In Modern Animation, Baccano! Tales of Power and Machiavellian Principles
While writing about the movie, The Godfather, and thinking about Machiavelli, I was reminded of a very close example I could talk about that takes a lot of elements of both The Godfather and from Machiavellian principles. This is my favorite animated show, or anime, Baccano!.
(An artwork depicting some of the characters from the three different simultaneous storylines that are displayed within the show.)
This animated series originated as a series of light novels in 2003 under the same name, written by Ryohgo Narita. Light novels, are short Japanese novels that usually contain a few illustrations in them. The first few light novels were made into an anime in 2008 by the studio Brain’s Base. The series has also been dubbed for the US by Funimation. (Who did an amazing job with the dub in my opinion, and is just as good or better than the original Japanese cast.) The title: Baccano! is Italian, and translates to “turmoil” or “ruckus” which is a very fitting name once you get into it. To summarize the series up, (this in now way does the show justice at all btw), the story revolves mostly around three storylines, all taking place at different times, yet are presented together in the show alongside each other. Each storyline intertwines with the other through the characters. Throw characters with immortality into the mix and you get absolute craziness, or turmoil, as the name suggests. Well that’s all very confusing, but I promise that it all works together quite well, better than I thought something like this ever could. The non-linear way of storytelling is off-putting at first, but I quite like the unique style it has, and it gets easier to understand with each re-watching. If anything, I recommend the series for its masterful dynamic of characters and storytelling in a way that most stories would frown upon. Just the opening animation sequence introduces most of the important characters and makes me excited to watch what each of them will get up to in each episode. (Also, that jazz! The sountrack is absolutely godly.)
The series reminds me of The Godfather, in that part of it is set in 1920’s prohibition America, (New York specifically), and that a good portion of the story revolves around the mafia and another similar crime group, the cammora. This series is probably one of the most well known depictions of the cammora crime group in popular culture. Anyway, the animation itself is flawless at depicting the fights and displays of violence associated with mafia crime groups.
Here’s just some of the fun ones. (In which I realized that Firo (the guy in green) is the one beating up guys in each gif. He certainly has a knack to get himself in situtations.) By the way, the anime itself is quite violent, so I wouldn’t recommend it to the faint of heart.
As in The Godfather, the crime families in Baccano! must keep their power and influence, often times through violence. As this is prohibition era America, the way they make their living is through the illegal trade of alcohol. (Unlike The Godfather and the trade of drugs.) The law of the underground is very Machiavellian and ruthless.
By far the most Machiavellian character in the entire show would be Vino/Claire Stanfield or as he is most commonly known, The Rail Tracer.
This itself is a bit of a spoiler, but I have to spoil it in order to explain. In the opening sequence around 0:50, when the liquor bottle is dropped into the hands of the conductor, is the subtle and really well done introduction of Claire in the opening, marking him as an important character, without spoiling his identity. (Just one of the masterful decisions that make this anime my favorite.) Anyway, the Rail Tracer is introduced in the show as a myth of a terrifying monster that hunts down trains and makes the people on them disappear. (From the The Grand Punk Railroad, 1931 segments of the show). It is later revealed that one of the conductors (initially introduced as just “the young conductor” in the earlier episodes), is the legendary assassin, Vino (the italian word for wine: named this because of the way he kills his enemies… ruthlessly and quite messily). He is also the background to the “Rail Tracer” myth. Intelligent, crafty, and very dangerous, this character is a favorite of mine, because of his complex simplicity. What he believes is that he is basically the God of the world (solipsism) and that he can’t die, because if he did, the world would cease to exist. Therefore, his tactics and way of killing (his way of keeping power), are simply, in his mind, the way to preserve the world as it is. What makes him Machiavellian at his core are his morals. As it is revealed later by another character, even though he is an assassin, that he has a clear set of morals that he abides by, mercy towards certain people being one of them. The scene where he explains his philosophy (also listen to how amazing a job the voice actors did):
“So what if I’d spare him, to my mind it’s the certainty in myself that I possess which allows me to have that kind of mercy or compassion... So remember this, mercy and compassion are virtues that only the strong are privileged to possess, and I, am strong.” To me this little quote just screams Machiavelli. Also this guy is just so sure of himself and charismatic, it’s hard not to find some respect for him somewhere, which all in all just makes him an even more Machiavellian character.
I mean, come on, just look at the guy. He has all the makings of a Machiavellian prince in my book. On top of that, even though he’s some crazy assassin, he still manages to come off as human, which is extraordinary characterization in my opinion.
My absolute favorite character from the series would be Chane Laforet, who comes with a tragic backstory of her own.
I’ll be brief on this, but her father manipulated her into believing and following his every word, which is pretty ruthless and Machiavellian in itself.
Lastly, i just want to say that the soundtrack for this anime is amazing and highly worth checking out if you like jazz and swing style music. Some favorites of mine:
This song really embodies the whirlwind like atmosphere of the entire show. Plays during a lot of the fight scenes and just scenes of general craziness.
This song is definitely one of my favorites. It manages to sound sad, serene, and then later unnerving and urgent, all while maintaining motifs of the main theme throughout. It also helps that it’s basically the theme of both Chane and Claire, my two favorite characters.
https://youtu.be/tDJ30O81d70
Lastly is this song (Tumblr won’t let me post more than 5 videos straight to my post), conveys a serene feeling and a satisfaction along with it. It plays in the last episode, really bringing the show together and closing it off well while still leaving it open-ended. Really good end to a great series.
It’s really violent and not for everyone, but I would highly recommend it, and I encourage everyone to check it out, it’s really a masterpiece.