Baccano! Episode 06

"The Rail Tracer Covertly, Repeatedly Slaughters Inside the Coaches" is the sixth episode of the 2007 Bacccano! anime.

Recap Scenes
Ladd Russo telling Lua Klein and Who to visit the conductors' compartment and to capture Jacuzzi Splot if they see him (E03); Nice Holystone and Donny witnessing the Lemures capture Nick (E05); Szilard Quates devouring Barnes (E05); Dallas Genoard standing over Barnes' bloody body and claiming his crate (E03); Natalie Beriam lying to Goose Perkins while Czeslaw Meyer and Mary Beriam escape (E05); the Rail Tracer snatching a Lemur through a window (E05).

Synopsis
In the Daily Days headquarters, Nicholas Wayne and Elean Duga sit in conference with The President of the Daily Days in the President's office. Nicholas has just explained that, under duress from Gustavo Bagetta, he gave the Runorata Family information that could put Eve Genoard in danger.

Elean pointedly chastises Nicholas for having endangered Eve, and the President agrees that the threat of bodily harm was still no excuse for Nicholas' actions. He warns Nicholas that whatever happens will be his responsibility, and to be more careful.

Once Nicholas leaves the room, he meets with a Chinese colleague in the outside corridor and asks the man if there is any news. The man informs him that there has been 'no movement yet'; Nicholas asks him to report as soon as something happens, since information is guaranteed to be leaked if Gustavo and the Gandor Family enter into conflict over Dallas Genoard. Unbeknownst to either Nicholas or his ally, Elean is eavesdropping on the conversation.

Title card.

Back in 1931, the Rail Tracer steals a Lemur through a window of the Flying Pussyfoot, and the Lemur's companion screams in the corridor (the last scene of episode five).

In Goose Perkins' first class compartment, Goose, Spike, Natalie Beriam, and a Lemur listen to the surviving Lemur shout for backup in a freight hold over the wireless. At the same time, the woman in coveralls crawls under the cars and spots the Rail Tracer darting into the open door of the freight hold. Moments later, the surviving Lemur grabs a machine gun and opens fire on the Rail Tracer in the hold. The light and gunfire abruptly stops moments later; when the woman in coveralls peeks out, she sees the Rail Tracer leap out of the hold with the Lemur and hold the Lemur to the tracks, grinding his legs off. He tosses the body back into the hold and moves to whisper something unintelligible into the woman's ear. She screams and flees. The Rail Tracer reenters the freight hold.

In 1930, Dallas Genoard and his gang visit Luck Gandor at the Coraggioso and ask for the Gandors' assistance in their revenge against Firo Prochainezo. Luck is skeptical, and wonders why the Gandors should involve themselves. Dallas tries to argue that the Gandors should not allow an outside like Firo to do what he wants on Gandor turf, but Luck rebukes him that Gandor business is Gandor business alone. At this, Dallas offers for him and his friends to join the Family in exchange for Luck's assistance.

Luck sighs, and points out to Dallas that the Gandors never once invited him and his group to join them in the first place not out of some sort of fear, but because the Gandors had no use for them. Not only are Dallas and his friends useless, all their muggings attract unwanted police attention. Upset, Dallas retorts that Luck does not know anything about him or his gang, to which Luck replies that he knows all four men were defeated by someone younger than them (Firo).

Berga Gandor arrives and throws Dallas and his three friends out of the Coraggioso, sending them off with a farewell beating. Once he and Luck return to the room, they notice the crate that Dallas and company left behind. Upon opening it, they discover two bottles containing liquid that Berga assumes to be liquor. Luck closes the crate and sets it aside.

In 1931, Czeslaw Meyer leads Mary Beriam away from the dining car and hides her in a storage closet, assuring her that he will be back as soon as he takes a look around. His childish demeanor vanishes once he closes the door. Satisfied that he has taken care of the 'tagalong', he returns his attention to finding the immortal on board the train.

Jacuzzi Splot, Nice Holystone, and Donny enter the freight hold where the Lemures nabbed Nick and find their friend sitting on the ground, alone, with his hands tied behind his back. As Jacuzzi unties Nick's ropes, Nick admits to Nice that he does not know where the lookouts went, and explains what transpired earlier. He and two similarly bound White Suits (Lua Klein and Who) were left alone in the freight hold until they were discovered by three White Suits, who were surprised at the lack of guards inside the room. The White Suit's leader untied Lua and Who, but deliberately left Nick tied up since he had no reason to free him.

