neko's thinkbox

Right following the last entry, I got to watch episode 12 because I wasn’t tired enough. But I couldn’t finish everything in time though. I was quite excited though, because this episode sure overwhelmed me with loads of information, and small share of surprise as well.

So… Where do I start? There is so much new stuff here… Well, I’ll start at the beginning: Dallas Genoard kills the Gandors, Firo and Ennis, and with the exception of Ennis, it does not seem that they revived.
That is very disturbing. Firo was told about it a few minutes before he was killed, the Gandors did not know anything about immortality either – which means that they were not immortal at that point of time.
But if we look back, in episode 1, Firo gets his fingers cut off, and they return to his hand. In the same episode, Isaac’s ear is cut by a spear, and it instantly heals. Here in episode 12, Isaac accidentally cuts himself, and the blood returns to the wound. In episode 10, the Gandors recover from their headshots.
Question: how and when did they acquire immortality?

An everyday scene for the mafias.

It’s quite difficult to establish a valid theory, because there are so many elusive details that are thrown into the pool. Indeed, a lot of things from finally make sense, and their connection seems very logical, but now that we are nearing the end of this series, it seems, like I said so often, like a puzzle: we now have the borders and the inner layers, but the central pieces are still missing. And the core event is exactly the answer to the question above.

I spent some thought about it. Remember what happened at the end of the previous episode: Szilard Quates noticed that the bottles were not in his box. At the end of this episode now, he says that Maiza valued the lives of “those guys” more. More than what, and which guys? Is he perhaps implying that Maiza gave the elixir to someone else? But he didn’t know it was elixir, did he?
In turn, it could very well have been the case that someone else (not necessarily Maiza) mistook the bottles for something else and used it at the celebration party. Think about it, it would answer the question above! Isaac and the Gandors were present at the party, so they came in touch with the elixir and thus gained immortality.
Nevertheless, it seems unlikely: Ennis has been watching over the bottles all the time, so if someone had taken those, wouldn’t she have prevented it? Or, if everyone had drunk the elixir, everyone who was present at the party would have been virtually immortal, no? But if that was the case, why did only Ennis revive after Genoard shot them down?
Also, following my earlier theory about the possibility of Luck Genoard being the demon summoned by Maiza… shouldn’t he be immortal as well? Perhaps he is just feigning death, in order not to stand out… Uh.

Either way, I don’t think Ennis will do anything to Isaac and Miria. They talked so nicely to her the other day she even cried, and even Firo made her realize that she isn’t merely Quate’s puppet, but a beautiful girl. So perhaps she will go against her master’s will this time… Who knows, perhaps she will be able to eat him to save Maiza as well?

Ennis! Ennis! Tasukete Ennis!

Let’s go ahead in time, in 1931, on board of the Flying Pussyfoot. What Rail Tracer, Vino or Claire Stanfield is saying about how the world belongs to him is very interesting and has quite a deep meaning. In fact, I was deeply touched by his explanation, because it reflects, in some sort, what I feel myself. Let me explain a bit.
Vino claims that he is in a dream, and that the world and everything in it is the fruit of his imagination. If he dies, everything will cease to disappear, so there is no way that he could disappear in that instant. It’s as if he was watching a movie. For some reason, I feel the same: I cannot imagine myself dying just like that. In another dimension, or perhaps in another person’s “movie”, it might very well be the case that I might just die, or be terminally ill, or suicide myself – but in my own dream, it’s impossible. I wouldn’t have the guts to do anything like that, and why would I anyway? So in other words, the dimension I live in is most likely the dimension I live the longest. Sure, I could jump from a bridge or so, but that is just pushing my luck. After all, Vino doesn’t do it either, does he?

Sure, my reality differs from what Vino is experiencing: he has superhuman strength, he can do impossible acrobatic tricks, I don’t. Of course, it difficult to compare with an anime character, but I am not directly saying that. What I am saying is that he thinks, he believes that he is able to do something specific, so he just does it. For me, that does not apply. I cannot start playing the piano like a professional just because I believe I can. I still would need to learn everything. But it is always positive to be optimistic, to be convinced that one is able to do something, instead of being a pessimist and a gloomy fatalist.

Vino: related to neko?

In the end, this might sound like a highly egocentric theory. “The world cannot exist without me; I am the center of the universe.” Perhaps not to you, but to me I am. It’s frustrating to hear that from someone else, I know; which is why I most likely would just try and prove Vino wrong, that he is mortal after all. But in the end, I would just kill him in my reality, while he would still live in his own.
Oh well, I am curious to see how long this dream will last. At the end of the road, what will be awaiting… Bah, you might have noticed that I suck at philosophy, so I better not go and usher this Baccano entry into a discussion about the meaning of life.

Either way, Vino said something very interesting, which is why I find him very likeable now. And he sure had huge success in tricking Ladd. Haha, what a fool he is! Well, I think this marks the end of Ladd’s arc. He jumped off the carriage with Lua and flew right into that water tower. He was also preparing to strike the tower with his left arm, which would then explain his injury in episode 1… Only the upper arm bone remained, hehe. I am not expecting to see Ladd again in the final episode.

Hmm… Nice! You know who she reminded me of in this episode? Bomberman!

A bomb? Must be Bomberman!

No way, it’s Bombernice!

I still have yet to know about Goose. He has been knocked over, but still is on the train with his flame thrower. I can’t imagine that Jacuzzi can do anything with that small bomb, especially since he doesn’t seem to have anything (at least a small flame) to light it with. I mean, Chane did not disappear yet, so I can imagine that she would want to settle matters with Goose, who only used her as a tool. But from there on to unconsciously drift on a box in a river like in ep 1 or 2… No clue.

I doubt Czeslaw will play a substantial role in the next episode either, although I can imagine that he would want to eat Isaac at first. But most likely Isaac and Miria’s good mood will make him think it over. Perhaps he might as well feel grateful for having been rescued! Always better than to have one’s eyes pierced by incandescent nails, or so. Yum.

Anyway, I wonder about the rest. How is it going to end? We have three different stories that are related to each other, yet we don’t know how those stories end. The first being the year 1930, Quates will be eaten by someone else, perhaps? The second story, 1931, on board of the Flying Pussyfoot… umm, I don’t know, someone will blow up the train? I still have yet to know what that thing is Donny is searching for. A bomb, perhaps? And the third story, 1932, the Gandors might tell Eve and Runorata that Gandor has gotten into a car accident or so, while Dallas might have been eaten by someone else. Gawd. Need to watch the last episode now. Wanted to use the raw, but Ayu has released their subbed version so I’ll just watch that one ^^

He’s on fire, Jacuzzi.

Suddenly… a flying bunch of jokers!

Here’s the timeline, part 1 (3.16 MB .jpg) and part 2 (3.16 MB .jpg). As promised, this time I split the image in two because it just became too huge (almost 8000 pixels in height!). Well, if you want that one nevertheless, here you go (3.16 MB .jpg).
Perhaps I will improve it for the final episode, and split the huge one in 3 parts… covering the 3 stories, the 3 years of the whole, after all. That would make sense, actually. Either way, please don’t hesitate to give any feedback!