Okay, so this episode turned out to be miles away from the action-packed finale that I imagined for this show. In total, there was just one fighting-scene. In exchange, the writers managed to deliver an ending that was more complete that I could have imagined. Everyone apart from the dead people, Lua, the Gandors and the Runoratas makes an appearance, and everyone’s story gets a decent closure. It’s been so long since the series finished, but this is indeed why I fell in love with the original series.
Not only the threads from the past two dvd-episodes were wrapped up, but also the various story-threads that were left behind by the series:
– The reason why Rachel freaked out so much when Rail Tracer whispered something in her ear: this turned out to be “Ticket Inspection”. Apparently, Rachel’s hobby was stow-awaying on trains. 😛
– The wish that Herman asked to the demon was to make him a human and watch over Maiza, until he’d laugh again. That really was the first time I noticed that guy, but I do remember having seen him a bunch of times. Did Maiza never wonder why the guy would never age, just like he did?
– Sylvie also ended up taking the immortality potion, a few years after she boarded the boat.
– The mouse is just fine, and is still happily living.
As for other highlights: Rail Tracer is also just like a little kid when he’s not on a killing-spree, Ladd has turned insane and Dallas seems to have escaped within the two-year period that he was trapped inside that concrete. His whereabouts and Ladd’s storyline are the only real questions that this series has left behind, aside from the obvious “how will the characters spend the rest of their immortal lives?”
The only disappointing thing is that we never saw anything of Lua. She’s overall been the weakest major character in this series. Heck, I’m still not sure why she got her own place in the OP while the people from for example the information office did not. The scenes with Firo, Isaac and Miria also were pure fanservice-moments: none of them had any role left in this series, so the creators gave them their own little moments where they just have fun. Ah well, at least it was fun. 🙂
Thinking back, Baccano has been a wonderful anime. Series without a clear main character do have their charms, because in this way, you won’t have to deal with an annoying lead that needs to stay in the centre of attention, even at the cost of some plot-devices (this is also why I’m a fan of series that know when to put their main characters in the background, in favour of the side-characters).
Yeah, Baccano is one of the few great shows out there that ‘s excellent from the beginning to the end, although I wish for more Claire fight = =.
For the question of why Rachel was afraid of Rail Tracer and what he whispered to her under the train…..I think that question already be answered long ago before the main storyline finished in episode 9 , it has the actual scene that Claire told her to show her ticket and Rachel got freaked out and ran.
I loved the fighting scene between the rail Tracer and Graham. I can’t rightly remember now, but how come he (Claire/Vino/Rail Tracer) is so strong? Is he immortal as well?
Oh and Chane x RT FTW!!! Tee hee.
I’m a bit sad that it ended, but it was an interesting end nonetheless.
i was expecting the greatest fight ever between graham and rail tracer too. still, great ending episode though. i’m glad they showed nearly every character.
one thing i’m still not sure about…did they ever explain who the spear woman who cut isaac’s ear was?
>Vera
Not sure but I think he grew up in a circus or something. Even that doesn’t explain his hax strength though :p.
The spear woman is in Baccano 1933, the next couple of novels in the 1930s timeline. If there’s a second season, she might get explained.
Baccano! is a wonderfully weird series, with great characters. It was a bit disappointing that they didn’t expand on the (growing) relationship between Firo and Ennis, or between Ladd and Lua (seriously, she was either a masochist and/or had a death wish to even hang out with the guy, and when was Ladd ever sane to begin with? heh). Maybe Ladd finally made good on his threat to kill Lua like he originally promised her (not too likely though).
And glad they brought back Carol and the original story-teller guy from way back in the first episode, to book-end the series. Almost forgot about them. I hope there’s more Baccano! in the future. They really did leave more than a few loose ends and a 2nd season would wrap those up nicely.
Ladd is going to go after Huey, having learned he’s in Alcatraz.
Lua’s masochism was adorable.
Praying for a second season.
Actually, Lua wasn’t a weak character at all. If you paid attention, you’ll see that she’s the one who seems to hang back a bit, analyzing what’s going on. One of her best moments was when she abandoned that role to climb on top of a moving train, to warn her fiance away from Claire.
There are things we don’t know about Lua, and a few interpretations to her actions. For example, she could be less masochistic than we think. Perhaps she stays with Ladd becuase she’s really a thrill-seeker and enjoys how she hangs by a thread when she’s with him.
The only weak character I found in Baccano! was Jacuzzi Splot, who was just broing. Narita used him before he became more common, but his type is boring and now cliched.
You have to be pretty strong or prepared in some way to hang around those crazy people, especilly without a weapon (as far as we know).
Jacuzzi is not weak or unprepared at all. He alone robbed a number of Russo family’s stores just in one day. That’s not something normal people can do.
And there are many things omitted in the anime that makes Jacuzzi seem to be more useless than in the novel. First, Jacuzzi, not Nice, is the head of that gang and the one who draws out plans. It’s him who suggested the gang to rob the train. Or the scene Jacuzzi was attacked by Russo family’s men in the beginning of ep 5. In the anime it looks like he is some wimp who can’t do anything waiting for his friends come to help. But in fact, Jacuzzi was acting like a bait to lure the mafia to his gang’s ambush.