Jacuzzi's group exits the freight hold as Nick talks, and once they are in the corridor Jacuzzi asks Nick if he knows who the strange leader was, but Nick does not. Nick then notices blood seeping under the door of an adjacent freight hold.

Inside the storage closet, Mary becomes frightened at the sound of footsteps from the corridor outside. She accidentally knocks a broom down, drawing the attention of the White Suit about to leave the car. He returns and discovers Mary in the closet. Covering her mouth, he grins while she squirms and rants that unlike Ladd (the White Suit's leader), he prefers to hurt people who are weaker than him. The man abruptly collapses, blood pooling from his back, and Mary looks up to see Chané Laforet in the corridor with a bloody knife in hand. Mary screams.

The freight hold door in front of Jacuzzi's gang opens, and out walks Ladd, Lua, and Who. Nick immediately identifies Ladd as the leader, and Ladd in turn sneeringly remarks that Nick turned out to be one of Jacuzzi's people after all. Jacuzzi cautiously asks how Ladd knows his name, and Ladd pointedly introduces himself as "Ladd Russo." Jacuzzi's alarm at Russo Family name does not escape Ladd, and he asks why Jacuzzi is on the train and "who the hell [does he think he is]" in a deliberately physically aggressive manner before revealing that he plans on taking control of the train and killing half the passengers - or all of them. He suggests that Jacuzzi jump off the train and die if he does not want to be killed by Ladd's faction.

Ladd's intimidation works to upset Jacuzzi, enough that he accuses Ladd's group of being the murderers of the two conductors. Ladd is honestly taken aback to learn of the conductors' deaths, and appears to be genuinely upset by the news. He elects to go see the conductors for himself, and glibly remarks that it is a "shame" he has no time to deal with Jacuzzi as he and his friends head down the corridor. Jacuzzi stands his ground and says that he is sure that he and Ladd will be able to find time for each other later on. Before Ladd leaves, he informs Jacuzzi that not only did his group not kill the conductor, they are not responsible for the mess in the room they just left.

Nick asks Jacuzzi if he is really going to let Ladd go that easily. Jacuzzi replies that there is something else they have to take care of first, and he enters the room with blood leaking under its door.

In 1930, a worse for wear Isaac and Miria limp down the sidewalk and curse the hit-and-run driver who hit them earlier. Isaac's ideas for revenge against the driver include hitting the car and hitting the driver, but he settles on spitting on the car instead. The two head into a large alleyway.

Close by, Dallas and his cronies walk the backstreets, similarly worse for wear from being roughed up by Berga. In an extremely foul mood from both the beating and the Gandors' dismissal, Dallas swears vengeance on both Firo and the Gandors. One of his friends (possibly James) points out that Dallas' family is rich, so Dallas can just ask them for money. Dallas grimaces, and confesses that some robbers stole the family fortune the previous month. Another friend brings up Dallas' "cute sister" Eve Genoard, and Dallas slams him into a gate and warns him to stay away from Eve unless he wants to suffer at Dallas' hands. The friend relents, and Dallas kicks over a nearby trash can in his frustration.

Over in the big alley, Isaac and Miria fool around with their masks and, intending to pull one last great heist, reminisce over past robberies. Isaac recalls how they started out as 'thieves of time' (they robbed a watch store), and later tried to rob an entire museum - and when that failed, they stole its entrance to keep others out. Eventually they decided to do only good deeds, such as stealing the inheritance of a certain rich family. Miria is pleased at the thought that with the money gone, the family will have nothing to fight over.

Isaac suggests to Miria that since doing good deeds feels good, their final 'job' should be another good deed. He proposes that they steal from the mafia, which Miria thinks is a brilliant idea.

Dallas turns the corner and bumps into Miria. Isaac and Miria warn him to watch where he is going, tipping him past his breaking point.

In 1931, Gustavo and Rubik (Sugarcube) stake out the Genoard mansion. Spying Eve in a window, Gustavo orders Rubik to figure out some way to lure her down. Rubik is silent for a long while, and then offers Gustavo a sugarcube. Gustavo declines. Rubik makes his way to a nearby telephone booth, walking in front of a parked automobile. Sitting in the driver's seat is Nicholas' Chinese colleague.

Rubik places a call to the Genoard residence, and speaks to Eve's maid Samantha. Samantha rushes upstairs and tells Eve that the Daily Days called with new information on Dallas' whereabouts, but that the information is sensitive and must be shared in person. Eve and Samantha prepare to leave at once.

