If you were to summarize Baccano, you’d probably say that it’s a show about 3 different but intertwining stories, one about alchemy and the elixir of immortality, one about the search for a missing douchebag person and, last but not least, a story about the massacre happening aboard the transcontinental train Flying Pussyfoot.

Now, what a lot of people seem to miss or simply choose to ignore are the two characters we see at the beginning and at the end, vice president of Daily Days and his assistant. You can say they are just taking the precious screen time that a 16 episode series desperately needs, only contributing to a slight 4th wall breaking humor. They may not be any interesting and hell, I admit, they may not even be needed in the show, but the fact that they are there is what makes me like Baccano so much.

After rewatching this awesome series a few times now, I’ve noticed that there’s more than just blood, violence, flying limbs, peeling faces and all that good jazz. Baccano may very well also be a show about story telling. With such a mindset, I rewatched the show one more time. The only problem I’ve previously had with Baccano is gone, now that story telling is in the picture.

What always bothered me with this series is how certain things are exaggerated. Of course, the biggest offender is no other than our favorite solipsist, Rail Tracer. Would years spent in circus combined with some solipsism allow you to jump around performing some Michael Jackson shit at the very edge on the top of a moving train, not to mention gently pushing someone to the side to dodge a bullet fired from a sniper? Then of course, continuing to dance through a flurry of bullets without ever getting hit. Another thing is how easy it looks to cut someone’s fingers off. There’s no way that an old guy can just lop off 3 fingers with a knife like that, with a single move like that. And let’s not forget that one thing, jumping off the train for the rope then going high speed through the air, punching a fucking water tower in order to ease the fall and prevent fatal damage?

“Still, Carol, depending upon which of these interesting characters you focus, the same incident will behave like the surface of the ocean. Changeless yet ever changing. In other words, there may be but one event, but as many stories as there are people to tell them. ” - Gustav St. Germain, vice president of Daily Days



So, as the vice president said… people love making shit up. This is especially true in some of the episodes. Some episodes end with a scene that seems very bizarre. One example is episode 5, the scene with two guys in black suits. The lights start blinking, one guy is staring in horror through the window, with the other one asking what’s wrong. Moments later, the guy gets abducted by a red wibbly wobbly monster, leaving the other one screaming in fear. With all the rumors circling about the red monster chasing after trains, this is exactly how the screaming guy would tell the story. A madman sees what he sees, but what really happened is probably Rail Tracer pulling the guy out of the window and applying his favorite choo choo killing method. Another scene like this is in episode 3, when Jacuzzi finds out the corpses in the conductor’s room, the camera zooms out to a single train car alone on the tracks.

A great importance is put on the concept of information. The whole 10 minutes of the first episode is a discussion about the nature of information. Not only that but throughout the show the Daily Days information shop has a big presence.



If it weren’t for those two characters, vice president of Daily Days, Gustav St. Germain and his assistant, Carol, there would as well be no Baccano. They are the ones actually presenting the stories to us. If the show just started without them, then a lot of things would just be extremely unbelievable. Having them adds another interesting layer to the whole picture. If you have seen Baccano then please go ahead and watch the first half of the first episode again that you always skipped when rewatching. There is much more to it than just making a 4th wall joke. And hell, if you haven’t seen Baccano, go watch the whole show!

“Cast aside the illusion that there is a beginning and end to the story. The story has no beginning. And it has no end. All there is, is a performance of people connecting, living, influencing each other, and departing.“ - Gustav St. Germain, vice president of Daily Days

