#niki (baccano!)

[esperanzacboronial]

Me and the bad bitch I pulled by getting exploded

[lasersight]

[brbarou]

time and timelessness

[abyssalplein]

A Niki and Elmer all dressed up for a party in a hypothetical world where Esperanza got Niki fancy clothes (I am so proud of Niki's fancy clothes). Esperanza probably shoved his own old clothes at Elmer idk.

Elmer looking a little unnerving and unhinged is only partially on purpose. (This is the second time that I've drawn Elmer doing that expression. idk)

[agallimaufryofoddments]

When Huey tells Victor in Vol. 14 that his second-worst memory is "being unable to save my wife's life back in my hometown," and Victor musters a "...Hey.", that's him reliving watching Lucrezia's ship explode and conducting a frantic, futile search for Lucrezia afterword. 100% that. Even if Narita hadn't planned that part of 1711 yet.

Of all the things for Victor to have in common with Huey outside of their alchemic/scholarly mindsets, Narita chooses the most emotionally charged option via "long-dead lady loves" ...who remain the dead women in Victor & Huey's interrogation room because Victor has a job to do and Huey's not about to tell Victor that Lucrezia is, in fact, not at all dead.

Every. Single. Interrogation. Huey cordially indulges Victor while sitting pretty on the knowledge that he sent Lucrezia some sweet immortality elixir back in the day. (So did Fermet and Elmer, but who's counting?)

(Can you imagine Huey idly telling Victor as much in 2003 and Victor having to briefly contemplate the idea that Lucrezia is alive thanks to Huey? Victor's brain fries on the spot, already overheated with outrage that Huey's not only known but been in contact with Lucrezia.)

Huey could—if permitted to prove his claims—utter a few names, locations, and other details that might lead Victor towards a reunion with his 21X-years-deceased lady love within the month.

He doesn't do that since revealing he's connected to the Dormentaires would be a Stupid Thing to do. Sure, jeopardize 1935, why don't you.

He doesn't do it because I imagine that Lucrezia, at any point post-1711, would have reminded Huey to keep her a secret from Victor (should H & V meet again). Perhaps she'd even make that a petty stipulation in some deal.

He doesn't because watching an emotional man express complicated emotions over a long-dead, tricksome lover might be some sort of health hazard. Watching Mr. Emotions express raw anticipation of reuniting with his tangible, alive, never dead loved one might even be self-harm. Eh, but who says Huey still has a self to harm? Being immune to situations like this is his specialty.

(He doesn't because, hey, Victor already has the alive dame. Huey does not.)

Telling Victor about his desire to reunite with Monica is...not happening. Never mind any jabs Victor could make about Huey being loveless and unloveable; imagine what a waste of time it would be to trigger Victor thinking of Lucrezia and getting sentimental. Well, more than the "save my wife...hometown" line did.

Victor is sentimental about her. This is the man who signs off his reports to Lucrezia with "Yours alone" (LN17, Interlude II & III) while knowing he isn't "hers alone." In that second Interlude, he admits, "If I get the chance, I’d like to board that boat, too," but immediately quells Lucrezia's imagined fears by adding, "Don’t worry, I won’t leave for America on my own."

He probably wouldn't have, given his incentive to remain on Lucrezia's (much smaller!) continent. His love for Lucrezia gently tethers him and his scholar-adventurer's spirit. This is the man who came to Lotto Valentino "hoping to find was something out of some heroic drama, an evil secret society," and personally expose their dastardly deeds" (Interlude I). Szilard had mocked him. "What’s wrong with that, though?" Victor writes. "Alchemists can dream, can’t they?"

They can also go around picking anti-slavery fights with aristocrats, aka Victor's hobby. They can dream of exploring America, a land far from the immediate reach of said aristocrats, and conduct pioneering research, especially if they fancy themselves "a scholar by nature (with) a thirst for knowledge," like Victor still does in 1935-A, Ch. 2.

Victor's sense of justice presumably drove Victor into the employment of the federal government, whenever that first happened, but we've less information on when and why Victor became as patriotic as he acts. I think Victor has a longstanding need to be somebody with a cause, whether that's the dashing hero who liberates a town from an evil society, the activist who confronts pro-slavery aristocrats, the noble scholar who pursues and generates knowledge...

