Rei Kiriyama is a 17 year old boy who recently started living alone, financed by his salary as a
professional Shogi player. Despite his independence, however, he's yet to mature emotionally, and his
problems continue to haunt him in his daily life. His relationship with his adoptive family is
strained, and he has difficulties interacting with his fellow high school students.
Meanwhile, his professional career in Shogi has entered a slump. Burdened with the heavy expectations
placed upon him, his wins and losses are fluctuating as his record and progression into the ranks
begin to stagnate.
Acquainted with Rei are the three Kawamoto sisters: Akari, Hinata, and Momo. Unlike Rei, they live
happily in their modest home, which they warmly welcome Rei into as if he were one of their own. He
frequently visits the family, interacting with them and receiving the kind of care and affection he
never quite had while under his foster home.
This is the story of Rei's triumphs and failures, relationships new and old, and his growth as a
person.
(Source: TV Tropes)
Studio SHAFT has a way with making the seemingly mundane into a psychadelic picture show of the most ludicrous level, and March Comes In like a Lion is no exception to that rule. A manga adaptation about a young shogi professional, you'd think that the anime would have trouble keeping your attention or being continually interesting. In that same vein, the show is pretty hard to nail down a classification on, but I think the safest and most apt thing to say about the show is that it's a strong character drama; we get to see how Rei deals with the challenges of being one of the youngest shogi professionals to ever be successful and the struggles of his life despite this. To go into further detail about these aspects of Rei's character would likely ruin the show for many, so I'll abstain and just assure you that Rei's character is a perfect vehicle for the show to convey its themes of family, friendship, and growing up. To foil Rei's overt doom and gloom is a colorful cast of characters, including the sisters, his school counselor, and his more positive friends at the local shogi club. Balancing his dramatic shogi competitor lifestyle and the relationships of those he cares about are one the core conflicts that Rei experiences, and every character is a finely crafted means to that end. The show unfortunately suffers from a snails pace, and even though it seems to utilize it well most of the time, it can't help but feel like the show was just "being slow to be slow" rather than trying to emphasize some sort of character or story development. More than 50% of any given episode are Rei's internal monologue, fighting with indecision and mulling over his life's problems with long-winded metaphors and some pretty intense imagery. SHAFT helps this along with some incredibly impressive animation and art, employing all sorts of trippy color shifts and detailed backgrounds, but this doesn't change the fact that the actual action and plot is dragged out to a near ludicrous degree. It can be argued that these monologues are more important than the action, but as someone who got pretty invested in Rei's tangible success in shogi (particularly his goal to overcome a specific opponent), I found it marginally annoying. The show also tries to "keep the 'light' sections light" with a heavy shift in visual style that can sometimes feel as if it comes out of nowhere, especially if it happens in the middle of Rei's monologues. It's nowhere near the level of off-putting as something from like, Drifters, but its still worth noting if you're in this one specifically for the "serious". Visually I couldn't have less of a set of complaints. Art is this beautiful melding of water-color and soft-line styles that I absolutely adore, and it makes every single scene a joy to take in. The backgrounds are beyond gorgeous, and the character designs are simultaneously well-defined but fit perfectly in their world. Facial expressions are also of note here, as the show seems to apply a de-facto frown to everyone then impress with the subtle differences and exaggerated highs from there. For all the times I might have been frustrated with Rei's monologue-ing, the art and animation went almost full Madoka levels of off-the-wall. In particular, the visual motif of Rei drowning or being crushed under his life's pressure is shown many times, but each one is unique and the idea never felt stale now matter how many times I saw it repeated on screen. VA and music here are also superb, as a frequently monologue-ing character better be great to listen to and have some great music to set the speeches to. Despite its slow pace, March Comes in like a Lion was a great ride. It didn't exactly resolve by the end, which is saying something despite its 22 episodes, but it's already been confirmed by SHAFT to be receiving a second season. Whether or not this show is getting the Monogatari or Niskeoi treatment, where SHAFT will pledge to animate everything as its adapted, but I'll surely keep watching if that happens.
_3-gatsu no Lion (March Comes in Like a Lion)_ depicts the daily life of a young shogi prodigy, Rei Kiriyama, but is much deeper than what can be seen at a glance. Rei is a shy individual who suffers from bouts of depression and anxiety centred around his career, family history, and the hardships of living in a world where he feels alone. Due to his circumstances, he poured all his efforts into becoming a pro shogi player from a young age. As a result, he has few close friends and underdeveloped social skills which leads to a life of isolation. While exploring Rei's inner conflict, _3-gatsu no Lion_ shows us the weight of human contact (for better or for worse) and how it impacts the tipping scale of negative & positive emotion. You may think, _"This sounds really depressing!"_ While heart-wrenching at times, the show doesn't leave you with that feeling for long. Even through Rei's darkest days, there are moments of brightness (often found with the kind & generous Kawamoto sisters). The show switches tone freely but gently due to Rei's continued narration bridging the gaps. Despite the darkness, you get the sense that there is always hope and beauty that can be found in the little moments. _3-gatsu no Lion_ understands that life is not always easy, but nothing lasts forever. From the very start, _Shaft_ uses a myriad of art & animation styles to convey different emotional tones. Each art style is chosen to match the scene. Aggressive, monotone charcoal styles are used to depict Rei and other characters' spiralling negativity or losses. Bright, cheery, glowing crayon styles are used when Rei is spending time with the Kawamoto sisters. The musical score is often pensive, lending further atmosphere to the reflective nature of the show. However, this sometimes suddenly changes to an upbeat candour when Rei's more boisterous acquaintances appear like whirlwinds on-screen (I'm looking at you, young Nikaidou). Overall, the music always suits the mood. _3-gatsu no Lion_ also uses strong metaphorical imagery to mirror the mental state of the characters. Water is likely the most commonly-recurring of these themes. The show takes place in Sumida River, Chuo Ward of Tokyo, which was once known as the City of Water. Rei finds solace in crossing bridges and watching the rivers flow throughout the area, but he feels like he is drowning in a dark sea when he is alone. He mentally compares the intense struggle of competition to trying to swim across a stormy sea to an island. Upon reaching the island, a more violent sea spans the gap to the next safe plateau. One thing I found difficult about the show was keeping track of some of the actual shogi play discussed or shown. Not being familiar with the game (despite it being briefly explained on-screen in song by medieval cartoon cats) and not being able to read the pieces made it hard to follow. However, this is not a huge detractor since the shogi play itself is merely a backdrop. It is clearly not expected that the audience are master shogi players by any stretch in order to understand the scenes. In the end, all metaphors and shogi aside, the real heart of the show comes from the wonderfully deep cast of characters, the expressive emotional tone, and the philosophy of trying to carve out a name for oneself and find out what really matters in life. On all these fronts, _3-gatsu no Lion_ excels.
