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A review by blakefarron
Baccano!, Vol. 1 (light novel): The Rolling Bootlegs by Ryohgo Narita
3.0
I think it's safe to assume most people reading this book came here because they watched the anime (one of my favourite ones). I'm in that same boat, and of course at the announcement of Baccano being translated into English I had to give it a go.
I won't say prepare for disappointed, but prepare for your expectations not to be met fully.
The one, big flaw is the writing, honestly, it's pretty bad. It wasn't translated well, and the first scene and end scene (from the first person POV of a random Japanese guy) is all over the place. The dialogue is done portly and it's hard to tell who's speaking sometimes, and the actual writing itself is still pretty shoddy at points. Still, I managed to get through it and will read the rest regardless; it's Baccano after all.
So, The Rolling Bootlegs covers Firo's ark, and how he and everyone else become immortal. First of all: it's on chronological order (also it's simply not as fun without the train, Ladd and Vino, oh well). Honestly? I prefer the way the anime handles this. I feel like as a whole the anime explains everything better (perhaps due to having an episode detailing what happened on this ship?). Maybe it's simply because of the bad writing, I'm not sure, but the anime just handles everything better. Even the character's are more likeable (or maybe I'm just being salty because I can't hear the wonderful Prohibition-era accents).
However there are some good bits. It was interesting to see more about the police (Edward wasn't the most interesting of characters but I assume he'll appear up more). Also seeing Isaac and Miria's relationship with Firo and the others' fleshed out slightly.
Overall, not horrifically bad? I'm still gonna collect all the books either way (because it's Baccano). And thankfully next is the Grand Punk Railroad, on to Ladd and Vino!
I won't say prepare for disappointed, but prepare for your expectations not to be met fully.
The one, big flaw is the writing, honestly, it's pretty bad. It wasn't translated well, and the first scene and end scene (from the first person POV of a random Japanese guy) is all over the place. The dialogue is done portly and it's hard to tell who's speaking sometimes, and the actual writing itself is still pretty shoddy at points. Still, I managed to get through it and will read the rest regardless; it's Baccano after all.
So, The Rolling Bootlegs covers Firo's ark, and how he and everyone else become immortal. First of all: it's on chronological order (also it's simply not as fun without the train, Ladd and Vino, oh well). Honestly? I prefer the way the anime handles this. I feel like as a whole the anime explains everything better (perhaps due to having an episode detailing what happened on this ship?). Maybe it's simply because of the bad writing, I'm not sure, but the anime just handles everything better. Even the character's are more likeable (or maybe I'm just being salty because I can't hear the wonderful Prohibition-era accents).
However there are some good bits. It was interesting to see more about the police (Edward wasn't the most interesting of characters but I assume he'll appear up more). Also seeing Isaac and Miria's relationship with Firo and the others' fleshed out slightly.
Overall, not horrifically bad? I'm still gonna collect all the books either way (because it's Baccano). And thankfully next is the Grand Punk Railroad, on to Ladd and Vino!