Baccano! & Immortality by Slug Gardens / Anime Blog Tracker

Baccano! & Immortality

Baccano! & ImmortalityThe Essence of Anime - Part IIntroBaccano! is a 2007 TV anime directed by Takahiro Oomori (Natsume Yuujinchou, Kuragehime, Samurai Flamenco, Pet and a lot more) and animated by Brain’s Base. It’s also a 2008 OVA by roughly the same team. It’s also a series of light novels in publication since 2003, written by Ryohgo Narita (Durarara!! and such) and illustrated by Katsumi Enami (also some other stuff).Sounds like a fairly normal affair for an anime adaptation so far. Well it gets a bit more convoluted when you look at the connections between these pieces of media: The TV anime roughly adapts stuff from the first three novels and stuff loosely based on the fourth novel and an arc from the fifth volume and also some smaller stuff from up to volume 14. The OVA is based mostly on volume 14 but also some stuff from the fifth one and of course more stuff. [Source and more info: https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/9836]As you can probably guess from the above paragraph the relation between TV series and OVA also isn’t quite as simple as “side story” or “sequel”, as would usually be the case with these things. Rather it’s some weird combination of the two.In this text we will try to examine the broad themes of the anime adaptation. Specifically that means novel-exclusive content will be ignored as will the details of a lot of the characters: There are a lot of characters and fitting all of their stories under one umbrella would be as impossible a task as putting the actual characters under one umbrella without having them kill each other. This means that Baccano! will inevitably present themes not discussed here and that’s alright: We’re focused on the big picture here. That’s how I justify that pretentious “The Essence of Anime”-subtitle to myself.So what happens in Baccano! ? That’s pretty hard to answer. Even recounting the events of the show needs the same caveats stated in the previous paragraph, there is just too much stuff to present a concise and somewhat complete summary. Thus this very rough overview will have to suffice:The PlotIn 1711 some people on a ship summon a demon, granting them immortality and also giving one of them, Maiza, the knowledge how to make an elixir that can make more people immortal. There is only one way to “kill” an immortal person: Another immortal person has to place their right hand on their forehead and think about eating that person. When that happens the eater receives all the memories of the eatee (E.T.?). Otherwise body parts will simply return to an injured immortal and regenerate and also they don’t age. There is some debate about whether they should share the elixir formula (they don’t, not even among each other) and some people get eaten but that’s mostly not really too important here: We will only note that some dude named Szilard eats the brother of Maiza.In 1930 Szilard gets his hands on the formula by science (actually by eating the dude who got it by science but whatever) but the first batch of the elixir gets stolen and hijinks ensues causing Szilard to be eaten and a lot of other characters to become immortal including, importantly for us, Isaac and Miria, a pair of the most unqualified thieves in history who don’t even notice that they became immortal until like 2001. But they are nice people and always seek to help those around them even with their heists which through some sort of miracle always succeed. Also a character named Ennis almost dies here, more on that later. (It really hurts writing this summary and leaving so many things out. There is just so much more stuff here and in all the following time periods that I don’t even mention)In 1931 some people are on a train and there is a lot of fighting and killing. One of the parties involved is Claire Stanfield aka Vino aka Rail-Tracer (according to the Baccano! wiki he has three more names). Among that chaos, Miria and Isaac befriend one of the original ship-immortals and more people.In 1932 some people (mafia dudes and his sister) are looking for a dude named Dallas. It turns out he became some shit-tier-immortal in the past, meaning he can’t be killed but still ages, and some other mafia dudes put him in cement and sank him to the bottom of Hudson River to let him slowly age and die. He somehow escaped though. THUS THE SEARCH IS STILL ON or something, he just isn’t found in the anime.In 1932 still (these are the events of the OVA) some more hijinks are underway (the details barely matter even in the OVA itself) and Isaac and Miria and their new friends make some more friends.As I hinted at earlier, these events are not told in chronological order; rather all of these stories are shown in parallel, all reaching their climax at the end of the anime (except for the OVA stuff). Then there is the frame story of which we get two vignettes: At the beginning of the anime Carol [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl8u_hZ3xQ0] and “vice president” are debating where the story begins/should begin and who the main character is/if there is any at all. At the end of the OVA (technically there is still some stuff after this scene, but it’s pretty much the end), they debate the nature of endings and conclude that there are none. It’s all pretty cool.Baccano! is about immortalityWhew. That was a lot of stuff and it barely scratches the surface of the events of the show. But the information relevant to our discussion is hopefully included. Finally I get to the part that I actually wanted to write:Baccano! is about immortality. That’s it. That’s my thesis. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.Alright. I admit it. I lied. That’s not the end yet. When I say that it is about immortality, I am not talking about the fictional kind that you can see in, say, Baccano!. Well it is about that too to some extent. But I think the more interesting angle is about “immortality” in real life. Specifically, I will argue, Baccano! wants to tell us: “You are alive as long as others remember you or you had a positive effect on something happening now.” And, yes, that is far from the most revolutionary messaging but I think Baccano! deals with it in interesting ways.Carol - StoriesMy first piece of evidence (Imagine me standing in front of a group of people saying this, one of them getting progressively more nervous that they are gonna be revealed as the murderer theme of Baccano!) will also be the first thing Baccano! presents us with: The framing narrative and the general structure of the story.The fact that the anime tells us that stories have no endings fits pretty obviously well with my proposed theme. To quote:“Put aside the illusion that there is a beginning and an ending to a tale. There is no beginning nor ending to any given tale. The only thing that exists is the way people relate, interact and affect each other and how that expands throughout the world. There should never be an ending to a tale, Carol.”This whole Carol-vignette at the end highlights the importance and general nature of the influence people have over other people.After that ending-dialog, the only thing the anime has left to show us is a montage of the lives of a lot of the characters, illustrating how the events and other characters of the story influenced each of them and their futures.Another detail during that ending-dialog is worth mentioning: At some point a rat that became immortal during the experiments leading to the (re-)discovery of the elixir-formula shows up again and Carol and the “vice president” imagine what it’s life was like. Contradicting that sentence I just typed though, to my mind the rat did not become immortal (for the purposes of this discussion) by drinking that immortality elixir, no, rather it became immortal by the fact that it somewhat caused a lot of the events in the show and maybe even more so by these two remembering it, thinking about it’s life. Like, if that scene at the end wouldn’t have existed, that rat would have been essentially dead in the eyes of most viewers, I bet, except maybe for the fact that they remember how it took part in that inciting incident.The rest of the framing narrative also fits with the theme. The fact that a beginning is hard to find, is just caused by the fact that previous stories intersect and overlap with this one. Same for the main character.Next to just being a cool way to frame the non-linearity of the narrative, all of this meta-discussion furthers the theme. The non-linearity and non-main-character-ness of the story are, of course, of themselves meaningful. The whole structure of this anime serves this theme, showing how the lives of so many people are interconnected and how they are thus immortal, as illustrated by a lot of them being literally immortal in-universe.Maiza - MemoriesNext we will direct our attention to the story of Maiza, his brother and, more generally, how in-universe immortality functions in Baccano!. The way that Maiza deals with the “death” of his brother is a clear reflection of the theme I proposed:When in 1711 Szilard eats Maiza’s brother, he is obviously not very happy about this. Sure, his brother is no longer in this world and that is horrible already but, as we and Maiza realize, it’s made far worse by the fact that it was specifically Szilard who ate him. Szilard, as you might guess from the fact that he eats people who want to continue existing, is a bad dude and not exactly friends with Maiza. When, at the end of the show, Szilard gets eaten by a good guy (his name is Firo if you care about that) who, to top it all off, is Maiza’s protégé, Maiza is relieved that his brother's memories are being carried by someone respectable. The fact that his brother’s legacy, specifically his memories, lives on for the good of the (or at least Maiza’s) world is enough.And this thinking that Maiza illustrates is baked into the very concept of Baccano!’s in-universe immortality. No one ever says something along the line of “But if immortals can get eaten, then they aren’t immortal! They can die!” because to Baccano! being eaten does not equal death. Your memories live on and thus you live on. Even if a bad person temporarily obtains your memories (i.e. they are lost), they can be recovered.In a lot of other stories, you could hear characters being opposed to immortality because it makes dying impossible even if the immortal person in question wants to die. Baccano! side-steps this issue by presenting this eating mechanism which is a rare solution that does not, in turn, strip the immortality of its immortality. If you subscribe to the world view that everyone wants to stop existing in this material world eventually then the memory transfer is what makes Baccano!’s immortality actual immortality; all the healing and not-aging stuff is just in place to prevent you from dying before being eaten. Ennis - DeathThe anxieties that are provoked by the worldview that (as I propose) Baccano! proposes, are being exhibited by Ennis in the 1930 climax.When she thinks that she is about to die, she says the following to Miria and Isaac, whom she previously became friends with (In the end she doesn’t die but that is immaterial for our discussion except for a passing note that a character does not die when she thought she would because her thinking was so clearly in line with the theme. This can be seen as evidence that the author indeed agrees with my interpretation):“I’m sorry. Thanks, I’m glad I got to talk with you in the end. Could you please listen to this request of mine? Please don’t forget me.”And then, even closer to her presumed death, to another character:“It looks like I’m about to die, so… could you please eat me as well? [Quick note here: She can be eaten but she is not immortal. There are lore reasons for this.] There is still a lot I want to tell Isaac and Miria. So, please… Eat me and relay my message to them.”I don’t really have much to add here. Those quotes are pretty self-explanatory. Ennis fears the part of death where she hasn’t told Miria and Isaac everything she wants them to know more than the part where she stops existing. She even proposes being eaten as a way to, to some extent, prevent her death.Miria & Isaac - KindnessAlright, say you believe me that Baccano! is saying what I am saying it is saying and you also believe the thing that Baccano! is saying. What does this mean in concrete terms for your life? What does Baccano! tell you to do except for having less existential dread? To answer that question we have to look at Isaac and Miria. If there is any one main character in the anime, it’s those two; that might sound like I can’t count to one but they are essentially just one character. Thus where else would Baccano! put its