation.

On occasion we had characters with the upper hand who lost it due to not pulling the trigger when they had the chance, Ladd should have been shot to death, Maiza should have been eaten by Szilard, etc.

Ultimately to me I'd probably give the show around a 7/10 on first full viewing. It was an interesting watch, especially if you don't expect anything deeper them people going around and murdering each other on a train in a 1930's American setting.
 
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I'm going to do all 3 episodes of the OVA by tomorrow and then post about them all at once I think. I did watch episode 1 of the OVA yesterday.
 
Episodes 10-13 (complete)
Well that felt like a complete waste of time, too much skipping around to get to know anyone and the 3 (I finally realised it was just the 3 timeliness at the end there) endings were all pretty anticlimactic and not much to do with each other either.

Some of the 1930 ending lead to the whole 1932 plot, but that plot was completely pointless. I didn't care for Dallas or his whereabouts (also as pointed out already here the OP had already given it away!) and thus the quest to find him by the interested parties was of no interest and also no one involved in '32 were involved in the train (1931) plot apart from the spy girl (who's still injured a year later!) who wasn't connected to the Dallas part anyway. And talking off weird inconsistencies they told Eve that Dallas had killed some gangsters in the very room they were in "a year ago", but Dallas was made into a human anchor 2 years ago! Maybe a weird translation error or a mistake in the original script?

The 1930 plot, let's say the war of the immortals, was also pretty pointless because apart from the flashback episode we've seen none of the, 200 years! of conflict between the 2 opposing ideologies to really be rooting for one or the other. It probably came together at the end the best with all the individual parties coming together at the end, although it seemed like random chance rather than clever writing like the films I've mentioned before. Another telegraphed plot "twist" was Ennis turning on the old dude.

The 1931 plot was just stupid with insane characters acting insane just for no other reason than they're insane. Then you have people crawling all over the outside of a fast moving train without falling off and when they do they survive and I'm not talking about the immortal characters! I had no clue what most of the groups intentions were and it all just felt rather dumb! Talking of telegraphing plot points I guessed that the idiot couple were immortal before the reveal because, apart from the obvious point that they showed them with the elixir in '30, the kid said that he had used his real name and thus their was another immortal on board. With the timelines jumping around so much you would have thought the reveal would have been better placed before we see them with the elixir!

5/10 and most of that was because the art and animation is pretty decent!
 
You going to bother with the OVA episodes @D1tchd1gger ? they were optional so no need to if you don't want to.

I think on the whole I liked it but I agreed with some of what you said for sure, too much jumping around with the timelines, and you can really only piece most of it all together by the end, which makes the first half of the series more confusing than it needs to be. It does straighten out a bit after the boat episode but it's not as if it stops.

I had to kind of switch the brain off and stop trying to understand it all fully, and just take it as a bunch of people murderising each other for "reasons" lol.
 
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