(Spoilers are light but I'm going to start spoiler tagging every review since I'm out of touch with people who care about spoilers and I don't want to guess at what counts and doesn't) ~!There's something magical about watching a classic unfold before your eyes before it has truly been canonized. I'm relatively late on _3-gatsu no Lion_, but I still received a bit of that high watching it this past month. See, I passed by this when it originally aired, looking at all the praise from nearly everyone I respected and thinking "I'm going to love that." I was right. _3-gatsu no Lion_ oozes love and radiates warmth. More than just being full of those things, it is about letting that warmth in and the futility of trying to tough it out alone. It spits in the face of the idea that one needs to have their act together on their own before coming together with others or that deep underlying problems need to be tackled alone. Ever get that advice that says you need to sort out your own issues in order to properly love others...that if you're not secure in yourself, you'll only be pushing your baggage on other people? That is the number one thing that this anime rails against, and that's to be fuckin' applauded. Pain is to be distributed and shouldered by others. Finding community where you can, be that in family, friends, competition, or anywhere else _is_ the healing process. This is an aspect of life that's hard to accept when you're falling down, made even harder when you're told otherwise. Having a piece with the power this series does reinforce that is deeply comforting and reassuring. It's always okay to sit under the kotatsu. Eat, be warm, let yourself love and be loved. That's where happiness and healing lie, where all the best parts of life are. That's the emotional core of this show and these characters, and it's all brilliant. It's food for the heart. The shogi is also wonderfully put on display, with much more attention given than one might expect, given that it's never really talked about as a great show about competition. There's clearly a great love on display for losing oneself in an interest or in a competitive scene, and while I never reached the level of competition that Rei does in anything, it certainly feels true to the feels associated with communal improvement, stagnation, pressure, self-doubt, etc. Nothing is an afterthought in _3-gatsu no Lion_, everything feels like it has a distinct purpose. Any aspect of it that you take interest in will be rewarding. I'm less interested in the aesthetic qualities of this show, but it's worth mentioning that this is also masterful in that sense. It's the SHAFTiest thing you'll ever see, with the best match for that style since...I don't know, maybe _Hidamari Sketch_? The swings between all-consuming depression and exuberant joy are convincing and natural as a result. The lows make the highs higher and the reverse is also true. It's always a visual treat even when not being flashy. The character designs pop and are unique without being too out-there. The voice cast, particularly with the sisters, is the best since _K-On!_ Every facet of this production is air-tight and beautiful. My complaints are minimal. There's a few gags that fall flat, most notably the cats freaking out over food. It's hard to really think about that with how refreshing everything else about this show is. If only I watched this in 2016, the worst year of my life, I might have met that warmth when I needed it. Please don't repeat my mistake.!~
__Travioli Prime’s Review of San-Gatsu no Lion (First Season)__ San-gatsu no Lion currently seems to be one of the darlings of the anime community, with its second season reaching top 5 on AniList’s highest rated shows as of October 2019. This show seemed like one I could totally enjoy, so I decided to give it a shot. I’ll give my overall thoughts on the show towards the end, but I wanted to first emphasize some of my favorite and least favorite parts of the first season. __Shit I Liked__ _The Kawamoto Family_- This family is one of my favorite anime families of all time. They are cute as hell and help lighten up the tone of the show in spots that it really needs it. They serve as a nice method to keep this show out of the clouds and help us to escape some of Kiriyama’s depressing and fairly uninteresting rants. They aren’t complex at all, but that is perfectly okay. The role of Momo, Hina and Akari is to fill the family void that Kiriyama lacked and bring some joy to his and our lives, and they pass with flying colors. _The Art_- Anyone who has seen this show knows how gorgeous it is. The city landscapes and the natural backgrounds, especially the river that Kiriyama lives on, are immersive and really make scenes feel alive. The character designs match the level of detail that the background and scenery have and really show you the differences in personalities between the different cast of characters that we meet along the way. The art style changes when we delve into the thoughts of Kiriyama are effective and sometimes breathtaking. The only small change I would have made is to make the mouths look more normal. Why does every character’s resting face look like they’re pouting or like they can’t control the sides of their mouths from drooping down? Despite that, the art was fire, plain and simple. __Shit I Didn’t Like__ _Kiriyama (in the first half of S1)_- The start of this show is REALLY slow, and the culprit is none other than our shogi-hating protagonist Kiriyama. The astounding lack of effective development made the first ten episodes of this show feel like an absolute drag to the point where I considered dropping it after getting terrible Your Lie in April vibes from our main character. Luckily, unlike that train-wreck of a show, San-Gatsu no Lion figured out how to make its main character interesting. The writers of the show took way too long establishing that Kiriyama doesn’t like shogi and that he has this traumatic backstory but give the viewers no reason to care until deep into the season. _Kyouko Kouda_- Why is Kiriyama’s sister such a big part of this show? She is the worst part of this anime, hands down. Every bit of her character arc is uninteresting. She’s unlikeable and gives the viewer no reason to be sympathetic towards her but also is sometimes framed like we should care about her. We constantly see flashes of an image with Kiriyama getting beaten up by Gotou with Kyouko watching and of Kiriyama and Kyouko in a bed together looking mildly provocative, but nothing comes from these storylines that involves Kyouko AT ALL! I fell asleep twice during this show and both were scenes with between Kyouko and Kiriyama. Unsubscribe. __What I Wanna See Next__ The second half of the show really got more interesting for me and presents a good roadmap for the second season. The art quality needs to stay the same for me to enjoy it, as do the side characters. While I would prefer that we never see Kyouko again, she could be interesting if the writers decide to make her interesting or deep in any compelling way. I also want more shogi. Even though this is not a show about shogi, it still revolves around the game, yet I did not have any desire to play the game after watching. If a show like Saki, which is much worse than this, can make me want to play mahjong, why can this show not make me interested in the slightest at shogi? __Final Thoughts__ It’s good. This is a good, entertaining show with the potential to be great. Worth it, but don’t expect perfection.
# 3-gatsu no Lion (March comes in like a lion)
__SPOILER FREE REVIEW SEASON 1__
__Studios:__ Shaft
__Genres:__ Drama, Game, Seinen, Slice of Life
This has been among the most brilliant shows I’ve watched in a long long time, the only other I
remember is Your Lie in April although they share many differences the ONE prominent thing that they
do share is a relatively simple plot, executed exceptionally well with very good characters.
__Story/Plot:__
Let’s get the weakest link (relatively) out of the way first. The story starts with Rei our main
protag, a highschool student who is a professional shogi (Jap chess) player, living alone and
struggling with both school and his shogi career. With both his mental and physical degrading, that is
until he meets 3 sisters.
I had heard the show focused on shogi a lot and having absolutely no clue what is was before starting
it I had my doubts as to how that would interfere with my enjoyment but fortunately it didn’t have any
sort of negative effects. Rather it turned into another point hooking me to the show. The way the
story and characters revolved around shogi was well handled, basically using shogi as a front to show
what the characters were like.
The pacing of the entire show was consistent and simply as I said above executed exceptionally well,
each episode felt like a complete experience and it felt longer than it was. Considering the entire
calm quiet atmosphere of the show I never once got bored or seemed like the progress was slow or
rushed. Guess, I have to thank the Studio Shaft for pulling that off just really really well.
__Ratings: 8/10__
__Characters:__
And onto the best thing about the show, the characters. Being a character driven story I loved almost
every character they introduced along with the main and support characters. Each brought a unique
value to the show and in Rei’s development about which I’ve seen people argue that the show didn’t
have any sort of development for Rei to which I say you probably watched the wrong show because
considering how introverted and cut off from others Rei was in first episode to how his personality
became opposite (almost) was great and a very subtle development. Well to me honestly this entire
season felt some sort of prologue with the juicy bit yet to come.
Among other characters I really liked his teacher Hayashida who went to great lengths just so Rei
could have a chance of experiencing a normal highschool life and obviously, Akari the big
sister/mother figure in the show. It was a delight to see each and every one of his interaction with
her as she along with her sisters shed some light on Rei’s gloomy world. Also, Nikaiduo and Shimada
ended up as his motivators to pursue shogi even more determined. But on a personal level I’ve gotta
say Shimada’s personality was just caring and polite, the kind of superior you’d want. Nikaidou was
kinda too noisy for me.
Now there was one character that I’m kinda confused about and that’s Kyouko. At first it was pretty
simple, I was like yup hate her but as we got to know more and more about her I did see what she did
was brought forth from the conditions that developed around her though still she wasn’t a positive
sort but I can’t really hate her or like her for that matter.
__Ratings: 8.5/10__
__Animation/Art style:__
I usually take Art and Music as a single sort of thing to talk about but have split it up for this
particular show. The Art style and characters were a little odd but only at first and quickly grew on
me. As for the animation, man, EVERY. SINGLE. SCREENSHOT I took was instant wallpaper quality. The
scenery, backgrounds, transitions between scenes were all just pure joy for the eyes. Even the show
starts off with some really interesting visuals pulling you in.
__Ratings: 10/10__
__Music:__
Ehh… not my strong suit but I’ll try discussing it. The show had some really emotional BGMs adding to
each scene and even though for the most it was a quiet relaxing show the sounds of nature and
basically everyday life were nice. Especially no BGMs during rain scenes was a real nice touch but for
the most part they never stopped sending chills down my spine (in a good way).
Ok this part is surprising for me, I don’t even remember the last show I did this on but I never ONCE
skipped the OPs or EDs, and I usually listen to them once or twice and then skip for the rest of the
episodes. For me OP2>OP1 and ED2>ED1 but overall ED2 was my favourite.
__Ratings: 10/10__
Again, thank you Studio Shaft for the great visuals and sounds.
__My Personal Thoughts:__
At first glance I couldn’t find anything bad about it and gave me some reminiscence of Your Lie in
April. Plus a show that has a character driven plot with a calm soothing atmosphere? Well, that’s
right up my alley. I really did enjoy this a lot more than I was expecting even with all the positive
reviews naturally making me have high expectations for it, I can now say it deserves the praises it
gets. Each episode made me want to watch more but at the same time the completed episode always had a
sense of closure and completion that I wanted to watch this slowly and not just binge through if that
makes any sense. Oh, and giving those cats dialogues was a fun little thing. Well I guess that wraps
everything up.