Gustavo, Rubik, and two other Runoratas are waiting in an automobile outside when Eve and Samantha step out onto the sidewalk. They drive past the two women, pull to a stop, and rush out to seize Eve and drag her inside the car. Samantha is tied up, gagged, and locked behind a sewer grate.

In 1931, Jacuzzi and the others are horrified by the gruesome contents of the freight hold. A legless corpse lies in front of them, with massive quantities of blood splattered around the premises. Nick hurries away to open a window in the corridor and vomit. Nice, hushed, points out to Jacuzzi that there is a huge amount of blood on the ceiling.

In the corridor, Nick wipes his mouth and notices a shadowy figure moving toward him on the side of the train. He alerts his friends, and they all look out of the window on Nick's signal just in time to see the figure vanish behind a car. Jacuzzi believes the figure to be the Rail Tracer.

In 1930, Ennis walks down the streets of Little Italy in search of Dallas and his companions. Glancing at the alley, she spots Scott holding Miria against her will by the far back wall. Ennis hesitates, and enters the alley to intervene. She finds Dallas, James, and their third friend kicking a downed Isaac repeatedly once she turns the corner.

Ennis frowns in apparent recognition upon seeing Dallas, and then dispatches Scott with one neat kick to his face. He collapses to the ground, taking Miria with him. Miria sits up, and watches Ennis easily deal with James and the third man. When her attention turns to Dallas, he nervously says that he'll let his victims go - so she should have no more problems with him. Ennis counters that he is her problem, and takes him out with one blow to his stomach.

Isaac and Miria scramble to their feet and shower Ennis with praise, exclaiming that she saved their lives and that she is amazing. Ennis finally realizes that they are the same couple she hit with her automobile earlier. When they say that they will do anything to repay her, she smiles and asks them if they can help her carry the four downed men to her car.

Back in 1931, the President is disturbed to learn that Eve has been kidnapped. Nicholas ashamedly reaffirms the news, and butts heads with a furious Elean. The President muses that Gustavo will probably not hurt Eve right away, and then orders Elean to calm down. Elean tries to object, but the President explains that his only concern is that the Daily Days may be responsible for exacerbating the conflict between the Runoratas and the Gandors.

Nicholas declares that he has taken measures to ensure that such a consequence will not take place, and the President dismisses him. Once Nicholas is gone, Elean tells the President that he is sure Nicholas is scheming something. The President agrees, sharing with Elean his suspicion that Nicholas is attempting to drive the two Families to the brink of all-out war for the sake of drumming up information - 'clandestine secrets' that have yet to see the light of day.

As Nicholas walks down the corridor, he smiles, and straightens his posture.

Flabbergasted, Elean asks the President if he means to let Nicholas get away with what he is doing. The President points out that there is much about Dallas Genoard that the Daily Days does not know - including whether or not he is really immortal - and that a 'little gaff' like this may help clarify those gaps in their knowledge. Elean sighs at this and sits down; the President continues on to say that it might not be the Daily Days who ends up raising the threat of war between the Runoratas and the Gandors. At Elean's surprise, the President confides in him that the legendary assassin Vino, also known as Claire Stanfield, is headed for New York on the Flying Pussyfoot at Luck's behest.

In 1930, Szilard Quates stands over the bodies of Dallas Genoard and his three companions, all of whom lie unconscious on the floor of Szilard's secret meeting room. Dissatisfied, Szilard pokes Dallas' head with the end of his cane and grumbles that he doubts he will gain much knowledge from 'eating' Dallas. He acknowledges that he "brought this on himself" and calls Ennis' name. Ennis fills a syringe with liquid from a beaker, and injects the liquid into Dallas' arm.

Differences Between the Anime & Novels
Natalie is not present when Goose and Spike hear the gunfire and screams over the wireless transmitter. In the novels, Goose notices that Spike looks disgruntled over the transmitter and sends Natalie to another first class room so that he can talk with Spike in private. Spike says that the transmitter has been alarmingly quiet, and Goose sends three Lemures to check on the freight hold. He notices that Chané is gone, and Spike says that she went to hunt some "albinos." Goose's follow-up remark that "she won't live past tomorrow" is used for the anime's version of this scene in a previous episode.

When Goose and Spike hear the gunfire come to a stop over the transmitter, they also hear footsteps splashing in what they assume to be the Lemur's blood. Goose recalls the three men he'd just sent out.

Isaac and Miria also hear the gunfire, but this (and their conversation involving Mary Shelley and Frankenstein) is not seen in the anime.