...or, in this case, an agent of a governing body who has sworn to support and defend (the Constitution) of the United States against all foreign and domestic (Huey) terrorists. Lucrezia will die of old age someday. Szilard is hunting us immortals down; so much for guaranteed eternity. This young nation is fragile—but what might it evolve into, in this land beyond the Old World's stuffy reach? If Victor perhaps becomes the Patriot for a sense of greater purpose, he may develop some genuine loyalty as he watches young America evolve over the decades, from rebelling against his former countrymen in the Revolution to choosing the path of emancipation.

(And perhaps he envies all the inventors and scientists who America keeps spitting out or inviting in from overseas. Patriot life nowadays is relegated to deskwork; Huey is busy tinkering with all sorts of contraptions and keeping busy with alchemy while Victor is reaming out some newbies in an office for the sake of a short-lived ego boost. This Victor has lived through wars and atrocities that the Victor who was ill one day into Lotto Valentino could never foresee.)

If Lucrezia still has (copies of) those reports, maybe she'll have remembered that Victor mentioned Niki in them and therefore decide to include Niki as part of the surprise, without any forewarning of Niki's inclusion. "Remember Niki? You mentioned her in your reports from Lotto Valentino, but that was so long ago." Niki was with her when they had that close shave with Victor and Jessica, which ~~along with some B! fics~~ means I have to entertain the possibility of a double surprise.) I mean, what if Victor had spotted them? It's not impossible.

If Victor sees Niki outright, that 'damnably ill' sickness he felt in Lotto Valentino may very well resurge.

He absolutely will remember Niki because he was impressed by the strength she had for a young person who endured what she did. "I think it was so painful that she had to maintain that distance to be able to speak of it at all," he writes to Lucrezia (LN17, Interlude I). He attempts a joke about Niki being no match for Lucrezia, but it's just a feeble coping method for writing about Niki's "revolting" account.

There's little doubt that Victor and Lucrezia will slip back into their romantic groove once the dust is settled, but I do...think perhaps this older, changed Victor ought to acknowledge the dust first. I'm not sure I want him to revert to 1711!Victor and react the same way he did when he learned that Lucrezia faked her death, nor react like Carla did, since Carla was similarly young. The timeframes aren't comparable.

(I'm vaguely reminded of Archangelo confronting Renee over the downright evil (his words) activities she's carrying out at Nebula. It's not the same level of badness, at all, but the "what are you thinking" approach has something to it.)

I am somewhat interested in a scenario where Victor learns about the homunculi experiments and Huey's "Monica" motive, because I can imagine Victor getting drunk and saying "wow, I handled the loss of my love infinitely better than Huey / At least I didn't create sentient beings and put them through stressful experiments all in the name of reuniting with a dead loved one / Holy shit what the fuck."

[lottovalentino]

(sits up straight, cold sweat covering my back as sapphic beams fry what's left of by brain) We could've had sylvie x niki

[idontthinkimokaymentally]

Hello there Niki fans.

[baccano-gauntlet]

BACCANO GAUNTLET ROUND 2 MASTERPOST

Lana v. Frank

Fred v. Leeza Laforet

Sham v. Pamela

Rachel v. Isaac Dian

Dallas Genoard v. Charon Walken

Huey Laforet v. Chané Laforet

Czeslaw Meyer v. Nader Schasschule

Gretto Avaro v. Esperanza C. Boroñal

Donatello v. Sylvie Lumiere

The President of the Daily Days v. Roy Maddock

Berga Gandor v. Carlotta

Chaini v. Claire Stanfield

Christopher Shaldred v. Eve Genoard

Angelo v. Victor Talbot

Kate Gandor v. Miria Harvent

Feldt Nibiru v. Laz Smith

Melvi Dormentaire v. Ennis

Donny v. Charkie

Carnea Kaufman v. Ronny Schiatto

Niki v. Edith

Mark Wilmens v. Maria Barcelito

Molsa Martillo v. Rail

Graham Specter v. Firo Prochainezo

Lebreau Fermet Viralesque v. Nice Holystone

Misery v. Adele

Lucrezia de Dormentaire v. Nile

Jacuzzi Splot v. Luck Gandor

Aging v. Lua Klein v. Fil

Carol v. Nicola Casetti

Paula Wilmens v. Denkuro Togo

Begg Garrott v. Claudia Walken

Ricardo Russo v. Tick Jefferson

Maiza Avaro v. Monica Campanella

Elmer C. Albatross v. Juliano

[boundlss]

10, 13, and 17 for the Baccano! fandom meme!