__Ratings: 10/10__
__Overall Rating:__
__8.95/10__
__PS,__ Momo is just cute af.
Chess remains one of the oldest and still most popular games of all time. There’s a good reason for this: it’s simplistic layout and rulings with a variety of pieces give it an ocean of depth. The art of trying to put your opponent’s king in a state of inescapable capture while simultaneously keeping yours safe can be as complex as the players want it to be, giving the game a fresh feeling even after all its years of play. Besides the chess most are familiar with, variants of the classic board game are popular in different regions of the world. Shogi, the Japanese variant, has some unique properties that give the game its own intrigue. It has a bigger board (9x9 vs. the standard 8x8 checkerboard), new or different pieces to chess (gold/silver generals, lance, no queen, etc.) and even has a “revival” system where captured pieces can be used against your opponent. Though both shogi and chess have a near infinite number of options, the way its played is ultimately decided between it’s players. As March Comes in Like a Lion shows, it’s often the players, not the pieces, that are the most complex. The premise for March Comes in Like a Lion is simple. It follows the life of Rei Kiriyama, a 17-year-old shogi player who has become quite notable for his skill at the game despite his age. When not playing or practicing shogi, Rei can be seen eating dinner with the Kawamoto sisters in June City or attempting to be a high school student with the support of his homeroom teacher, Mr. Hayashida. If this premise was seen in a bubble, only going as in-depth as the basics to kickstart a shogi-centric plot, it’d be an otherwise average-to-good sports/game series. What sets March Comes in Like a Lion apart from its competitors is its meaningful look at its ensemble of characters. Though the show has shogi as a holdfast, it is instead a means to an end to examine the lives of its players and their peers. Like the metaphorical river Rei seems to sink in, March shows that there is a lot to each character below the surface. The lead, Rei Kiriyama, is the quintessential example of this. From an outsider’s perspective, he’s an introverted loner type who is prone to awkwardness and stubbornness in making decisions. It’s during the conversations and moments in his life, both past and present, that we see the events that has shaped the way he’s become. A victim of tragedy, Rei is often caught in the crossfires of other’s misfortunes, developing a hedgehog’s dilemma similar to that of Evangelion’s Shinji Ikari. The events he encounters in his life, from his time spent with another family to becoming aware of the current lives of the opponent’s he faces, brings multi-layered psychology to his character and gives believable backing to his hesitant nature. Examples of this can even be seen on the Rei’s external actions. Rei’s most observable quality, his “independence”, is true more so than in name than in action, living in a near empty room, eating rice and cup ramen while only focusing on his next shogi match. Though Rei might not be a charismatic lead like many sports/game genre protagonists, he still remains a strong representation of a dejected individual. Rei, however, is not the only character who has experienced personal misfortune. A majority of the show’s cast, whether minor or major, have also gone through painful experiences. The most interesting part of this is how it has shaped their character. Rei’s “sister”, Kyouko, is often seen angry and mean towards Rei. However, a closer look at her own upbringing and relation to Rei opens up the reasons for her attitudes and her actions (such as pursuing after players like Gotou). The Kawamoto sisters, Akari, Hina and Momo, have an external attitude of being motherly and almost doting towards Rei. Behind it lies personal scars that seek Rei out beyond a level of friendship into a way of healing those wounds. Nikaidou is a boisterous individual who seeks to be Rei’s rival in shogi but carries struggle due to health problems. Shimada is an experienced shogi player whose reserved and frail demeanor hide a deep motivation of the game from his upbringing in the town of Yamagata. While not every character is explored as well as Rei (with the occasional feeling of “drama for drama’s sake” bubbling under), it never reaches a level of hindrance in the story and gives the cast more layers to evoke more realism within the show’s cast. Though as solid as the characterization is, the biggest problem with March Comes in Like a Lion is actually found in its execution/style. Studio Shaft was behind this work and, with director Akiyuki Shinbou on board, you can expect the show to be more colorful and visual than other titles. Though this may work for other series he’s directed (such as the Monogatari series), it often feels as if it’s a major detractor to March’s message and delivery. The show will sharply go from serious to comedy as a way to break the negativity, but it does so in such a silly way that I felt that the tone or impact of a scene was hindered. The infamous “head tilts” found in Shinbou’s work are in full force here. They’re good for emphasizing a point or belief of a character, but when used in excess, it feels unnecessary and detract away from what a character is saying or doing. Because of these decisions, it can feel like Shaft are pouring their resources in heavy artistic flair in a show that doesn’t really need them. There are also a few animation goofs, seeing characters jog in place as if they’re trying to run away or the head tilts leading to a shot that doesn’t match the direction or place a character was. This is partially caused by the animation oversights/limits and partially because of the focus of making this appear more artsy. Ultimately, though, a lot of what the show is at this point will strike people differently. Though the show is indeed a drama, you wouldn’t be remiss to say that it also has quite a few slice-of-life elements. While seeing them can be a nice breather and way to counterpoint the work from becoming too dramatic, I didn’t find as much enjoyment in these more relaxed environments. Though many of them in theory open up Rei to the surrounding world, I don’t always see the immediate or long-term impact from these decisions. I’m more moved by Shimada’s game against Kiriyama than I am seeing Rei eat with the sisters or Nikkaidou’s commentary speech towards Rei. As said before, every moment in the show technically makes an impact in a slice-of-life sense, but it’s more dependent on the viewer as to how much they take away from each scene. Regarding the sound of the show, the seiyuus all did an admirable job portraying their characters. Kengo Kawanishi, Rei’s seiyuu, does a good job portraying Rei’s sensitivity and even his expressions of pain. Nobuhiko Okamato showcases the loud, extraverted passion of Nikaidou, while Misaki Kuno gives Momo a cuteness that would make anyone say “Aww!”. The music itself, outside of the OP’s and ED’s, wasn’t as memorable as I’d like, though there was a pleasant piano piece utilized in the last episode. BUMP OF CHICKEN does a great job capturing that wistful melancholy in OP “Answer” and ED “Fighter”. OP 2, “Sayonara Bystander” by YUKI, doesn’t capture that same feeling. Despite a more raw, “honest” vocal delivery, it has a buildup that doesn’t hit its mark, coming off as flat by the time the OP ends. “orion” by Kenshi Yonezu is a modern smooth pop track, with catchy tenor harmonies and finger snaps. It’s not really for me but I can see the appeal the track has. The only real problematic element I had was found in the sound effects. As an extension of the comedy, the sound effects of the show were said out loud by an overdubbed female seiyuu. While it wasn’t anything very detrimental, it was a contributor that broke my immersion of the show, making the character’s lives feel more silly than serious. Like many of my detriments with the show, though, this will be all dependent on who’s watching and they might appreciate this comedy more than I would. Overall, I give March Comes in Like a Lion a 6/10. At face value, the score looks rather low for my praises, but don’t be fooled. I still think of the show has having great characters and an otherwise good story, but I’m just not sold on Shaft’s interpretation of these events. I feel I would enjoy the manga’s version of what I’ve seen vs. the adaptation. Perhaps I still need to get used to it. Regardless, fans of shows such as Rakugo or other character dramas should definitely watch this show. If you also like Studio Shaft or Shinbou’s style, this will also be another favorite as his fingerprints are all over this show. At its core, though, March Comes in Like a Lion has a lot of good elements and I can easily see users listing this as an essential watch. Do you like or dislike this anime? If you haven't watched it, are you encouraged to watch it or not? Leave a comment on my profile telling me what you think of the anime and/or my review. Thanks for reading and have a blessed day!