The entire plotline involving Eve, the Daily Days, and the Runoratas is loosely based off events in 1932 Drug & The Dominos but overall largely distorted to the point of being anime-original. Eve is put in danger by a Daily Days employee, but the Daily Days employee causing trouble in the novels is Henry, not Nicholas. In the novel, a drug addict called Roy Maddock visits the Daily Days hoping to learn of the Runorata Family's weakness - the Family whom he has angered and is hunting him down. Henry tells him about the Runoratas' history with the Gandors, and suggests that he find Eve and use her as a shield when he has to negotiate with the Runoratas. Roy does seek out Eve, but due to certain events does not take her captive.

The anime cuts Roy, Henry, and the entire drug plotline. The Runoratas are searching for Roy and the black case of drugs in the novel, but in the anime they are searching for Dallas instead for motivations that are entirely anime-original. The phone call Rubik places to the Genoards could never have taken place in the novel, because unlike in the anime, novel-Elean told Eve the truth about her brother's fate. Thus, the kidnapping scene is entirely anime-original.

While Rubik does have a connection to the Runoratas in the novels, there is as of yet no indication that he was involved with Runorata activity in 1931/1932.

Anime-Nicholas Wayne is a composite character of light novel characters Henry and Nicholas Wayne, and Nicholas' secretive and self-serving traits and actions in the anime are really Henry's characteristics. It is Henry in the novels who hungers for information, not Nicholas. Elean's anger towards Nicholas in the anime can be compared with Nicholas' anger toward Henry in the novels after he overhears Henry talk with Edith: Nicholas is so disgusted by Henry's unscrupulousness that he nearly punches him.

The scene with Luck and Dallas takes place minutes after the Gandors deal with Jorgi in a game of Russian Roulette that is not in the anime. Two lines are missing from Luck's and Dallas' conversation about Dallas' gang spending money at Gandor speakeasies, but on the whole their exchange is faithfully adapted. Luck's crack that the Gandors will acknowledge Dallas if he can manage to beat Berga is cut from the end of the scene. He also places the crate on top of their safe, not a bureau.

Isaac also recalls how he and Miria stole chocolate (the source of children's nourishment) in a bid to become villains during the alleyway scene, and later, after Miria compares him to Momotarou, says that they must live on with all the children they killed engraved in their hearts.

The anime cuts Jack from Jacuzzi's gang aboard the Flying Pussyfoot. In the novels, Nick and Jack are captured by the Lemures and refused freedom by Ladd; when Nick says Jack's name, Ladd brutally assaults Jack on the basis of wanting to know whether all Jacks are good boxers. When Jacuzzi's gang arrives to rescue Nick and Jack, Jack is a bloody mess. He is slung over Donny's shoulder when Nick calls for everyone to look out the window.

Since the anime also cuts Doctor Fred from the train, his scenes with Ladd in the corridor and later with Jack are also cut.

While Mary is hiding in the closet she overhears Isaac and Miria talking in the corridor and considers calling them for help, only for the distant gunfire from the Lemur to scare her into silence. These details are left out of the anime, as is Mary's assumption that Chané is the Rail Tracer.

The White Suit who attacks Mary has a rifle with him in the novels, but appears not to have a rifle in the anime. The rifle later becomes relevant when the second stowaway hands it to Turner (and Turner later uses it to threaten the woman in coveralls), but all the scenes involving Turner and the second stowaway are not in the anime.

In the anime, the bottles in the crate that the Gandors confiscate contain the Cure-All Elixir. In The Rolling Bootlegs, they contain regular liquor.

Trivia

 * The reason Nick is able to see the Rail Tracer from such a distance and in the dark is that he has notably good eyesight.

New Characters

 * The President of the Daily Days

Unanswered Questions

 * Who is Claire Stanfield, a.k.a Vino? Why did Luck invite Vino to New York? How do they know each other?
 * Who is the woman in coveralls? Is she Claire?
 * Which mafia family do Isaac and Miria plan on targeting?
 * How was Szilard able to devour Barnes in the first place?
 * Where will Gustavo and the Runoratas take Eve?
 * What will Chané do with Mary?
 * What will become of Barnes' crate?
 * What did Ennis inject into Dallas' bloodstream?
 * How did Maiza become an immortal? How do Firo, Luck, Isaac, Miria, and the others become immortal, and when?
 * What did the Rail Tracer whisper into the woman in coveralls' ear, and why did it upset her?
 * Where is Dallas Genoard in 1932?

Quotes

 * "Thank you! Fuck you! A villain has arrived!" - Ladd Russo