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Review – ’91 Days’ Complete Series Blu-Ray Release

By: Robert Prentice
91 Days Funimation

Prohibition—a time where law holds no power, and the mafia prowls the streets. Avilio Bruno has grown up alone in this murky world after the Vanetti’s murdered his family. One day, he receives a letter that holds the key to revenge. Befriending the don’s son, Nero, Avilio works his way through the Vanetti family and sets his vengeance in motion. But 91 days of killing can only spawn more tragedy.

Review

Mobster movies, and those set in prohibition era have always intrigued movie goers. The classic that comes to mind of course is The Godfather. It is a family favorite of mine. We could argue about the value of the sequels but all-in-all a classic. 91 Days reminded me so much of this classic but set earlier in American history during prohibition. The story is familiar, mob families trafficking booze and the tragedy that follows. However, this is an anime not a live action tv series or film.

Avilio leaves Lawless after the death of his younger brother and parents at the hands of the Vanetti’s. He changed his name from Lagusa to Bruno. He returns after 7 years and the long plot begins to form. The anime itself is a refreshing change of pace for me. Set in prohibition America, 91 Days drops us into the business of booze. Avilio uses the brewing war between the Vanetti and Orco families as a way to get his revenge. All this happening while the Galassia family is trying to bring Lawless under their control from Chicago.

What Avilio quickly learns is that his revenge will cost those closest to him dearly. Whose the enemy? Who are you friends? Questions that get asked throughout the series. The answers are left up to you the viewer in the end. Everyone has a dream. From simple aspirations of new cars or a nice home, to larger ideals. The dynamic between Nero and Avilio are among my favorite moments of the series.

91 Days has a very nuanced animation befitting the time period and style of a mobster film. The debate of subbed versus dubbed versions always rages on but this is one anime the dub wins by a mile. Tyler Walker directs the english cast for 91 days. The accents used in the english dub truly complete and enhance the anime’s appeal.  As you can see from the scene below, it is a must watch dubbed. So as not to lose anything in translation either one of my favorite voice actors, J.Michael Tatum, did the script writing.

The stories ending will leave you conflicted, much like The Godfather likely did. I dare say that 91 days is the anime version of The Godfather. Funimation’s team did a suburb job with the dub. I would recommend this series to anyone who loves mob drama stories and prohibition era dramas. I give 91 days an A+. This is a great Christmas gift. You can pick up your copy over at RightStuf or Amazon.

Technical Features

The blu-ray release of 91 days includes the DVD of the series as well. That is fairly typical of Funimation releases. I have found some moving away from that but not everyone has portable blu-ray players yet for their laptops. This is one of the first group of home video releases that are part of the joint Crunchyroll and Funimation partnership. You will get both the Japanese language version with subtitles and Funimations dubbed version. Total runtime is 325 minutes.

Bonus & Extras

The limited edition of 91 days comes with the following:

  • 40-page companion guidebook with artwork
  • Character profiles and background information on Prohibition, the Chicago mafia, period firearms, and more
  • Collector’s rigid box featuring artwork from the series
  • Set of six art cards

The standard and limited edition of 91 days will come with the following bonus features:

  • Episodes 1-12 + previous unstreamed episode 13 OVA. (Crunchyroll has subbed version online)
  • Day 4 Commentary
  • 91 Daze
  • Promo Video Collection
  • Web Previews
  • Trailers

You can pick up your copy over at RightStuf or Amazon.

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