If you asked me to summarize my worldview in a single phrase, I would describe it as “radical empathy.” The world can be an awful, awful place, and too many people have suffered under the worst kinds of horror and suffering. But I’ve seen too much good in this world to write it off. I’ve seen too much of humanity’s capacity for kindness and justice to give up on us ever getting better. Just look at the state of the world now: after hundreds of years of systemic oppression and racism, people from countless different countries have come together in support of reforming the broken systems that leave too many black men dead at the hands of powerful white cops. Minneapolis, the city where George Floyd lived and died, even managed to outright defund their police department. Change is hard and progress harder, but we have the power to make it happen. We have the power to shift the world in a better direction, in the face of all its evil, and write a better future than the present we currently have. I believe in humanity’s capacity for love. I believe in out capacity to weather even the worst storms. Love in the face of hatred is a difficult, sometimes almost impossible endeavor, but it is worth fighting for every single time. Anything less is a betrayal of all that we’re capable of achieving. I have always valued anime for its sincere belief in that same truth. But I don’t think I’ve yet seen a show that so perfectly captures the idea of radical empathy as Sangatsu no Lion. (And yes, I am absolutely stealing the phrase "radical empathy" from the Pedantic Romantic. What can I say, it just fits too perfectly.) Above all else, Sangatsu is a story about faith in people. It’s a story about a kid crushed by depression, wandering his way through a melancholy life, but finding the courage to keep trying every single day. Rei Kiriyama, age 17, professional shogi player, lost his family in a tragic accident when he was a kid, and in the years since then he's grown into a shy, repressed young man, crippled by doubt and mental illness, holding onto shogi as the one lifeline keeping him stable in an otherwise perilous existence, even as it's also a cage keeping him from finding his own happiness. But Sangatsu isn't really about shogi, and you don't need to know a single thing about how the game's played to appreciate it (the show will teach you all the stuff that matters, so don't worry). In fact, Sangatsu isn't so much about one thing as it's about, well, everything. It's about the entirely of Rei's life, his past and present traumas, his struggles, his triumphs, the people he meets and the people he lives behind. And it's about all those people as well, from the family of three sisters who become something like Rei's surrogate family to the many opponents Rei faces from across the shogi board. It's less a plot than a woven tapestry, depicting an entire community of lovable, well-realized characters, the ways their lives intersect, the ways they build each other up, the ways they give each other comfort in their darkest moments. And it's about how Rei grows in that space, slowly learning to process his trauma and value his own life. To say the show doesn't have much of a plot might seem like an insult. But what Sangatsu lacks in tightly scripted story progression, it more than makes up for in sheer, raw emotion. Rei is an unflinchingly human protagonist the likes of which we so rarely get, a raw nerve of feeling so crippled by past trauma it can be almost impossible to watch. The show pulls no punches in depicting the deepest recesses of his darkness, the suffocating pressure that builds on him until he breaks, the voices in his head that tell him he doesn’t deserve to be happy. It’s devastating and intimate and painful in a million ways big and small, and the fog of his despair grows so thick at times you feel like you could choke on it. But just as Sangatsu forces you to suffer with Rei at his worst moments, it allows you to cheer with him at his best. It lets you bask in the joy of the people who care about him, the overwhelming catharsis of finding places he can belong, the countless tiny connections that refuse to let him be swept up and blown away by his inner storm. It has the courage not to shy away from the ugliness of the world, but it has greater courage still not to shy away from its beauty either. And its capacity for kindness is so awe-inspiring, so heart-stopping, that it’s enough to drive you to tears through sheer positivity alone. I cannot recall the last show I watched that was this agonizingly hopeful, this capable of reaching into the deepest pits of your soul and making you so utterly surrender to your capacity to feel. And with the strength of that disarming radiance, Sangatsu no Lion embarks upon one of the most breathtaking, majestic, unbearably honest tales about the power of ordinary life I’ve ever seen. It weaves so many threads together, juggling so many characters with so many complicated, messy connections, and it makes them all soar. It’s a gut-wrenching intimate drama that slowly expands outward to a gripping ensemble piece, full of countless incredible characters who could all be the protagonist of their own story. It’s a pulse-pounding sports drama that takes a brutal examination of the perils of tying your life’s purpose to achievements you may not earn, how the things that keep us grounded can also trap us in place. It’s a gorgeous slice-of-life comedy, with some of the most consistently gut-busting cackles and most cheek-stinging smiles any anime’s wrung out of me. It’s a heartbreaking analysis of toxic and codependent mindsets that tears your psyche apart with its unyielding depictions of self-loathing and misery. It’s an explosion of sheer joy in its brightest moments and a primal scream of sheer agony in its darkest. And it’s all brought to life by an absolutely staggering production by studio Shaft, weaponizing their abstract expressionism more intimately and more breathtakingly than ever before. The way it layers symbolism and visual metaphor, the way the editing breathes with the chaos of the characters’ minds, the way it makes the real world feel so raw, not to mention the top-tier work from every single voice actor involved… it is UNSPEAKABLY beautiful. It effortlessly sucks you into the story’s unflinching honestly, forcing you to confront the extreme, devastating, overwhelming, rapturous emotions as if they were your own. The end result of all this talent and effort is nothing short of magical. Few anime have been able to touch my soul this deeply. Few anime have been so capable of tearing my defenses down and leaving me a quivering wreck of emotions. Few anime have so thoroughly stunned me, amazed me, bowled me over, left me this tender and vulnerable and joyous. I love every single thing about this show, and that’s not always something I can say about even some of my favorite anime of all time. Sure, maybe the opening few episodes could’ve been a little more structured, maybe the plot’s overall aimlessness could’ve been improved, maybe there were certain characters I enjoyed seeing on screen more than others. But there’s not a single moment in this show I didn’t at least like. There’s not a single story beat in this show that didn’t work for me. There’s not a single character in this show who I don’t appreciate seeing on screen, and the vast majority of them I outright adore. No other show I've seen was flawless enough that I could say with a straight face there was nothing I’d rather go without. And the absolute best of these building blocks- Rei’s first climactic outburst, Mr. Hayashida’s guidance, Rei and Kyouko’s fascinatingly fucked relationship, literally everything about Hina- are among the most compelling, resonant, rewarding ideas anime’s ever given me. Sangatsu no Lion gives me hope. It gives me hope for my capacity to overcome my own demons and forge a meaningful life. It gives me hope for humanity’s capacity to shake off our worst mistakes and let kindness triumph over fear. And it gives me hope in anime’s capacity to still give me the kind of experience no other medium is capable up, even coming up on three years watching it. It’s a restorative aria that hits you in the deepest parts of your soul, breaking all your rawest nerves apart and sewing them back together more lovingly than ever before. It is the soul of radical empathy itself surging across the screen like the waves of a tumultuous ocean. It’s devastating, uplifting, gut-wrenching, spiritually cleansing, and utterly, unflinchingly beautiful. And somehow, the second season is so much better it almost feels like an insult. Don't let this show pass you by: it's truly something to behold.
So, I watched up to episode 17 of season 1 of March Comes in Like a Lion and... I hated it. As far as positives go, I like the art style (mostly), the animation is nice and fluid and whenever they do those black and white scenes that look like inked manga panels, it's beautiful and a marvel to look at. As far as stories and characters go, I've never been more bored or disinterested in an anime like that. The characters feel so one-dimensional despite all their efforts of trying to insert depth through their "unique" and tragic struggles. Firstly, the main character... his issue is that he doesn't really take care of himself and focused intensely on Shogi, a game he was never really interested in but was very good at from an early age and continued to get better to satisfy his foster dad and later to have funds to live off of. He's an orphan, no family of his own, taken in by a family who's dad is really intent on shogi and that's about it so far. While I don't think this backstory is necessarily bad or stupid, it just felt really dull. This main character felt like he had no personality to me besides being anxious, insecure and somewhat arrogant. That does not create a full character. He was a bore to watch. As for the family he usually visits, they're all just the "cute girl" stereotypes from the hard working one, to trying too hard and anxious, to the child. They were also very boring as they were just cut and paste stereotypes who were similarly orphaned. It feels as if the show is trying to just place a need for sympathy or pity upon the characters based purely on their pasts and not their characters. Another bad taste in my mouth. Then there's the best friend character... this guy was really annoying to me. As far as character goes, he's another generic stereotype. The passionate, enthusiastic guy who wants to build people up. He was just so insistent on being a part of the main character's life and of course, outside of the stereotype, has no real character and once again they gave him the problem of having a chronic illness, forcing sympathy upon the audience, instead of it being earned from us liking the characters and being invested in their stories. As for the foster family he had growing up, I wasn't particularly interested in that storyline but I did find the sister character to be extremely interesting and once she came back into the main character's life again, I was excited and their short interactions only disapointed me because they were short. Nothing else to really say about them. The writing of the show is bad. Now, this is obviously my opinion but it really feels like they took every anime with an introspective character, took stock dialogue, and put it into the show including all the characters who have differing opinions from the introspective characters, people who challenge them, people who provoke them, people who help them, etc. The dialogue is some of the most boring, generic, cut and paste stuff in the show and it was just unbarable to me especially since I love the idea of writing, what can be pulled off with writing and writers. As I said earlier, the sister character really stood out from everything else. She had an interesting character, interesting dialogue and an interesting story behind her with her abusive boyfriend. Outside of that, the writing wasn't doing anything for me. Just as an aside, the mouths are weird. This detail is more of a nitpick than a critique; it just bothered me while watching it because the mouths always looked like they were slightly open and cut at the sides which was just very distracting. Now, I don't want to give a verdict saying it's a bad show since I haven't seen everything yet but as of now, it's not looking promising and I'm very reluctant to continue watching. With that, it's solidly below average for me but not far below average since I did enjoy the sister character as well as the art. Hope you can enjoy the show more than I did, form your own opinion and maybe even justify some of the things I dislike. Thanks for reading!
