First, let me clear my throat by declaring that the term "masterpiece" is tossed around far too freely in the anime community. It seems every season, there's a new "masterpiece" getting hyped, when in reality, it's often just decent and quite forgettable once the season ends. I bring this up because "91 Days" is one such anime that, upon release, was heralded as a masterpiece by some. Allow me to dive into the chilling winds of critique.
"91 Days" is essentially a Prohibition-era mafia revenge story. And when I say "essentially," I mean "painfully, suffocatingly essentially." It doesn't innovate; it doesn't create. The show is a throwback to a bygone era of crime dramas, which wouldn't be a bad thing if it weren't such a blatant display of tropes and cliches you'd expect from any gangster flick. One might argue that it's paying homage, but I see it as the anime simply resting on the laurels of those that came before it.
The series follows Avilio Bruno, or, as I prefer to call him, 'Revenge Robot'. This lad lives and breathes vengeance for his family's murder, and that's about it. His character development is as stagnant as a pond in winter. Even a frozen-over pond occasionally cracks, revealing depth beneath the ice, but Avilio? Nothing. By the time you reach episode 10, Avilio is about as emotionally diverse as a cardboard cutout.
Where "91 Days" does provide some entertaining moments is in its sporadic action sequences. They are well animated, tense, and come with the level of brutality you'd expect in a mafia story. However, a few flashy fights can't save this iceberg of a show from sinking into the cold depths of mediocrity.
The dialogue? Ho-hum. I could probably write a more engaging script if I'd been dipped in liquid nitrogen and had my paws frozen solid. Characters in "91 Days" have the personality of the iceberg that sank the Titanic - immense, sure, but cold, unchanging, and, ultimately, tragic.
You might wonder why I'm so hard on this series. Well, it's because anime, like any art form, should push boundaries, challenge expectations, and dare to innovate. But "91 Days" is content to tread the same well-worn paths that countless other gangster tales have walked before. It's like being offered a vanilla ice cream cone in the middle of winter - sure, you could have it, but why would you when there are so many more interesting and warming options available?
Now, let's talk about the music. It's fine. Just fine. It serves its purpose without adding anything of substance to the overall experience. It's the equivalent of a snowfall that's pretty to look at but ultimately just makes everything wet and uncomfortable.
As an Ice Wolf who's been wandering the tundra of media since the 80s, I've seen the highs and lows that anime has to offer. And I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, "91 Days" resides somewhere in the middle, buried under a snowdrift of mediocrity. This is not a series that will go down in the annals of anime history, and certainly not one I'll remember when the next snowfall comes.
In the end, "91 Days" feels as long and drawn out as an actual 91-day winter in the Arctic. It's the kind of anime you could put on in the background while you're doing something more interesting - like watching snow melt. I'm sorry, my fellow fluffs, but "91 Days" left this old Ice Wolf colder than a winter's night in the far North.
As they say in the Arctic, "If you're going to freeze, at least do it with style." "91 Days", my dear friends, lacks that style.
