Baccano! - Volume 9 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD

Hello, Narita here.

All right, this was the Streets volume, which was intended to answer the question, “What was the incident that occurred behind the scenes of the Prison volume?”

This 1934 story follows a formula that’s different from both 1931 and 1933.

It is, frankly speaking…a three-volume story.

That said, rather than Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, it’s more as if there are two types of Part 1, while the next volume, which will conclude the 1934 arc, will move the story along simultaneously in both Alcatraz and Chicago. It’s the first long stretch in Baccano!, but I hope you’ll stick with me to the end!

Okay. So in this book, the Streets story ends.

Well, that aside. Last time, in the Prison volume, there were almost no new characters, and the story was composed of people who were relatively normal, but this Streets volume is full of new faces. It turned into a Baccano! story with lots of characters who were somehow broken or very colorful. Next up is the concluding volume for Baccano! 1934 (although Hariyama, the Center of the World, a collection of short stories serialized on Dengeki hp, will be released in the middle), but to those of you who thought, That’s a lot of Baccano! in a row… There’s a reason.

On that note, I have an announcement for all the readers…

Ahem. Those of you who saw the book band or Canned Dengeki are probably already aware of this, but— They’re making a Baccano! anime!

Heh-heh-heh… Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

It’s been close to two years since they first told me there was going to be an anime. Every time I saw comments online like, “They really couldn’t make an anime out of a Narita story, could they?” and “Unless his sales go up, there’s no way,” and “As if something that messy with that many characters could ever be an anime,” and “It doesn’t have many regular cute girls in it, so they couldn’t turn it into an anime,” I thought, Heh-heh-heh… You people have misread the era! I had the urge to release the information on my own website, but because of NDAs, I couldn’t do it. And actually, now that I think about it, that would have been way too immature, so I should be grateful for the contractual obligation to keep quiet.

…Huh? I get the feeling I wrote something like this in the Prison volume afterword…!

There are probably some readers who think they shouldn’t make it into an anime if it’s just going to turn out weird, but have no fear. I have some information that will remove all cause for concern from (Censored) .

…My editor told me I’m not allowed to publish any details on the production company or the staff yet. Still, I’m confident that they’ll be able to make something good! After all, apparently the staff went to New York to scout out locations!! Even I haven’t been there… This isn’t good. They may very well end up depicting New York far more realistically than the novels, and if that happens, I won’t have a leg to stand on.

That said, even though I’m already getting my hopes up and getting excited and am unable to do my job, as the anime and manga move forward, my schedule keeps getting more and more packed… What is this hopeless, hope-filled situation? Anyway, they should gradually release detailed information on Canned Dengeki and Dengeki hp, so make sure to watch for it!

In addition, the Baccano! serial finally starts running in the issue of Gao! that goes on sale on the twenty-seventh of this month!

I’m currently looking at Ginyuu Shijin’s rough drafts, and I already can’t wait for them to be finished. Last time, Ginyuu Shijin’s editor sent him all sorts of manga, to the point where he was in danger of being brainwashed. The other day, Mr. Ogino the editor told me, “Please send him the manga you read when you want to get yourself psyched up, Narita! Put some pressure on him!” so I bought up around sixty volumes of all sorts of manga, including all of Air Master and all of Yoiyami Gentou Soushi, and sent them over to him… I’m starting to seriously think that Mr. Ogino and I are attempting to brainwash a manga artist, but I’m sure that’s just my imagination.

I forgot to send the really important stuff, like the materials (paperbacks and photos) of 1930s gangs and trains, but I’m sure that’s also just my imagination. I’m sorry, I lied; I’ll send them soon.

In any case, I hope you, dear readers, enjoy the comic version as well!

All right: Next time, we’ll finally be into the second half of 1934. I’m planning to start with the details on the Chicago serial-bombings-and-disappearances incident, and I’d like to smoothly blend the atmospheres from the Prison and Streets volumes. At the time of writing this afterword, I’m in the middle of writing it, so there’s still no telling how it’s going to come out, but…

Anyway, the Baccano! series will continue, so please keep an eye out for it!

*And now for the usual thank-yous.

To my editor, Wada (Papio), for whom I’m constantly causing problems. To Chief Editor Suzuki and the people of the editorial department. To the copy editors, for whom I’m always causing trouble by being a slow worker, every single time. To the designers, who make my books look good. To the people of the publicity department, the printing department, the marketing department, and Media Works as a whole.

To my family, friends, and acquaintances, who always take care of me in all sorts of ways, and particularly to everyone in S City.

To Ginyuu Shijin and Ogino the manga editor, who boosted my energy for me in many ways.

To Katsumi Enami, who breathed life into the multitude of new characters with magnificent illustrations, even though I ended up forcing an insane schedule onto him.

And to all the readers…

Thank you very much!

October 2006

In the middle of a two-hour standoff with a spider that showed up in my apartment.

Ryohgo Narita