Baccano! (light novel, English) Add a review

Baccano! (Japanese: バッカーノ!, Hepburn: Bakkāno!; Italian for 'ruckus', Italian pronunciation: [bakˈkaːno]) is a Japanese light novel series written by Ryohgo Narita and illustrated by Katsumi Enami. The series, told from multiple points of view, is mostly set within a fictional United States across time most notably the Prohibition era. Its characters includes alchemists, thieves, thugs, Mafiosi and Camorristi, who are, at first, unconnected to one another. After an immortality elixir is recreated in 1930 Manhattan, the characters begin to cross paths, setting off events that spiral further and further out of control.

The first novel was released in February 2003 under ASCII Media Works' (formerly MediaWorks) Dengeki Bunko imprint, twenty-two novels have so far been released. The novels were adapted into a sixteen episode anime television series directed by Takahiro Omori and produced by Brain's Base and Aniplex. The first thirteen episodes were aired on Wowow from July to November 2007; the final three were released direct-to-DVD. The series was also adapted into a two-volume manga, an adventure video game for the Nintendo DS and two drama CDs. An additional novel was released with the first drama CD and two gaiden novels were released in parts with the DVDs of the anime adaption.

Funimation has dubbed the anime episodes in English, and has licensed them for release in the United States and Canada. The series was also licensed by Manga Entertainment for English releases in the United Kingdom, and by Madman Entertainment for releases in Australia and New Zealand. The entire English-dubbed series was streamed through Hulu during October 2009 and English-subtitled episodes continue to be streamed. Funimation streams English-subtitled and English-dubbed episodes through their website. Funimation's rights to the series expired in 2016.

The light novels of the series have been well received by readers and have also been awarded. The first light novel, The Rolling Bootlegs, was awarded the Gold Prize of the ninth Dengeki Novel Prize, held by ASCII Media Works in 2002, after reaching third place. The anime adaptation of the series has been popular in Japan and the United States, and has also received significant praise for its plot, characters, strong dubbing, animation and musical score.