10. Character you think is used too much?

i've said this before on other blogs, but i really think niki is used a little too much in the 1700's. i might be biased because i really don't like her very much, but because my enjoyment of the 1700s comes from the fact that we get to see tangible reasons for the characters behaving the way they do in modern times, she ended up feeling a little useless narratively; she didn't really have a lasting emotional or narrative impact on any characters who lived.

13. Least favorite canon pairing? Least favorite non-canon pairing?

haha. my least favorite canon pairing is maria and tick. i don't dislike it in theory, but i think maria didn't really need the implication of romance in her arc... plus, i definitely think she's a lesbian, so there's also that, but i just think it was a product of narita wanting to introduce romance wherever possible. i like most ships in baccano, but that one missed the mark for me!

i think my least favorite non-canon pairing aside from the ones that are genuinely deeply immoral is luck/eve, which i'm sure you know. even aside from their age difference, it feels really weird to me to shove them together considering narita actively went out of his way to not do that. idk. the dynamic is just bad to me.

17. How would you go about structuring a hypothetical season 2 or reboot of Baccano?

well, this is something i've said many times, but i would completely redo the drug and the dominos part of season 1; in an ideal world, that is. i'd really like to see a back-and-forth story of drug and the dominos and man in the killer, since they're both in the same year and pair together really nicely as stories, but i'd also accept a standalone couple episodes for drug and the dominos.

if i was rebooting the series entirely, i think i'd cover a lot of what the anime did, but i'd completely cut out the half-baked volume 4 adaptation attempt to give more room for development for the major players and plots in 1-3.

baccano questions! / accepting.

[gwaaaaar]

9 & 13 for the ask game!

9. If i said graham would you kill me. Okay but besides grahamie it would be niki :3 i need more of my queen I NEED HER TO FIND JUSTICE GRRRR

13. My least favorite canon pairing... IDK i cant bring it upon myself to hate anyone :,) i think all of baccanos ships are good... for least favorite non-canon it would definitely be romantic ricardo and chris what is wrong with people... theyre perfectly fine as friends tho.

[gunmeister]

b! ask game: 1 and/or 10?

regarding 1: i actually got into baccano! fairly recently, at least in comparison to most other people in the fandom. i think it might have been early to mid 2019, so about 4 years ago. i have a really good friend who i love dearly who was absolutely obsessed with it at the time, and they pestered me for about a year before i finally broke down and watched the anime. i fell in love instantly; i think i'd read most of or all of the novels by the time the year was done and i've been all-in ever since.

for 10, the character i think is used too much... well, this might be a little controversial but i don't like niki very much and a large part of why i don't like the 1700's as much as other people was because she had a pretty large presence in it. it's nothing against niki as a character, she just didn't appeal to me as much as others did. also, i didn't like how involved bobby splot was in the 2002 novels but then again i really don't like bobby splot in general.

[esperanzacboronial]

Me and the sick twisted bastard I pulled by being emotionally vulnerable

[yeahthisisbaccano]

this might be niki from baccano

i'd be the prettiest head on a spike on the city walls

[brbarou]

the kids are alright

[abyssalplein]

The free, sample pages for the new 1700s Baccano! manga, for the viewing pleasure of Tumblr B! fans:

Ch. 1

Ch. 2

[agallimaufryofoddments]

For those of you who are also slow on the uptake, Chapter(?) 3 of the Baccano! ~from the 1700s~ manga released on January 25. The best time for us to buy it was release day, but buying it is better late than never. As always, (the prospect of) new Baccano! media depends on consumer support.

Buy it despite DMM's "DMN" DRM, for we have no choice.

On the one hand, I hate DRM. On the other, if selling this manga via a DRM-strict retailer/platform succeeds in making people purchase it when they would have otherwise tried reading it for free, then. Fine. FiNe.

Remember to rate each installment. I think it's possible to do it without leaving a review: read the chapter in your browser, click the star on the end page, then click five stars on the review input form that pops up. It seems to save my five star rating even when I navigate away from the form. Leaving reviews themselves wouldn't hurt, unless...they're in English...probably. Do you think we could get away with leaving machine-translated ones? How many strangely-written reviews would it take to sound the 'overseas purchaser' alarm?

Edit: Or maybe not. The ratings I ‘gave’ aren’t reflecting on the listings for 2 and 3. Maybe a review is necessary after all.

Chapter 3 reactions under the cut.

Looks like this depicts parts of LN11 Interlude II and Chapter 4. I did have to manually transcribe some of the dialogue. This took way more time than I can afford.

