91 Days

Spoilers Ahead
For reference, I watched this anime Dubbed
This anime is 13 episodes long, with episode 7.5 being a recap of episodes 1-7.

Where do I begin with this anime? I could start with the music, which is probably one of the best soundtracks I have heard in a while. Or the visuals. Or even just the overall plot. Wherever I start, there's a good chance that there is something special about it in this anime.

A young man during the American Prohibition Age unfortunately sees the demise of his family one night at the hands of four members of a prominent Italian mafia family. After narrowly escaping, Angelo goes into hiding until an anonymous letter arrives for him, telling him the names of three of the four mafia members that killed his family. After reuniting and recruiting a childhood friend, Angelo, under the alias Avilio, decided to infiltrate the mafia and act out his revenge from the inside. The plot keeps the watcher guessing what will come next, and the twists and turns that it takes will leave you wanting more.

The show does a great job of showing the family doesn't necessarily mean blood. As different relationships grow and break apart throughout the series the complicated need to appease one's family versus what a person knows is right and their own desires is brought into light.

This, like many other pieces of media shows that the need for revenge, especially if it is the only motivating factor in your life, is not a good thing either. And when you do get your revenge, what do you have to live for afterwards?

One of the better things that this anime does is sticking to the perspective of one character. With the exception of a break in this pattern toward the end of the series, almost all information that the watcher knows is also what the main character knows as well. I really enjoy that the writers did this, especially since this is supposed to be more action/mystery than anything.

That being said, the ending is very abrupt. While the final episode does try to tie everything up in a nice bow, many plot points are left hanging and open. At the end of the series I felt like I had more questions than I did answers. Important information that is brought up in episode two as a throw-away line is very important for the understanding of the last two episodes. There is also no sense of closure when it comes to some of the actions that characters take, and why they do them. We see characters struggling with guilt over killing people... For all of about twenty seconds in the whole series.

As the title suggests, there are a _lot _ of names thrown about this show, and a good portion of them all refer to the same people with just different names or different aliases. There are four major "families" at play through the series, and sometimes it can be difficult to remember who belongs to who, and what alliances are made between which families. At the beginning of the show it cane be difficult to remember everyone, but as the show progresses it becomes easier.

Overall, this show is very good. While difficult to get into at first, after the first two episodes a very good watch that kept me on the edge of my seat.