Baccano! Question

[GeneD]

I have a question to anyone who's seen Baccano!. In the very first episode there is a scene where Isaac gets his ear nicked with a lance thing and there are a whole lot of other characters in the room (seen later) including Ennis, Jacuzzi and his gang, Chane Laforet and a whole bunch of other people I don't recognize. Does anyone know when this takes place?

[spoiler]I mean, I'm assuming it's after the train incident, since as far as I understand Jacuzzi, Ennis etc. didn't know each other before the train, but is it really related to any other part of the story that I'm just missing? Or is it something that happens after everything else in the series and is maybe expanded on in the light novels?[/spoiler]I'm just curious, is all.

(Other Baccano! conversations are also welcome in this thread if it comes to it.)

[spoiler]Lastly, I think I would also be a bit (brutally) homicidal if I was a guy called Claire.[/spoiler]

[MasterDias]

From my understanding, that scene/event is from one of the later light novels. I don't know which particular novel however.

So, hope for a sequel anime I guess...

[Fish and Chips]

The scene with the spear is (allegedly) from the 1933 THE SLASH arc, which is chronologically the next after 1932 Drugs & The Dominos (a.k.a. Eve Genoard, The Daily Days, Claire Stanfield's actual reason for arriving in New York, etc.). Most of the people standing in the background who you didn't recognize were probably introduced in that arc. Stop me if any of these people look familiar (or don't):



Unfortunately, I can't say if we're due for a second season or not, since I have no idea how well the Anime adaption was received in Japan. If it did fairly well for itself, we could probably expect to see a continuation in the near future. If not though, your only hope is that someone is kind enough to put an official translation of the books into the works (which is not likely).

[Radical Dreamer]

Gaahh I want those books so much. XDD I really hope they get a second season going. It was well received enough in America to get licensed (which was surprising by itself); I hope it was just as well received (if not moreso) in Japan, and a second season is on the way soon. XD

[MasterDias]

Another of Ryohgo Narita's series Durarara!! has an anime planned for January, so there is still interest in adapting his series, although I don't know what Baccano's sales numbers were.

It was well received enough in America to get licensed (which was surprising by itself)

Surprising that it got licensed? How so?
Unconventional plot structure aside, it was always the sort of thing I assumed would probably get picked up sooner or later.

[blkmage]

Honestly, this always seemed like the sort of thing that'd be much more popular in America than in Japan. Of course, the light novel series is still going, so I'd assume that it's not a total flop.

Also, there was a (very unsubstantiated, even at the time) rumour I'd heard that Brains Base doesn't like doing sequels or something, but, well, Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou and Spice and Wolf II happened. Of course, this now gives me hope for a Kure-nai sequel. ヽ( ﾟ∀ﾟ)ノ

Durarara has a really solid voice cast though (Ono Daisuke, Mamoru Miyano, Hiroshi Kamiya, Jun Fukuyama, and Kana Hanazawa!) and I like the character designs (by Yozakura Quartet's mangaka, apparently).

[Fish and Chips]

The light novels themselves are reportedly very well read in the Japanese market, though I couldn't find you the exact numbers for this; likely a combination of the West being seen as exotic and books being generally cheaper than Anime; if Amazon.JP is to be believed, compare just four Anime episodes for (roughly) $90, or the entire printed series proper for $80 total (at $6 a pop per volume). Plus I suspect that, like everywhere else, fans of the original materials were dismayed at the adaption, which is always a problem.

Still, there is a good chance being popular in America will give it some swing. It seemed to help for other dark horse titles like Cowboy Bebop and Trigun. And animating Durarara!! is hopeful, though it doesn't grab me quite like Baccano! did.

Consequently, I've managed to find an unofficial translation of the first book. It's a notable divergence in plot structure at least, I'll say that much.