91 Days - Episode 3 (Review)
By: Rae91 Days Episode 3: Where Footfalls LeadMissed my review of Episode 2? Check it out here!
Avilio, having survived the graveyard incident, returns to Corteo, who is surprised to see that he is okay. Nero has told Avilio to find and bring him Serpente’s body, after suspicions that Avilio is working with the Orco family. Shortly after, Corteo pays a visit to Cerotto, and tells him that Avilio is under orders to kill him, believing he has killed Vanno.
The scene cuts to the very lovely Orco family, whose Don is berating a chef for not using enough butter in his lasagna (which I honestly didn’t know was a thing, despite growing up in an Italian family). Unfortunately for the chef, Don Orco’s method of showing his displeasure quickly escalates to a death sentence. Fango arrives and tries to talk Don Orco into pushing back against the Vanettis, but the Don is determined to follow the Galassia’s instructions to stop the feuding between their families.
It turns out that Serpente’s body was sold, and it doesn’t take long for the buyer to show up at the Vanetti’s, offering to sell it to them. Meanwhile, Nero and Fango are both after answers and fate brings them together at a room Scusa uses as storage. Avilio and Nero escape the resulting shootout, but don’t succeed in obtaining Serpente’s body.
Nero, having been set up to take the fall for Serpente’s murder, is warned to leave town before someone tries to kill him. Together, he and Avilio ride out into the countryside, alone.91 Days is still holding strong as a moody, crime-drama period-piece. So far, each episode has held a little bit of mystery, which helps to keep the story fresh. The animation and character art can be a little wonky at times, but as always, the beautiful backgrounds make up for it.
As we move further into the story, I’m not sure how I feel about the characterization. Avilio is still the biggest mystery, with no real idea of who he is beyond his revenge plot. The Orco family is the clear big bad, and so far we haven’t seen a single non-evil moment from them. Fango is clearly somewhere between unbalanced and insane, while Don Orco is the kind of man who spits out his food in a chef’s hat and then murders him over tomato sauce. I think the danger here will be avoiding making the whole family cartoonishly evil. 91 Days has done a great job so far fleshing out the Vanetti family, who can be extreme and violent, but appear to at least have feelings and some amount of loyalty to their family and those they are aligned with. It seems like Nero especially is being slowly developed as a person instead of the enemy. Will Avilio be led away from his all-consuming desire for vengeance?Hopefully in the next few episodes we’ll see some more character growth as the plot thickens.You can catch 91 Days on Crunchyroll, Fridays at 2:30PM EDT!
