So, yes. Today’s episode is a recap. Don’t bother hoping for a bit of new content like with episode 14: there isn’t. Every frame of this episode was basically recycled from the other episodes. I really wonder why the creators had to include a recap at this point, so close to the climax. I mean, for a series with 26 episodes, three recaps is just too much.

Now this is what I call an excellent episode! This arc is finally beginning to shine again after the countless episodes of building-up, and the main plot also finally gets moving into a very interesting direction. This was by far the best episode of the series yet, since the month-long hiatus back in August and September.

There are three storylines that were important in this episode: the one about small Riou, the one about Suou and a new one, which has to do something with salt. If I understood things correctly, then someone is preventing salt-merchants to arrive in the capital, and Shuurei’s going to be busy for the next couple of episodes to try and sort that one out.

The storyline that surprised me the most was that of small Riou, though: he’s big Riou’s son! Not only that, but he just hangs out with Ryuuki in the library like it’s nothing, even though both his brother and father went after Shuurei. I’m still curious about the relationship between big Riou and Ryuuki, as there doesn’t seem to be any hostility between the two of them.

Tantan’s story featured some great build-up in this episode. He basically says his goodbye to Shuurei this episode by letting her play the erhu for him, because he knew that his father was going to drag him in another one of his plans. Could this have something to do with the salt?

On a smaller note: Seiran remains absent in this episode, an Ki Kouki makes his first move towards Shuurei. Oh, and Shuurei and Ryuuki see each other again, and Ryuuki eats some of the lunch that Shuurei prepared.

So, according to Hinano this episode is supposed to be a filler. Still, I liked it a lot more than the previous episode, which seems to have come from the manga. The storytelling for the case of this episode (a guy who loves playing soccer, but isn’t the best at it) was way better than the messed-up stewardess that attacked with bad Engrish.

Sure, the thing was still as predictable as ever, but it’s not like Shugo Chara has been known for its dramatic twists. This actually makes me hope that the director is going to go for his own storyline, as the previous episode did show that he’s got some troubles with trying to convert the manga-format in anime. This episode also convinced me that the best things about this series are the Chara-changes. It’s hilarious to see the characters act beyond their defined characters in a totally outrageous way.

Then there’s also the matter of the heavy Utena-influences. I hope that the creators did realize that the thing that Made Utena great is how it developed its elegant characters, and not the fact that it had elegant characters in the first place. :P The best example would be Hotari’s admirer and the strange old tv-presenter-woman. It’s very unlikely that the creators will go for it, but it would be awesome if the two of them actually get their own piece of development at some point during the anime, which will make them more than just stereotypes.

Anyone who tries the first episode of Baccano! will immediately notice one thing: the immensely huge cast of characters. I could be wrong, but this can very well be the 13-episoded series with the biggest amount of characters ever. While it’s incredibly hard to make a story with so many characters that stretches over three different timelines come together, the creators of Baccano! actually pull this off. And how!

Basically, Baccano! combines immortal alchemists with the American Mafia in 1930. It works quite well, because there are so many different characters, they just have to go beyond the clichés in order to prevent characters who look too much like each other. This results in the quirky thieves of Isaac and Miria, the psychotic Ladd and the charming Luck. While it’s of course impossible for the character to reach the same level of depth as, say, Toward the Terra, but the creators did manage to give every important character (if I had to guess, there’s about thirty of them) an identity, a clearly defined role, a small piece of development and an actual personality.

And I haven’t even started talking about the story yet. Basically, it goes from a completely incomprehensible first episode to a captivating mystery-series, where all the threads of the huge amount of side-stories end up resolved at the end of the final episode. It furthermore tells the story of three, sometimes even four, related timelines right through each other. Because of this, the creators are able to plan the climaxes really well, and they turn into one huge success, with a near-perfect combination between comedy, drama and action. I really mean it when I say that Baccano! has some of the best writing of the entire year.

In terms of production-values, this series also shines. Especially the character-designs: not only do the creators manage to give every one of the about thirty important characters a unique look, they manage to actually do this for even the unimportant and side-characters (if I had to guess, there are about eighty of them). The animation may not look crisp, but it’s detailed, never giving off a feeling of still-frame abuse. The soundtrack consists out of a bunch of catchy Jazz-tunes, which makes me wonder why not more anime turn to this, as it works great to give action-scenes a bit of a quirky touch.

Regarding the bad points, there aren’t really any true flaws about this series, apart from the sacrifices that had to be made for the good points. The first episode is basically one huge puzzle, and only later in the series will things start to make sense. The characters individually aren’t very special either. It’s only when they are combined with others that they become special and interesting.

Overall, there need to be more anime like Baccano! It’s not often when you run into a series that’s as well-written as this one. It’s a definite recommendation from me, provided that you can take a few gory scenes that pop up once in a while.