role-models?Alright, you got me, I lied again: WE don’t have to look at them to find out; I can just tell you Baccano!'s advice: “Be kind to others.” Not too thrilling again… But we’re still gonna take a look at how the anime communicates that insanely bold statement.So, first, why should we view Miria and Isaac as role models to any extent or even the main character(s)? Main character(s) because 1 (it feels like) they have the most screen-time 2 they most certainly act as the main connecting tissue between a lot of the different plot threads 3 they are simply pretty cool and memorable 4 they are the first characters in the opening and also the only ones that appear twice in it, the second time being at the very end 5 both the TV series and the OVA end on them (All of this is not to invalidate the previous point about there not being any main character, I’d still agree that there isn’t one, it’s just that if pressed, I’d definitely pick these two). Role models to some extent because 1 they are one of the few characters that don’t kill anyone 2 as opposed to their kill count, their friendship count is probably the highest in the anime 3 there is an episode literally titled "Isaac and Miria Unintentionally Spread Happiness Around Them" and it’s debatable how “Unintentionally” that really is 4 they inspire others around them to also be more kind 5 it’s just pretty obvious from their framing that this is how we are supposed to view them.Okay, so sure, the anime wants you to be kind and it also wants you to believe that stuff about immortality. But what do these things have to do with each other? Well, Mr. Rhetorical Question, it’s actually pretty obvious: If you are kind to others they are more likely to remember you in a positive light and you have an overall more positive impact on the world around you. Easy as that.As mentioned previously, Miria and Isaac specifically don’t even notice that they became immortal until 2001. This can be read as them just being clueless, sure, but there is also the following reading: Being immortal is just the natural state of being for them, they are effortlessly kind and memorable to the ones around them and thus effortlessly immortal.Claire - Non-believers“This world is mine. I think this world may even just be a long, long dream I'm watching. You guys may just be illusions, and it can't be proven whether or not you really exist either. In other words, this world was created with me at the center. So what will happen if I die? I don't know. My imagination isn't very creative; I just can't imagine myself dying. In other words, there is no way this world can completely disappear. But if I die, then everyone will disappear. I am the only one in this world who won't disappear. The rest are just people I see as if in a dream. That’s why the world is mine, or that’s what it comes down to anyway.” [Quick note on translation here: This quote (except for the last sentence) is not from the same subtitles that the rest of the quotes are from because the way stuff was phrased there just didn’t make any sense at all.]This quote doesn’t really comply with the ideas lined out so far. If I am actually right about Baccano!’s themes, this monolog would be something delivered by a villain or at least a character who turns out to be wrong about that thing. But it isn’t really either of these. This is a quote by Claire Stanfield aka Vino aka Rail-Tracer. While his morality is somewhat ~complicated~, he is not framed as a villain. And neither is his belief proven wrong. He survives the anime without any problems and not because he is immortal the way other characters are; if anything he is only “immortal” in the way he described above.And all of that seems a bit weird if Baccano! was really saying that immortality comes from others remembering you. Here is a character who bases his immortality on the fact that other people aren’t even real and will just stop existing if he dies. That’s pretty much the polar opposite. And as far as the anime shows us, he might as well be right.Well, here is my read on how Baccano! wants us to view that situation: One doesn’t have to believe in this form of immortality for it to work. Anyone who does good will be remembered for it and anyone who will be remembered is immortal. And Claire is shown to care about other people. Even if to him they are just things that his mind made up, he gives a whole speech about compassion. (He is still a murderer but the anime frames him in a positive light, thus what I am saying is positively colored. This is how the anime wants us to perceive him and that’s what’s important for this analysis. I, personally, think that a lot of the things he did are bad and the anime might even agree with that but his framing is still decidedly positive.) Him not believing in the “right” kind of immortality doesn’t make him a bad person and thus doesn’t make him any less immortal.The anime wants to make sure we don’t see this view on immortality as sectarian and think badly of others who don’t share it. Final thoughtsSo, we saw that Baccano! wants us to believe that “You are alive as long as others remember you or you had a positive effect on something happening now.” We saw how Carol and the structure of the anime illustrate these connections between people and their importance. Maiza’s story and the nature of in-universe immortality taught us about memories and how they constitute legacy. Ennis’s story furthered those ideas and showed us the anxieties this belief can cause. Isaac and Miria exhibited the proposed life-style of kindness. And through Claire we understood how Baccano! does not judge those with other world-views.But, again, this is not the entirety of Baccano!! There are still many stories left to be examined that might fit into the framework laid out here or may be about different themes entirely. But I hope that I established some basic ground-work for how you can read Baccano! and maybe even convinced you that looking into the themes of a work will inevitably yield results, even if that work seems to largely operate on rule-of-cool logic.Taking all of this into account, I rate Baccano! at 5/10.Thank you very much for reading all of these words. If you enjoyed them, consider subscribing to this blog or do whatever people do with blogs; I wouldn't know.

Slug Gardens

Nov 26, 2020 • Subscribe

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