~~~__I don't know where to start...__~~~ This anime is absolutely amazing, I must say after the first few episodes, I was completely hooked and was unable to stop watching the show. And while I did find a few moments which I would say were a bit "boring", for the most part the anime did its best to keep all my attention focused specifically on it. Now, to start off, I will straight up say that you should only watch this anime if you are okay with exploring in depth themes, emotions and more adult-like content. Without delving too much into this, the anime talks a lot about depression, the effects of depression, and how it can completely crush an individual. As such, I highly recommend avoiding this anime if you are uncomfortable with these themes. On the other hand, if you are capable of understanding and handling these themes, then I fully recommend it, as this anime not only handles it well, but rather handles it excellently. Furthermore, many of the shortcoming you might find in this season, will be fixed in the 2nd season (Which is a masterpiece on my opinion.) Below I will delve into the main categories of this show; #~~~Story 10/10:~~~ As mentioned above, the story of March Comes in like a lion revolves around depression, and how it affects the main character, as well as him slowly getting through it, in this regard the story is absolutely amazing, it treats depression as a serious issue, and unlike other anime I have seen, there are a lot of moments when it feels like the issue is barely being resolved, giving this a very mature and realistic progression throughout the show. # ~~~Art 9/10:~~~ While unlike season 2, the art style doesn't have any very memorable highly-detailed scenes, there is a very good combination and transitions of pure darkness when needed, to beautiful imagery and light in order to show happiness and tranquility, in that regard, while the art style might not be detailed, the great use of lighting and environment have definitely been great. #~~~Sound 8/10:~~~ There are a good number of good OSTs in the show, but nothing really memorable apart from two of them. #~~~Character 9/10:~~~ The characters are pretty well detailed, each have their own problems and they are well written to be integrated inside the story. And yes, characters become even better in the 2nd season. #~~~Enjoyment 7/10:~~~ I overall enjoyed watching this anime, and I would gladly re-watch it if I will ever have enough time for it. The only reason why I am not rating this higher is because of a few scenes, which genuinely made me feel bored. #~~~Overall 9/10:~~~ I highly recommend this amazing anime, I swear if you give it a watch, you will be shocked by the pure amount of attention given to each character and the amazing progression all the characters go through.
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW March Comes in Like a Lion. The show that disappointed me in a multitude of ways. Having already seen (and reviewed) the second season of Sangatsu No Lion, this review will be rather short. Indeed, I feel as if everything that the second season does and fails to do, the first season does in almost exactly the same fashion, albeit in a way that manages to be less engaging, more frustrating, and ultimately less deserving of a high rating. Indeed, it’s very hard for me to see this season as anything more than an average show that I wanted to love and was disappointed with time and time again. Let’s start with the basics. This show, produced by shaft, tells the story of a male Shogi prodigy who learns about relationships as he navigates life as a young professional. This premise is actually really interesting and unique: when was the last time your last MC made it through on professional board game playing? Rei comes from no privileged background, he has no untold prophecies surrounding his birth, and generally avoids some of the tropes surrounding shounen/seinen protagonists. Yet he somehow fits many other tropes: entire family died in a tragic accident at a young age, has a foster family that resents him, lives alone and broods over the city in an isolated training dojo. Maybe I could turn a blind eye to this if the rest of the anime actually came across as the slice of life that MAL has listed in the Genres category, but it doesn’t. Rei’s entire life is one of battle after battle punctuated by angst and attempted comedy scenes. But no, one says. You’re missing the point: 3-Gatsu is about relationships and learning how to live with others. That, I can say, is true, but the show fails to provide good character development requisite to such themes. The show involves a huge breadth of characters that are shown as little more than skin-deep. I’d like to take the Kawamoto household as an example. Although improved significantly in the second season, Hinata is little more than a source of distraction to both the audience and the MC, with the writers contributing to her character a vapid interest in sweets, shogi, and anything else related to Rei. Surely the death of his wife and daughter, along with the disappearance of his grandchildren’s father and his role as major provider for a sizeable family, would lead to some interesting insight into Someji’s story? Oh no, he only exists for some comic relief and to spur Rei and Nikaido on. Akari’s role as stand-in mother for her own two sisters, along with her own task as provider rather than following her own dreams? Nonexistent, because according to the writers, all she cares about is her own cooking. Even Momo seems to be present only for cute preschooler appearances and to remind Rei about his own departed sister. This superficiality is particularly frustrating when you realize that Shaft is capable of good character development, but places it in all the wrong places. Every opponent that Rei faces is carefully scrutinized and analyzed with 100% focus that soon dissipates as soon as he inevitably wins the match or loses and returns home to brood. If only the writers could develop the other main characters, or heck, even the protagonist himself, with such intensity! Instead, they are relegated to supporting roles, either to supply filler episodes while Rei does his thing or to provide bizarre, poorly-draw caricature insert scenes that I think are supposed to be funny or something. If you’re like me, you’ll probably laugh just because how out of place they are. Even the actually interesting and round characters – Shimada, Gotou, and Nikaido come to mind – somehow remain endlessly on the fringes, given frustratingly little further development. I’d like to return now to the main point that I made in the review of the second season, as I think it rings true here too. 3-Gatsu is a superhero anime masquerading as a slice-of-life. Rei behaves so incredibly unrealistically that it’s hard to see otherwise. Neither I nor the vast majority of the people reading this sentence are capable of supporting ourselves, in high school, by playing exceptionally good board games, winning against seasoned veterans while a curated rival spurs us on. Yet we are capable of retreating within ourselves, having difficulty forming and creating good relationships, and dealing with loss and heartache. I feel that Shaft tries to make its viewership identify with Rei through the latter characteristics, but still attempts to show his superhuman powers by means of the former. Perhaps this odd juxtaposition of incredibility and believability is attractive to some people, but I found it hard to live with. I said this before and I’ll say it again: I think this anime would have been significantly better if it was about a normal, unremarkable kid navigating loss and building relationships, without the need to defeat boss after boss in a game of prodigious power and skill. Or, alternatively, not marketed as a slice-of-life at all and given all the free reign of fantasy that so many superhero anime already show. I think I’ve said all that I want to about the first season of this show. My second season review (first ever on this site!) is a far deeper look into my criticisms of this series and covers in depth some of the same points that I alluded to here. I realize that this show is incredibly well-received, at least on MAL, and giving the show a 5/10 might seem suspect, but in my opinion the show’s many shortcomings surpass its limited strengths.
