Rewind: Baccano!

Baccano ep 1. If you enlarge the screenshot, you'll notice
dots on the top guy's clothes. Those are bullet holes. Yeah,
he's pretty cool.

Ah, Baccano!. How do I even attempt to describe this one? You see, there's action. And blood. And a lot of people on a train. Some are mafia. There's those two crazy but kind thieves. And a bunch of them are immortal because of something that happened a lot time ago. It's mostly set in 1930s New York. Except those other parts, like the gold mining. You tracking with me?

Didn't think so. Baccano! is something you have to experience for yourself.

When I first watched Baccano!, it was the goriest anime I'd ever seen. I thought the amount of blood shown was disproportionate to the amount of bloodshed. I was sure that the only way you could get that much gore from a single body was to put it in a blender, and I said so to anyone I told about the show.

Still, it was my favorite action anime for a long time. I couldn't follow the plot, but I knew it was exciting, a rollercoaster of blood and fight and mafia. 

When I re-watched the show a couple years later, the gore didn't seem as extreme. The characters weren't swimming in blood after all. I still give a gore warning when I recommend it (it's rated TV-MA for good reason), but it shouldn't be too terribly disturbing for those who are already familiar with anime action and blood.

In December 2010, on Anime-Planet, I recommended that fans of Gungrave watch Baccano!, and vise versa. Baccano! was fresher in my mind then:

Both Baccano! and Gungrave involve the mafia and related questions of loyalty (and, at times, betrayal), friendship, tasteful "supernatural" strength, and amazing action.
Whenever I reccomend Baccano! I must warn that it is the bloodiest, most violent anime I have ever watched. It's been labeled TV-MA almost exlusively for this reason.  But the action is very well done, and I greatly enjoyed watching it.Gungrave's fight scenes were just as enjoyable, although less emphasized than in Baccano!. Where it perhaps has less action (relatively), Gungrave spends more time developing the plot and characters - in a much more orderly manner than Baccano!. Don't get me wrong - Baccano! has great characters, developed plot, and intrige, too.If you liked Gungrave, you'll probably like Baccano!, provided blood, gore, and chaos doesn't scare you away from a mafia action masterpiece. And, if you like Baccono!, you'll probably enjoy a peak into the the action and inner-politics of the mafia in Gungrave.

I made this recommendation before I finished Gungrave and kicked Baccano! down to second place in my list of favorite action anime. I still think the animation is excellent, the characters are as developed as they need be, and the plot is intriguing. I highly recommend it. Just don't get frustrated if you don't understand everything right away. Instead, sit back and enjoy the ride. I sure did.