91 Days Ep 1 ‘Night Of The Murder’ Review
I’ve been on an anime binge as of late. I am catching up the current season stuff while working through older things I’ve let slip. My personal taste or go to Anime usually revolve around magic, girls and mystery! If you throw in some pretty boys and you’ve got yourself a win in my books! So what would possess me to check out 91 Days?
Well it does have pretty men in it so I’m not going to lie that was the hook… Then I found out it was written by Taku Kishimoto and I was sold! Kishimoto just so happens to have been part of the team on Boku Dake ga Inai Machi. You can see why that’s a big deal for me in my review. 91 Days has plenty to live up to if it’s judged on its creators previous work! Thankfully though the first episode is pretty good indicator that it has nothing to worry about.
Booze, Boys And Bullets
The series is set during an era of prohibition with the events taking place in the town of Lawless. In the middle of a downpour a young man makes his way through the rain, stopping to collect some post. Holed up in pretty grim and bare room, the soaked young man tears into the envelope and finds a photo and letter attached. The young man is Avillo (real name Angelo Lacuza) and he has come to Lawless for revenge. We learn of the night his world turns upside down and he witnesses the murder of his parents and younger brother at the hands of the mafia. Unwilling to move on from his grief, he catches up with an old friend years later and joins his bootleg business with the intention of getting closer to the family in power.
Utterly focused on his goal to destroy the Vanetti family, there is something frightening about Avillo. This is the first episode of the series but as a character he reminds me a lot of Light Yagami from Death Note. Fanatical in his goals and willing to use everyone to achieve them including his childhood friend Colteo. 91 Days is reminiscent of the horror mystery series too in its style of animation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbY3rBtYShk
Watered Down
The series is very mute in terms of its use of colour. Reflective perhaps of the time period it’s modelled on. Browns, washed out whites and greys blot the backgrounds while characters find themselves in very drab colours faintly standing out from the world around them. It’s still quite expressive in its own right though and only adds to the tone the team are working toward. The same style was found in Boku Dake ga Inai Machi and just like that series, we don’t see much colour until violence erupts. In this instance a bar brawl turned blazing fire.
While the colours might be mute, the expressions are not. The characters, particularly Avillo, are back by powerful performances and detailed emotional displays. The choice of animation style could be the creative teams attempt to put more focus on story and character development without distracting the viewer with big flashy scenes.
As first episodes goes 91 Days opens with a total blinder. Dash of intrigue, a splash of mystery, a healthy measure of action and a hint as to what comes next! It might be based on bootleg but it’s just as good if not better than the real thing. For anyone who likes their Anime that has more to it than flash and tropes, 91 Days looks set to offer a whole lot over the coming series!
Fans of Baccano, Death Note and Psycho-Pass are sure to not be disappointed!
Editor-in-Chief, part-time super villain and hoarder of cats. If you can’t find me writing, I’m probably in the kitchen!