“The further you go, the steeper it becomes, and there won’t be anyone around you.” – Rei Kiriyama I feel I lack the vocabulary and eloquence to adequately express how special Sangatsu no Lion truly is, but i'll attempt to do my best nonetheless. Depression is a silent battle. Constantly waging war against yourself. What happiness you can grasp is constantly sinking into an ocean of nothingness. You are nothing, you have nothing. Sangatsu no Lion does not shy away from showing it's viewers the reality of the soul crushing torment that depression is. The protagonist of the story isn't a faultless man embarking on the hero's journey, he's apprehensive, unsure of himself and engulfed in loneliness. Although this may be the case, Rei is a hero. A champion for the broken, a beacon in the night. He is you and I. Rei's battle with depression is captivating to say the least. Losing his family and being adopted into another, he uses shogi to appeal to his foster father and gain his approval. Through his immense talent and hard work he becomes a professional in the shogi world, but as a side effect he alienates his adoptive father's biological children. He then decides to live alone and chase after shogi, isolating himself. It's at this point that the story begins. The vicious cycle of win or become nothing becomes Rei's life. He isn't satisfied with how things have turned out but he continues to press forward because that's what is expected of him. His life has essentially become a vice as he suffers quietly in solitude. The show is by definition a sports anime and doesn't shy away from that fact. Even if you were to peel away the dramatic story elements, the direction in the each shogi match is stellar. Every move is tense and efficient, as the players place their shogi pieces down with a satisfying clack, demanding the other player acknowledge their move. It's all extremely atmospheric, and you feel as if you were sitting right next to the board. Chika Umino has a deep understanding and respect for shogi and it definitely shines through. Now, to pivot back to story elements. The world of professionals is cutthroat and Rei soon comes to realize that the only way for him to remain one is to douse the hopes and dreams of each opponent he defeats. But why should he? Why should he be the one to attain victory? Why him? Through all the uncertainty, self-doubt, self-loathing and pain, a figure appears and lends a hand to Rei as if to pull him from the depths of his mind to start anew. Akari, Hinata and Momo Kawamoto are thrust upon him. Like Rei, the Kawamoto's have also experienced loss, the tragic death of their mother has left them incomplete. Broken but united, the Kawamoto family embraces Rei as one of their own. Through all of the pain, Rei begins to learn of the struggle of others. The Kawamoto sisters are as human as he is, they also all share the pain of losing a loved one and this commonality bonds them to each other. Scenes of Rei surrounded by the girls and simply having a conversation were enough to bring me to tears. The only way I think I could describe Rei's relationship with the Kawamoto household in words would be 'sweetness'. It's this same sweetness that Rei must separate himself from as he feels he isn't deserving of it. Depression is an irrational beast by nature and overcoming it is a arduous process. Through all the success he's achieved and friends he's made, he still feels lonely. This is the painful truth of mental illness. However, Rei decides to leap forward into the abyss and towards finding his own undeniable happiness. To say Rei's journey is inspiring would be an understatement. As someone who has battled with chronic depression for a majority of their life, Sangatsu no Lion portrays how isolating and painful it can be perfectly. I've seen Sangatsu no Lion criticized for it's slow pacing while I on the contrary believe the slow, methodical building to be a necessity. Each character has a role, every dialogue exchange and scene has a purpose, to have such a unique and dynamic cast of characters would be impossible if it weren't for that fact that they all have backstories and lives that are completely fleshed out and interesting. You can't rush greatness. As this is an adaptation, an animation studio must adapt it. Shaft's unorthodox approach to storytelling has often been hit or miss with me, ventures like the Monogatari Series often take a wildly esoteric approach to storytelling. The director of said series, Akiyuki Shibou, steers the ship that is Sangatsu no Lion. At a first glance I was definitely worried that he would employ the same over the top, no holds barred direction style that he's come to be known for but to my surprise he shows a more restrained, thoughtful direction style. Characters in close-up slowly turning to one another, quick cuts of a noisy shogi player fidgeting, it all lent itself to the atmosphere quite well, suffice to say I was surprised, even beyond that I was thoroughly and consistently blown away by his direction. Paired with Chika Umino's visionary level of storytelling, Sangatsu no Lion became a living, breathing creation. The art and music perfectly compliment each other as you feel chills run down your spine in tense scenes and your heart filled to the brim in the Kawamoto house. It's all masterful. Through all of the suffering and anguish, the clouds will eventually part and you'll be exactly where you need to be, this is the powerful sentiment the show carries. Misery is combatable, you just need to be brave enough to face it. There is beauty in life, you just need to be able to see it. Sangatsu no Lion might be the most powerful piece of media I've encountered to this date and for that I'm eternally grateful. Please watch this show.
_~~~“Não é que eu tenha mudado. E as pessoas à minha volta também não mudaram. É apenas que, enquanto jogando, e jogando desesperadamente cada dia, até parecer que minha cabeça fosse explodir... Em dado momento, eu percebi que outras pessoas estavam viajando comigo em direção ao mesmo lugar, onde a luz estava brilhando. E hoje também, alguém está sentado na minha frente.”~~~_ A história acompanha Rei Kiriyama, um jovem de 17 anos que recentemente começou a viver sozinho, financiado pelo seu salário como um jogador profissional de shogi, uma versão japonesa equivalente ao xadrez. Apesar de sua aparente independência, ele ainda demonstra estar em um processo de amadurecimento emocional e seus traumas o assombram constantemente em sua vida diária. Seu relacionamento com sua família adotiva é conturbado, além de ter grandes dificuldades para interagir com seus colegas do ensino médio, o que lhe privou desde cedo de um ambiente escolar proveitoso. Enquanto isso, sua carreira entrou em uma preocupante queda, principalmente devido às pesadas expectativas colocadas sobre ele, sendo a quinta pessoa no país a se tornar um profissional da área enquanto ainda estava no ginásio. Tudo isso o coloca num momento extremamente delicado aonde ele se vê completamente perdido em sua vida, acompanhado de seus traumas e problemas de ansiedade. Antes de tudo, é importante avisar que essa review contém alguns pequenos spoilers de determinados pontos de Sangatsu no Lion. Tenho certeza que nenhum deles irá comprometer sua experiência, mas já deixo avisado para quem não quiser receber nenhuma informação adicional. Por sua conta em risco, prossigamos com a análise. ~~~img(https://imgur.com/rgAMCZM.gif)~~~ Slice of Life é um gênero um tanto quanto curioso na base da sua concepção. Por um lado, acompanhar momentos específicos da vida de algum grupo seleto de personagens pode parecer uma experiência bastante interessante, mas até que ponto isso pode cativar alguém a se engajar e ir atrás dessa obra? O que define de fato qual é o linear de interesse do público entre dar ou não uma chance a algo dentro desse gênero? Tendo isso em mente, muitos autores precisam se arriscar em suas propostas, apostando em temáticas e estilos de narrativas completamente únicas que possam cativar o público para sua obra. Por sua vez, Sangatsu no Lion traz consigo uma premissa um tanto quanto dúbia, ao tratar de um esporte pouco conhecido para o ocidente conhecido como shogi, servindo como plano de fundo para desenvolver seu protagonista numa jornada introspectiva na busca de trazer de volta as cores para a sua vida. A obra é focada no Kiriyama Rei e em seus complexos dramas que acabou adquirindo ao longo de sua vida. Devido a um conjunto de experiências negativas, problemas familiares e expectativas enormes colocadas em seus ombros, ele acabou escolhendo o afastamento social, privando-se de ter uma vida com mais contato direto com outras pessoas. No entanto, por já ser um jogador profissional no shogi mesmo que ainda muito jovem, ele se vê obrigado a ter um mínimo de interação com os jogadores que enfrenta, sendo obrigado a estabelecer uma conexão com cada um deles durante as partidas. Definitivamente, não é sobre o shogi que a obra está interessada em abordar, mas sim nas relações interpessoais dos seus jogadores, e como parte dessa ideia central, abordar como o Kiriyama acabou tão preocupado com o modo que ele acaba afetando outras pessoas ao seu redor, que não se permitiu relacionar com elas e acabou completamente solitário na sua vida. E é só ao perceber o quanto isso acaba afetando não só a si mesmo, como também a todos que tentam se relacionar com ele, que o Kiriyama se vê obrigado a embarcar em sua jornada pessoal de amadurecimento e reparação de um emocional destroçado. Chega a ser surpreendente como a utilização do shogi é uma escolha perfeita para esse cenário. Desenvolver um personagem com dificuldades de interação social através de um jogo em que se faz necessário estabelecer uma conexão com seu adversário traz uma dinâmica essencial a série, onde conseguimos observar como o Kiriyama se sente em relação ao próximo e como suas emoções determinam as suas ações dentro de cada partida. Contudo, utilizar um jogo como esse pode parecer problemático, visto que esse é um esporte um tanto quanto desconhecido para o público ocidental, sendo quase impossível uma compreensão básica de suas regras em tão pouco tempo. Ainda sim, mesmo que você não entenda absolutamente nada de shogi, esse não é um requisito necessário para extrair a experiência máxima dessa obra. Sangatsu no Lion não é um anime sobre o shogi, focando muito mais os seus esforços numa jornada introspectiva sobre a psique do Kiriyama, suas dificuldades de criar relações e seus problemas com ansiedade. É sobre entender e apreciar uma jornada de reparação de um emocional abalado ao longo de inúmeras experiências negativas, questões claras de amadurecimento e a busca pela compreensão dos sentimentos do seu semelhante. O shogi em si pouco importa. Mesmo que por alguns minutos até exista uma tentativa de ensinar os movimentos básicos, juntamente de algumas estratégicas utilizadas, não é necessário buscar um maior entendimento do jogo para aproveitar a obra. Entender os movimentos e escolhas tomadas não é extrair tudo que Sangatsu no Lion tem a oferecer, sendo muito mais relevante compreender o que está sendo dito sobre ambos os jogadores durante cada partida. Nesse sentido, não existem jogos fúteis, pois cada um