The opening scene depicts the killing of the 28th victim/witness, an aristocrat named Lord/Sir Alonso. This must be the murder that Larolf reports to Esperanza in the latter half of LN11 Interlude III? Larolf describes the victim as a "boy" who witnessed the Mask Maker right before Niki did in the novel, but this Sir / Lord Alonso is certainly not a child. Hm...

I believe the bit of Niki we see in this chapter is her telling Esperanza the food is delicious from the beginning of Interlude III. However, the manga seems to be omitting the part where Larolf reports [Alonso's] murder? It shows Niki walking away with a maid, whereas Niki runs away when Larolf makes his report...and there's no moment where Esperanza is angered by the bruise on Niki's face per the LN.

Moreover, am I right that the manga also omits Monica and Elmer's encounter with the bald man and Maiza in Chapter 4? There's no marketplace with children singing the MM song, no bald man, no Maiza...

...but the previous chapters also omitted Elmer's first encounter with Maiza, didn't they? So the mangaka's been deliberately holding off on Maiza's introduction from the start. I guess the manga's going to move the bruise reaction, Larolf's report and the bald man/Maiza-Elmer-Monica encounter to another day? How will that account for Elmer's wound, though, since Elmer doesn't show up to class after being stabbed?

I probably need to reread manga chs. 1–2 and actually take note of what was and wasn't adapted. I should do that anyway, since that would be useful for the wiki.

Okay, some positives...

Larolf depicted! (I only know because he was depicted in Chapters 1–2, so this is a belated celebration of a Larolf Hancletia design. Ch.2 gave us Huey's mother, too.)

Warehouse depicted!

Patisserie lady depicted!

Hey, it's Elmer's room at Esperanza's place!

Elmer wounded! Bandages on Mask Maker's arm are neat.

Monica has a lot of fun expressions. Manga is leaning hard into the classic twitterpated teen girl archetype and her 'tells' (big eyes, blushing), and these do serve the purpose.

Denkurou and Zank (albeit seen, not heard)!

Elmer's back scars...

Some mild complaints:

Zank's body should be as dark-skinned as Zank's head. Did the mangaka forget to color the torso? If this is a lighting thing where Zank's head isn't in range of a light source, then Denkurou's body should reflect that too. It's such a weirdly stark difference in hue that it really looks like a coloring error.

Am I allowed to feel lukewarm about Elmer's design? Maybe the fact that I've never seen Elmer with flat (slicked?) hair is throwing me off (aka it's throwing me off a lot), but there's something about his head's shape as well. The big forehead?　The eyebrows floating halfway up the forehead? The flat hair is contibuting to the forehead's largeness.

To be totally fair, this is gawky teen!Elmer, not adult!Elmer, and Elmer on the LN11 cover does have a rounder face (than adult!Elmer) that I guess the manga is honoring.

And...

Elmer's back scars.

I am whelmed. I guess I've built up my mental image of the scars for so long that probably any illustration is doomed not to meet expectations. It might be unfair of me, but I can't help think that a mangaka could go all out on the scars, since they only have to be drawn for 1—3 panels—honestly, why not just devote a full page illustration to it or one panel that fills most of the page?

Ex: Contain Monica's horrified expression + Huey going ??? to one panel. Overlay that (opt. and the next panel) with a small panel of Huey's face to emphasize Huey actively following Monica's gaze. Thus, rather than showing a Huey!POV of Monica looking at Elmer, you could dedicate one big panel exclusively to Elmer's full back and arms. Go all out.

There, one and done.

Here's the LN description of Elmer's scars for comparison.

Elmer was stripped to the waist, squeezing his clothes out, and his back…

…was covered in scars.

And it wasn’t only his back; uncountable scars covered the parts of his arms that had been hidden by his sleeves.

Currently, not a single wound was bleeding, but if all those scars became wounds again, he couldn’t even imagine how much they would have bled—

That was how mutilated Elmer was.

He might have had even more scars than Huey’s mother had in his memories of her.

They weren’t just cuts. There were marks as if something had been used to gouge out divots of flesh, and an enormous burn that covered the top half of his back. Not only that, but the burns appeared to be covering countless more scars.

Where's the enormous burn? Those scars are pretty countable. I see plenty of unmamrred skin. Yep, I'm nitpicking now. Please give my apologies to the mangaka; my expectations were simply too high. Ultimately, I am grateful that Elmer's scars have finally been depicted in an official publication.

(Quick! Enami! Draw Elmer shirtless as a 20th anniversary treat!)

Defying Description

Esperanza