Straight out of Shuka, the studio that brought you Durarara!x2, comes their first original work the crime drama 91 Days. 91 Days features the team of screenwriter Taku Kishimoto (Haikyu!!, Erased, and Jokers Game) and director Hiro Kaburagi (My Little Monster and Kimi ni Todoke) 91 Days as they tell a revenge story set in the Prohibition era. From July 9, 2016 to October 1, 2016, over the course of 12 episodes, we are drawn into one of the most elaborate revenge plots the anime world has ever experienced as Angelo Lagusa gets closer and closer to his revenge on the Vanetti family.
Background:
On Angelo Lagusa’s birthday his father, Testa Lagusa, his mother Elena Lagusa, and his younger brother Luce Lagusa were all murdered by the Vanetti family. The reason for Testa and his family’s death was that he knew about deals between the Vanetti and Galassia families that would stop the Vanetti’s from controlling the town of Lawless. Angelo narrowly survived this incident as he stayed hidden and ran at the first opportunity he could when the men who killed his family were not looking. Seven years later Angelo Lagusa now going by the name Avillio Bruno moved away from Lawless and has taken odd jobs in his new life. During these seven years Avillio has developed a severe hatred for the Vanetti family and how they have ruined his life. One day he receives an anonymous letter that lists the people who killed his family and asks him to return to Lawless. With letter in hand, he begins to plot and exact his his revenge with all the skills he has been accumulating for the last seven years. Upon his return to Lawless he immediately reaches out to his childhood friend Corteo who has developed a brew of alcohol called Lawless Heaven. With this brew, he gets the attention of the son of the head of the Vanetti family Nero, and begins to develop a friendship with him. Eventually, he gains his trust and begins to make his way into the Vanetti family. This opens up doors for Avillio to carry out his revenge as he slowly begins to kill members of the Vanetti family directly and indirectly involved with the killing of his family. All for the purpose to gain even more trust so that he can get the opportunity to kill Vincent Vanetti the head of the Vanetti family who initially gave the order to have his family killed. With each new kill Avillio is using that momentum to further manipulate and slowly tighten the noose on the Vanetti family without them realizing what is occurring. Yet this is not without sacrifice as Avillio is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his revenge including killing his best friend Corteo who not only supported him, but also made it possible for him to achieve this revenge.
The Significance:
91 Days captures the idea of how far and what lines somebody is willing to cross in order to gain revenge. In particular we see this in Avillio as he is willing to become involved with the Vanetti family, whether it be helping them brew liquor, carrying out protection, or killing for them as long as it serves his ulterior motives, which are to find and kill the men who murdered his family. Throughout his quest, while in service to the Vanetti’s, Avillio is manipulating people within and outside the family to set up killings directly or indirectly that will gain him closer to his goal. In doing this we begin to understand the lines and boundaries that he is willing to cross and how far he truly will go to achieve his goal of revenge as nobody is off limits. Furthermore, throughout this process we realize how complicated and brilliant his plan is as he manipulates different groups in order to kill two people and ruin the third person’s life. All while carrying out his plan he is two or three steps ahead of everybody as he accurately predicts what they will do, which allows him the ability to plan beyond their capabilities. This allows him to carry out his revenge, tying up any loose ends that could potentially cause him harm as he inches toward finishing his plan perfectly. This will leave Nero without a family, which happened to Avillio seven years earlier. 91 Days captures how a perfect revenge should be carried out piece by piece.
91 Days can be purchased here
