Baccano! (バッカーノ! Bakkāno!, Italian for ruckus) is an ongoing light novel series written by Ryohgo Narita and illustrated by Katsumi Enami. It takes place in the same universe as Narita's light novel series Durarara!!, Vamp!, and Etsusa Bridge, and is known for its non-linear presentation, heavy western influences, and the interconnected quality of its large ensemble cast.
History[edit | edit source]
Heavily influenced and inspired by western gangster films (such as the 1987 movie The Untouchables), and wanting to write a story with a unique premise and setting, Narita decided to research and write a story incorporating fantasy elements into an American Prohibition era setting and wrote his first full-length novel over the course of two weeks during the spring break between his junior and senior years of college. He submitted the novel—The Rolling Bootlegs—to the 9th Dengeki Novel Prize Competition, and the novel tied for the Gold Prize: one million yen; and a guarantee that the novel would be published by Dengeki Bunko with full illustrations from a hired artist.
Narita had not written the first Baccano! novel with the firm expectation that it would become a series, and many of the characters and elements of later novels, such as the character Czeslaw Meyer, were not conceived until after the first novel was a published success. The Rolling Bootlegs itself was quite different from some of Narita's early drafts of his story, which featured Ennis as a succubus familiar of an evil sorcerer, whom the main characters and various gangs would fight until they could successfully steal her away from him.[1]
Volumes[edit | edit source]
| No. | Title | JP Release Date | NA Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | The Rolling Bootlegs | Feb 10, 2003 | May 24, 2016 |
| 02 | 1931 The Grand Punk Railroad: Local | Aug 10, 2003 | Aug 30, 2016 |
| 03 | 1931 The Grand Punk Railroad: Express | Sep 10, 2003 | Dec 20, 2016 |
| 04 | 1932 Drug & The Dominos | Oct 10, 2003 | Apr 18, 2017 |
| 05 | 2001 The Children of Bottle | Feb 10, 2004 | Sep 19, 2017 |
| 06 | 1933 <First> The Slash -Cloudy to Rainy- | Sep 10, 2004 | Dec 19, 2017 |
| 07 | 1933 <Last> The Slash -Bloody to Fair- | Nov 10, 2004 | Apr 24, 2018 |
| 08 | 1934 Alice in Jails: Prison | Oct 10, 2006 | Aug 21, 2018 |
| 09 | 1934 Alice in Jails: Streets | Dec 10, 2006 | Dec 18, 2018 |
| 10 | 1934 Peter Pan in Chains: Finale | Apr 10, 2007 | Apr 23, 2019 |
| 11 | 1705 The Ironic Light Orchestra | Jul 10, 2007 | Sep 03, 2019 |
| 12 | 2002 [Side A]: Bullet Garden | Oct 10, 2007 | Dec 24, 2019 |
| 13 | 2002 [Side B]: Blood Sabbath | Nov 10, 2007 | Apr 21, 2020 |
| 14 | 1931 Another Junk Railroad: Special Express | Jan 07, 2009 | Sep 22, 2020 |
| 15 | 1710 Crack Flag | Apr 10, 2010 | Dec 15, 2020 |
| 16 | 1932 ~ Summer: Man in the Killer | Jun 10, 2011 | N/A |
| 17 | 1711 Whitesmile | Dec 10, 2011 | N/A |
| 18 | 1935-A Deep Marble | Sep 10, 2012 | N/A |
| 19 | 1935-B Dr. Feelgreed | Dec 10, 2012 | N/A |
| 20 | 1931 ~ Winter: The Time of the Oasis | Mar 09, 2013 | N/A |
| 21 | 1935-C The Grateful Bet | Oct 10, 2013 | N/A |
| 22 | 1935-D Luckstreet Boys | Aug 10, 2016 | N/A |
| 23 | 1935-E The Buzz Messengers | POSTPONED | N/A |
Reception[edit | edit source]
To be added.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- The majority of the novels are named after western bands.
