”If you mess with my family, I’ll get as rotten as I have to.”
Creative Staff:
Story: Ryohgo Narita
Art: Katsumi Enami
Translation: Taylor Engel
What They Say:
The year 1934.
In the depths of Alcatraz, Firo, Ladd, Leeza, and the others involved in the underground brawl attempt to figure out their next moves. meanwhile, in Chicago, as Isaac and Miria try to find each other, the aftermath of what happened at the Russo mansion is affecting the entire city. As the connections between the two locations become clear, the chaos comes to a head in this explosive and heartfelt conclusion to the commotion of 1934!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I wanted to enjoy Baccano! volume 10. I really did. With this being the last of a three-volume arc, there was a lot of buildup and a lot of expectations to be met. To recap: volume 8 sets up Firo and Ladd in Alcatraz, and volume 9 sets up Huey’s ragtag group of assassins Lamia. What made volume 8 great even if it was more setup than story were its combination of old characters in new scenarios. Likewise, what hurt volume 9 was its insistence on giving more prominent focus on newer characters who feel ultimately not as likable.
Sadly, volume 10 suffers from the same issues as the previous volume, with the added pressure of having to tie a bow to a story that’s now three volumes long at this point. And while newer additions like the Nebula organization give a certain mad scientist flair (something author Narita is clearly fascinated with), other additions like Lamia’s Rail doesn’t shine as brightly– contrary to Narita’s own expectations.
While Baccano! is the type of series that never outwardly commits to “main” characters, it’s very clear this volume that the more major focus is Rail. We’ve spent all of the previous volume building up his hatred for Nebula and his own master Huey, and that’s further fleshed out this volume. But what results is this odd sense of focus on what ends up being a horribly depressed child that wants nothing more than to end their own life. It’s depressing, but in a way that’s not really compelling or artistically uninteresting either. For how frequently he shows up in the volume, he does a lot of moping around. After being separated from fellow Lamia member and closest thing he has to a friend in the form of Frank, he wants so desperately to find and rescue him from Nebula. That’s his main goal this volume. And yet by the volume’s end, that very major aspect of his arc gets settled off-camera, leaving not much left for Rail to accomplish at least in terms of a physical deliverable that readers can grasp onto.
That role, in particular, goes to literally everyone else. I wasn’t all that big on this volume as a whole, but when it did grab my attention, it was always by the hands of older, more established characters doing what they do best. After the previous volume’s endless onslaught of new faces, it was nice to have the return of the Railtracer-era cast doing nothing in particular plot-wise, but doing tons in terms of “oh hey, you’re doing things characteristic to your character.” It’s very low-calorie and fanboy-pandering at this point, but it’s still fun to read through. Seeing Firo act almost as this conscience to Ladd in Alcatraz was a nice unlikely tag-team. And even if it ultimately served nothing more than to better boost Huey and whatever story Narita has for him in the future, the both Firo and Ladd give off such main character vibes, that just reading about them getting in a fistfight is cool. Even characters like Graham were able to get a few (or a lot in his case) words edge-wise that give some pep to an otherwise middle ground story.
Tinier, more lore-specific things like the explanation of Shams and Hiltons give an extra wrinkle to the lore surrounding immortals and are fun premises in general that can go in any number of directions. But in the end, these individual character and lore-centric moments still aren’t enough to conclude what first and foremost should be a story. At this point, you’re merely an outsider looking in at this giant fishbowl of characters and their interactions– which is admittedly a very Narita thing for a light novel to do, but considering that previous volumes were able to tell more substantial stories, it’s a shame to see a three-volume arc fall so flat on its face given how much of a time investment it ended up being.
In Summary:
Baccano! volume 10 uses the same hectic overlapping story format it’s always clung to and yet suffers heavily from it this time around. Between relegating the more major characters to smaller supporting roles in favor of a newer character with a weak story arc, the volume feels like a slog to get through from start to finish. Having older characters spotlighted at least during fight scenes does alleviate things a bit, but even then it still makes for a just okay conclusion to an overly long three-volume arc.
Content Grade: C-
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen On
Release Date: April 23, 2019
MSRP: $20.00
