So, certain things just had to happen. This episode had a huge disadvantage in terms of predictability, and still it turned out great, even though we knew that Ennis was going to retaliate to her creator and Jacuzzi was going to kick the guy in black suit’s butt. Yes, these things happen, but in this final episode, so much more gets wrapped up.

Ladd indeed ends up unconscious, at the side of the railroad, with one arm gone, just like we saw in the first episode. After that, Rail Tracer actually ends up proposing to Chane, explaining how Chane ended up in the water in the first episode: when Rail Tracer didn’t look, she jumped into a river. Nick does the same, while Nice goes to check up on Jacuzzi, who manages to win against the leader of the guys in black suits, like expected. What I didn’t expect is a scene of Jaccuzi, right after Nice had her accident that made her lose her eye. Quite cute. ^_^

What’s even cuter is the reunion of the two lovers, especially when Jaccuzi spots Rail Tracer, thinking it’s an enemy (probably Ladd). Czeslaw also gets a surprisingly large amount of development when basically both Isaac and Miria and Maiza just greet him, without eating the guy. I guess he’s been so afraid of immortals ever since he the horrible things that his companion did to him. It’s interesting: he does remain a child, despite having lived for so long. It’s not something you can recognize in other anime that feature children that somehow are much older than they look. I loved how his story turned out. :)

Back in 1930, I just had to be amused when every single person who drank the sake that Isaac and Miria had been passing around returned at the same time. It seems that also a bunch of guys from the Mafia drank it, and the final fight between Firo and Szilard was awesome. I also loved how everyone reacted so happily after discovering being immortal, considering how Maiza had been hiding his secret for years and years, and probably grew scared of it.

And I just had to laugh when I found out what happened to Dallas. The idiot. It’s a bit of an anticlimactic ending, but it fits the guy perfectly, to be trapped in concrete for ages because the Gandors couldn’t find a way to kill him. It may be a bit strange that this story was included in the anime, though. Baccano! is basically the story of the immortals Isaac and Miria (as shown by the aftermath, where we see the two of them as energetic as ever in 2001), and the people they meet. The Dallas-storyline was about the only thing they didn’t have anything to do with, apart from the fact that the Gandors and Eve had met Isaac and Miria at one point.

And to close off this post, those who’ve been reading my blog know that I kept wondering who the guy in shadows was, who was searching for someone in the first episode. My speculations went from Dallas to Czeslaw’s companion, but in the end: it was Rail Tracer. The one he was looking for is simple: Chane. After all, she disappeared after he proposed to her. Of course he’d search for her. I know about the DVD-only episode, but I’ll be closing off Baccano! for now. This really has been an amazing series, and a recommendation for everyone who doesn’t mind a bit of gore here and there.

I am SO glad that at least one series of the new fall-season has horror-elements. It’s really shaping up to become one of my most favourite genres, especially because the Japanese style of storytelling works so damn well with it. And I don’t mean the gore-style horror. Anyone can cut off limbs or draw scary monsters. The horror I’m referring to is the psychological one. Another thing I like about this is how horror-series can often captivate me throughout their entire airtime, in comparison to, say, dramas, which more often than not only stand out because of their climaxes.

The horror in this episode was excellent, and at the same time it developed both Tarou and Masayuki, as the two of them, accompanied by Oogami go to see the abandoned hospital, in order to try and make Tarou remember. It also seems that all three of them suffer from traumas. We already knew this about Tarou (kidnapped along with his sister who’s now dead) and Oogami (witnessed his father after he killed himself), but it also seems that Masayuki hasn’t had a perfect youth: he killed a classmate of his. For the exact details, I need to watch the subs, but it’s clear that he’s still haunted by it.

What also surprises me is how close Tarou and Masayuki suddenly are. Last episode, Tarou was getting all tsundere when Masayuki tried to approach him, but the current episode did start with Masayuki, who invited Tarou to his place. We also see a bit more of Miyako, who has visions of Tarou’s childhood. Could she have some kind of post-traumatic disorder as well? The episodes so far were deeply rooted in psychology, so I can imagine that she has.

It’s strange… usually I can think of witty introductions for my posts, but for this one… I can’t. This episode was really good, and I love how Kaiji came out of it, but it’s hard to explain why. The best part was the part about the title of this episode, though: desperation. Kitami and his friends are probably the only ones on the floor left with more than three stars and the only ones where Kaiji knows something about their amount of cards, and Kaiji had to do everything to keep them interested in playing, especially when Furuhata and Andou kept clinging to their final star.

That latter part is quite interesting, and quite in-line with human nature. Humans aren’t inclined to put their lives on the line, despite what other anime-series might make you believe. Even though they were destined to lose in long-term, and the best chance of winning comes from challenging Kitami, they refuse to let go of their safeties for as long as possible.

Now about the next episode, the problem is that Kaiji still needs to win himself 3 more stars in order for all three of them to survive. For that, he plans to buy out all of the papers from Kitami as well, though the question now remains: how is that going to get him three more stars when everyone else has just scissors? The thing also is that now that the cards are running out, everyone’s getting more and more desperate, so the overall atmosphere is going to look grimmer and grimmer. Then there’s also that little matter that Kaiji and the others still have a huge amount of debt on their hands.