retrata o reflexo da situação atual do Kiriyama e dos outros personagens envolvidos naquela partida. O peso emocional carregado por cada um, as dificuldades que estão passando no momento e até mesmo problemas de saúde são utilizados como motivação para cada personagem ir o mais longe que sua dedicação e empenho o puder levar. Tudo isso é utilizado para potencializar e dar razões o suficiente para você simpatizar e validar as trajetórias e ambições de cada personagem, além de ter muito mais importância em tela se comparado ao shogi. Não se trata apenas de criar e executar a melhor estratégia, e sim do quanto cada personagem está disposto a sacrificar pelo esporte que ama. Mesmo assim, por mais que o shogi não seja o foco da obra, é um meio pelo qual a obra se utiliza em prol da narrativa, visando desenvolver e alimentar suas ideias centrais. É dentro dele que o Kiriyama encontra um modo de viver e se sustentar sem precisar depender de mais ninguém para isso, podendo assim se isolar de todos a sua volta. Por ainda sofrer com os traumas referentes a sua família adotiva, ele acaba usando o shogi como uma forma de sustento, podendo se privar de outras relações para que assim, não tenha que passar novamente por todas essas situações negativas que enfrentou ao longo de sua vida. Entretanto, mesmo que ele veja o shogi apenas como uma válvula de escape para seus problemas sociais, uma enorme expectativa o cerca dentro dele, e ter esse peso todo colocado em seus ombros desde cedo acabou culminando em diversas situações que o deixaram inseguro, resultando em uma sequência nada satisfatória de maus resultados. Com isso lhe afetando constantemente e questionando o valor do shogi em sua vida, Kiriyama se vê obrigado a continuar se esforçando ao máximo para atingir seus objetivos pessoais. Devido a todo esse contexto delicado, existe um lado com uma importância relativamente densa graças a essa visão determinada do Kiriyama, sendo a forma como a série trata do peso das vitórias e derrotas que ele enfrenta ao longo de sua jornada profissional. Entender como o resultado pode afetar alguém é uma faceta muito explorada aqui, onde acompanhamos momentos em que o Kiriyama se vê obrigado a presenciar as possíveis consequências de cada resultado, proporcionando momentos de maior compreensão dos personagens que estão a sua volta, mas que também conseguem demonstrar com uma maior clareza a percepção do Kiriyama em relação ao próximo. Entender que do outro lado do tabuleiro também existe uma pessoa com seus ideais, sonhos e valores inalienáveis acaba tirando praticamente a força esse seu lado mais autocentrado, obtido após o seu afastamento intencional das pessoas ao seu redor. Essas inúmeras vitórias e derrotas que o personagem carrega sempre tem um impacto que acaba caindo fortemente na mente do Kiriyama. O quanto lhe afetava "destruir" as ambições dos outros? Por que ele devia se importar tanto com tudo isso? E qual é o motivo de shogi sempre ter que ser tudo ou nada para ele? Essas são perguntas que o personagem faz durante toda a temporada, sempre se indagando e tentando entender a razão de precisar aguentar toda essa carga emocional sozinho. Pode ser um pouco difícil compreender o quão abalado o protagonista está numa primeira análise, mas é preciso dar a real importância a todos os eventos que levaram ele até esse estado atual. A questão é que o Kiriyama sofre uma pressão enorme desde cedo. Ele é um jovem garoto que carrega toda a expectativa do shogi moderno em seus ombros quando nem sequer pediu para isso acontecer. Por ter conseguido se tornar num profissional ainda no ginásio, acabou ganhando bastante atenção para si e para seu potencial dentro do esporte. Afinal, apenas outros 4 jogadores conseguiram esse feito antes dele, e todos se tornaram mestres, o que gerou automaticamente uma enorme expectativa para que ele manter essa tradição e se torna o próximo mestre do shogi. Contudo, a vida do Kiriyama tem sido um verdadeiro caos ao longo de todo esse tempo. Perdeu sua família num acidente, sente-se culpado pela ruptura gerada na família que o adotou, e para piorar tudo isso, ainda sofre com problemas de ansiedade e depressão que o fizeram se afastar ainda mais dos outros. Qualquer jovem da idade dele e com esse fardo inevitavelmente teria problemas psicológicos e não conseguiria organizar seus pensamentos de forma coerente e racional. E é nisso que grande parte de Sangatsu no Lion se foca verdadeiramente, em transmitir com clareza todos os lados emocionais de seu protagonista e trabalhar em cima de uma análise cuidadosa de sua psique. Para atingir esse feito e representar esses pensamentos para o público, a obra utiliza inúmeras metáforas textuais e visuais para expressar os sentimentos e emoções do Kiriyama, que acabam evidenciando o seu estado mental naquele momento. Seus pensamentos são expressos através de inúmeros monólogos, que bailam conforme os sentimentos em seu interior, indo desde comentários singelos, mas repletos de nuances sobre as situações que está enfrentando, como também a constatações mais sérias, que deixam cada vez mais claro o quão abalado seu psicológico está e o quanto seus traumas ainda o afetam. O Kiriyama não é um daqueles personagens extremamente complexos, e compreender os demônios que o cercam não é uma tarefa tão complicada, mas as flutuações em seu estado emocional são constantes, o que acaba proporcionando inúmeras mudanças no personagem e em seu status quo ao longo da série. Para acompanhar essas mudanças recorrentes em seu estado emocional, a animação está sempre se adaptando conforme a mente do personagem, o que a princípio proporciona representações visuais belíssimas, mas que estão preocupadas principalmente em exaltar os sentimentos do Kiriyama e o modo como ele enxerga as coisas ao seu redor. Graças a todo esse espetáculo visual, torna-se quase que interativo a tarefa de compreender pelo que o protagonista está passando, dado que seus pensamentos estão literalmente estampados na tela de uma forma tão clara quanto a água. Essas mudanças ocorrem de diversas formas diferentes, seja com uma simples mudança de tons e cores, onde fazem inúmeros contrastes na paleta de cores utilizada nos mais diversos estados mentais que o Kiriyama está passando, como também quando todo o estilo da animação muda só para representar com ainda mais intensidade as emoções que deseja transmitir, utilizando artes mais bruscas ou menos caprichadas, ressaltando momentos onde o personagem foi tomado por uma confusão ou ansiedade profunda. Um dos exemplos mais visíveis é quando o Kiriyama está sozinho e cheio de pensamentos, onde a arte exerce um tom escuro e sombrio para ressaltar sua solidão e desorganização de seus pensamentos, mas quando está com pessoas que se importa bastante, a arte fica mais viva e colorida, indicando o conforto e carinho proporcionado por essas pessoas. Essa precisão ao alternar entre esses estilos se deve muito ao excelente trabalho de direção realizado pelo Akiyuki Shinbo e do valoroso esforço na qualidade da animação entregue pelo estúdio Shaft. Quando juntos, esses dois já mostraram em diversas obras que conseguem ampliar as qualidades daquilo que se propõem a trabalhar, sendo Sangatsu no Lion mais um exemplo gigantesco da determinação de ambos. Transformar um slice of life, tido com alguma razão como um gênero exaustivo e pouco engajante, numa experiência pura de entretenimento é uma das provas mais relevantes do quão bem cuidado esse anime foi. São doses gigantescas de carinho em cada quadro, sem poupar esforços para transmitir e aproximar o público, gerando talvez um dos pináculos mais influentes e de maior valor dentro desse gênero, graças a toda essa fidelidade ao representar as cargas emocionais presentes na obra original. Visando sustentar e ampliar ainda mais essa carga emocional, Sangatsu no Lion conta com um grupo de personagens extremamente valoroso. Cada um deles serve como um ótimo contraste a vida do Kiriyama, servindo para demonstrar as mais variadas situações que ele teve de passar, mas sobre uma percepção completamente diferente. Logo de cara, temos as irmãs Kawamoto, um dos principais elementos na recuperação do Kiriyama. Por ter passado por uma situação traumática e acreditar ter sido o causador de uma ruptura na família que o adotou, ele acaba se afastando de tudo e todos para evitar que isso se repetisse. No entanto, essa nova família o acolhe como parte deles e é essencial ao desenvolvimento do Kiriyama, uma vez que seu antigo conflito familiar sempre o privou de ter uma boa e saudável experiência com sua família adotiva, algo que é finalmente alcançado quando ele conhece às três e passa a frequentar sua casa ao longo da história. Já seu rival, Nikaido Harunobu, é o responsável por empurrar o Kiriyama dentro do esporte que estão inseridos. Quebrando a barreira do rival clichê de shounen, ele se mostra muito mais amigável e interessado na evolução do seu rival como parte de um benefício para ambos. Sua influência é extremamente positivamente ao Kiriyama dentro, mas também fora do shogi, servindo muitas vezes como um amigo verdadeiro que não tem medo de dizer que você está seguindo o caminho errado. Alguns outros personagens têm funções periódicas, como o seu professor da escola, que volta e meia tenta ajudar e dá os melhores conselhos que alguém poderia receber, ou seu pai e irmã adotivos, que servem sempre aos propósitos narrativos e alimentam ainda mais a trama sobre o trauma familiar que passou. Contudo, um dos mais importantes na segunda parte dessa temporada sem dúvidas é o Shimada Kai. Sua participação é fundamental para demonstrar ao Kiriyama o quão tempestuoso é o lado mais profissional do shogi, alertando para que ele se prepare pelo que pode vir pela frente e mostrando tudo que ele terá que enfrentar num futuro próximo. Todos esses personagens e muitos outros que não pude citar estão a completa disposição do personagem central, mas não são vazios ou descartados pela obra. Cada um deles tem suas ambições e desejos que os fazem lutar suas próprias batalhas, sendo elementos completamente críveis e relacionáveis dentro dessa longa jornada de amadurecimento social do Kiriyama. Sangatsu no Lion representa muito mais do que o barulho surpreendentemente satisfatório das peças de shogi sendo colocadas no tabuleiro. É sobre uma jornada introspectiva de um ser humano falho, com seus triunfos e fracassos, mas que está em busca da reparação de seu emocional que foi completamente abalado ao longo de sua vida. Essa é uma das obras mais relacionáveis que já vi em muito tempo, trazendo uma série de conflitos e dificuldades que todos nós já enfrentamos em algum momento de nossa jornada, e o modo como esses sentimentos são transmitidos em tela, bailando e se adaptando precisamente aos sentimentos e emoções do Kiriyama, tudo isso consegue criar momentos de pura apreciação, capazes de deixar qualquer um encantado com tamanha qualidade textual e visual em suas metáforas. Essa é uma história tocante sobre conexões humanas e o quanto isso tem a oferecer, sejam coisas boas ou não. Afinal, é sobre isso que relações humanas são, sobre os sentimentos e ambições de ambos, e cabe a cada um decidir se vale a pena ou não se conectar com a pessoa do outro lado desse tabuleiro de shogi.
