Baccano!'s title sounds distinctly like something you'd shout in Japanese upon attempting to explain just what the show's about. Sitting here in front of the keyboard, the big question is, "How do I even begin framing a review of this show?" Baccano! knows it's difficult. It even goes as far as to devote the first of its sixteen episodes to a near fourth wall-breaking discussion between two characters on just how exactly to present to the viewer the story they're about to see.

For one, there's not just one main character. The opening credits alone introduces eighteen by name. This on top of another nine or so supporting characters. To challenge the viewer — especially Western viewers — further, many of these characters have names no living American would have, even in this era; for example: Szilard, Czeslaw, Nice Holystone, and Jacuzzi Splot.

Just who are the characters of Baccano!? Gangsters, thieves, delinquents, crooks, serial killers, alchemists, and immortals. Some of these things may not sound like they go together but yes, you read that sentence right.

The vast majority of Baccano!'s plot takes place between 1930 and 1932, in New York City and aboard the Flying Pussyfoot, a lavish passenger and freight train New York-bound from Chicago. Two particular incidents take center stage throughout the series: power-hungry alchemist Szilard Quates successfully recreates the "grand panacea" that granted him and a group of other alchemists immortality two hundred years prior, and the only two bottles of this new elixir are stolen by delinquents; and the Flying Pussyfoot is hijacked by mafia and terrorist groups, and also terrorized by the monstrous Rail Tracer.

This framing may initially sound easy to digest, but it's only the beginning. With its vast cast of characters, Baccano! is all about different perspectives. The entire series is presented in a non-linear and occasionally out-of-sequence fashion, and with eighteen characters deemed protagonists, you get numerous perspectives on the unfolding of these incidents — the only way they could possibly have presented the viewer with everything that happened as it happened. If it sounds overwhelming and confusing, that's because it is. Supporting characters in the Daily Days newspaper "information brokers" exist largely to sit down together and discuss exactly what happened during these incidents. These newsmen work with the viewer to piece together everything that happened as well as why and how these incidents came to pass and the sequences of events that unfolded as a result.

Every character, both major and minor, has an interesting, fresh, and obviously well thought out personality. It's a lot of fun watching them crash together — and they often do, given how many psychopaths and otherwise violent individuals make up the cast. There's a tremendous amount of graphic violence — not so many guts, but buckets of blood are spilled, and several characters are mutilated quite horribly upon being smashed down onto the tracks beneath the moving train.

Characters grow over time too, and your impressions of them change as the series moves forward. The standout in that regard is the perfectly named aforementioned Jacuzzi Splot, who initially appears to be an ineffectual crybaby who suffers from an incredible amount of social anxiety. He spends most of his scenes in the early episodes literally crying and trying to avoid dealing with anything he has to, from the threat of a violent monster to basic social interaction with charming strangers. By the end of the show, we see who he really is beneath his eccentric personality, and it's impossible not to cheer for him as he gathers his courage in the face of absurd levels of danger.

Aside from Jacuzzi, the show presents us with many other interesting characters. These are just some of them. Nice, Jacuzzi's longtime girlfriend, is an explosives expert who seems to get an almost sexual thrill from blowing things up. She scarred her face and lost one of her eyes to an explosion gone awry in their youth. Ladd Russo is a sadistic mafia assassin obsessed with killing people who are confident that they can't or won't be killed. Firo's a cheery young Martillo family mafia capo, childhood friend of the immortal Gandor brothers, who takes an interest in Ennis, a young lady connected with the villainous Szilard Quates. Eve Genoard, the series's most innocent figure, is a wealthy and spirited young lady searching for her petty thug of a brother, Dallas. When all hell breaks loose aboard the Flying Pussyfoot, the mutilation-focused serial killer Vino shows up and starts slaughtering the worst of the criminals aboard the train, guided only by his own twisted sense of justice. He's presented as one of the good guys, if not a little on the insane side. Czeslaw's a young immortal boy with a horribly traumatic past.

And then there's the show's heart and soul: eccentric, warm thieves Isaac and Miria. They spend the series pulling off odd little crimes in various costumes while unintentionally spreading happiness around them. That they have this effect on others in those exact words is, in fact an episode title. Baccano!'s episode titles are another of the small joys the series provides, describing one specific aspect of the episode with a wry sense of humor.

For a show set in the Great Depression era, there are a few anachronisms. There are black characters, for one, but no signs of segregation — a difficult topic for any anime series to broach, given the cultural gap. When it comes to matters of race, it's rare that we see black characters in anime. Unfortunately, when we have in the past, racial stereotyping has come into play in cringeworthy ways. The Japanese video game industry is guilty of this as well. Baccano!'s black characters, while supporting characters without a ton of screen time, are treated as intelligent, capable individuals, which is also something small I feel is worth singling out and praising about the show. The less subscription to cliché and stereotype there is, the better things are for all of us.

It might have been a little silly of me to expect them to delve much into the politics of the era, especially given that the show's focus is on more absurd things than history. The era itself serves as little more than the backdrop for a very fun show that could have worked conceptually in any setting, and works well in early 1930s America. They didn't so much as comment on prohibition, which was in effect during the years most episodes of Baccano! are set in. People are drinking casually left and right with nary a mention of a speakeasy. There's no Beer Barons or best damn pet shops in town to be found in Baccano!'s New York.

All things considered, setting an anime series of all things in the Depression Era US was a pretty gutsy move, that could have gone horribly wrong or turned unintentionally funny (as references to America in anime often do), but didn't at all. Every bit of Baccano!'s humor is intentional, and works. The show doesn't treat the audience like idiots and expects you to keep up with its complicated presentation of the story like a functional adult. It's something few anime series do, which is appreciable.

Baccano!'s main storyline is completely wrapped up within the first thirteen of its sixteen episodes. The last three were never broadcast, but instead released direct to DVD. They tell an epilogue of sorts to all the events witnessed prior. It's not entirely necessary, but still an enjoyable addition to the plot. Several of the scenes do, however, feel like filler, and as such out of place with the rest of the filler-free series. These final three episodes also contain an awkwardly anti-climactic story arc that introduces an additional antagonist who feels half-baked and forced in compared to the rest of the characters. The resolution to that storyline is the least satisfying part of the entire series, though they were wise to follow the storyline's conclusion with some fourth wall-brushing conversation between framing characters, and draw the series to a close with an Isaac and Miria scene. It's impossible not to love those two.

Aesthetically, there's nothing distracting to be found in Baccano! The characters are all distinctly well-designed — though you may find yourself confused early on before you've had time to discern the identities and personalities of the show's numerous gangsters — and the animation is lovely. The only notable 3D CGI — which I've always found to be detrimental to anime, like it is to most live action cinema — comes in the 3D train track animation in the show's closing animation, which plays out similarly to Haibane Renmei's and works well enough not to be jarring. Paradise Lunch's instrumental opening song, "Gun's & Roses," initially reminds of Cowboy Bebop's opening, but quickly takes off into an even more energetic, swinging direction. Kaori Oda's "Calling" sets the calmest tone you ever see in Baccano!, giving any adrenaline rush the viewer may be experiencing a minute to slow. It's an excellent complement to the energetic, swing-heavy, and occasionally tense background score.

Baccano! is a whirlwind of a show with an incredible amount of things going on involving a huge number of characters at any given time. It's not an easy story to present, let alone easy to initially digest or write about. What it is, however, is incredibly fun. I expected good things of the series, but it frankly surpassed my expectations, and that doesn't happen often. Come with the patience for a complex plot with a lot of jumping around, and a stomach for extreme violence, and you'll find a very rewarding experience in Baccano!