Summary: It took me a while to get used to the artstyle of 3-gatsu no Lion, but once I got used to it, this series has easily become my top 5 best anime series of all time. While it is not as complete as Assassination Classroom in terms of what the series can offer, 3-gatsu no Lion compensates with unique cinematography, example showcased in the form of 5-seconds close up shots, unique music scores, etc. Similar to Assassination Classroom, the majority of the casts gets their spotlight, although this season mainly (and understandably) focused on Rei's perspective. Nevertheless, the story is anything but one-dimentional, bringing in multiple themes applicable to real-life situations (such as depression, the importance of companions and how to be a valuable companion, etc.). The direction of the art, storytelling and cinematography actually reminds me of Disney Pixar's Ratatouille (won't go into detail on this). What I like: many things, but especially: music scores, cinematography, multi-dimentional story What I dislike: maybe too shogi centric...although that is kind of the point of the story Details: POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING . . . . . . . . . . . - I like how the series is that it takes time for Rei to develop. It took the combined effort of the persistent Kawamoto sisters and Nikaido to even get Rei out of his miserable state (about 10 episodes (?)), and even after that, his perspective and thinking is still very flawed, showcasing the severity of trauma and depression that can relate easily to real life. - Speaking of supporting characters, while generally the characters are very interesting, Kawamoto sisters and Nikaido are the best characters in this season so far, probably the best companions in any fiction writing. Without their persistence support, Rei will not develop and survive. Despite their flaws and struggles (which will become even more prevalent in the next season), they have become the source of inspiration to Rei, and to me personally. - I am glad that the series did not make Gotou and Kyouko a full antagonist, despite basically causing serious mental scar to Rei. It goes to show that Rei's not fully righteous. He even failed to pass judgment to Gotou, as shown by his lost in shogi match, which serve as a valuable lesson to Rei later on. - This series has one of the best cinematography of all anime series (including anime movies). It incorporates unique emotion-based storytelling via multiple 5-seconds close up shots. The music scores are also excellent: OP/EDs fits the overall tone of each halfs, the mellow and calm BGMs provide exquisite feeling between scenes. - Extra: the desserts are gorgeous lol - Best character: Nikaido - Worst character: the small kid that bullied Rei as a child (idk lol)
Contain Spoilers of s1 and s2 Sangatsu is an emotional work, those who do not feel empathy, attachment, and affection for the characters will never take advantage of the story itself, which humanly deals with problems such as emotional dependence, food compulsion, depression, loneliness, among others. Kiriyama's friendship with the girls of the Kawamoto family is very cute, I really like to see a sincere and reciprocal friendship in this way, besides that Kiriyama is very kind to everyone even if in his kind of clumsy way. Another outstanding character in Sangatsu is Nikaido Harunobu, Kiriyama's childhood friend who is present in most of the competitions and we see over time both his development as a friend of the protagonist, almost a right arm I would say, as the development of his illness and of Nikaido himself as a character. I honestly thought he was going to die :0 I really like how Kiriyama treats Hina like a sister and respects her, Momo, and Akari a lot, the scenes of the two studying together are very enjoyable, it makes it seem like I'm watching a slice of life (I like this contrast with an anime that addresses somewhat sensitive issues) Kyouko Kouda, Rei's adopted sister, what a character fellas. Many may not like her because she doesn't like the protagonist directly, but I particularly think she's super complex and well written, the fact that she uses a man so much older than her as emotional support and depends on his approval for almost everything is kinda sad, this is all a reflection of the lack of attention she got as a child as her parents were busy taking care of the "new genius". One that I felt a little lack of background was the other brother of Rei, Ayumu, who had a different reaction from Kyouko (in relation to the lack of parents in childhood) who used all means to get attention, Ayumu just isolated himself even more in his room and spends days there without wanting to see his mother.Touji Souya, another icon. Souya is the best player presented in the anime, he is a very mysterious man, in fact even after his direct contact with the protagonist we still don't know much about him, but this air of mystery he brings is what makes him even more interesting. The first game he played with Kiriyama was tense, man, I never imagined feeling this watching a shogi game, besides that scene soon of them in the rain, that whole episode was very strange, I liked it. - English is not my first language - I´ve watched the anime about a year ago. (the review must have more than 2100 letters and i have any idea of what to say so here´s a little about me: i´m 14, started watching anime in quarantine, watched about 80 by now, january to be exact)
I think I have my thoughts in order for this series... So without delay... ___ ~~~__Story:__~~~ It didn't grab me a alot. Probably because when they talked about shogi __[95% of the time]__ I felt sooo lost. For me, there was no thought of intense play style like other sports anime going into this series. I just knew this was about Shogi, depression, and how these three sisters were some how helping Rei. First, not understanding the shogi matches didn't dampen my enjoyment. I just had never played or heard much of the game before. So the first few episodes that revolved around the game I tried to pay attention to it instead of eyes glazed over. For the action of the story, I know they talk about the pieces and the moves, but none of the moves never stuck. However, I think it was episode 7[?] is when Rei and Nikaidou are teaching Hina [and Momo] to play shogi which caught me off guard at first, BUT then I began to understand shogi juust a little bit. It probably has already left my mind on how to play, but I enjoyed how colorful they made it, easy to grasp in small doses and introducing a few new pieces in some episodes going forward in the series. The loss of family, tragic. The Cuckoo bird analogy interesting and understood it. Getting an entirely new family brings problems with it for both Rei and the other children. Kyokou just bullied him and tried to make him feel guilty because their father was sooo impressed with Rei's shogi ability that their father didnt pay attention much to his other two children. He put too much pressure on them. Their father pressuring Rei as well which I understand that now. Shogi became a life boat to survive and escape from his "father". I understand why they ended the series with him going to the next year [ this year barely scraping by education and money wise because of his shogi matches and studying to survive to stay outside of the abusive house.] All to end up with the next year in school to finally finding a place at school to practice and get others interested in the sport. ___ ~~~__The Characters:__~~~ I enjoyed Smith's interaction with the kitty. Rei being relatable with having family pressure, step family issues at that, but also wanting to escape that problematic situation using the only thing he knew how. Shogi. Not able to support himself by getting a job because he was not of age. The sisters, cute...I'm sad for the loss of their mom and unknown dad...but that's really all I have on the sisters..not much besides being a comfort for Rei. Cute that they check up on him; everyone needs that. ___ ~~~__The Art:__ ~~~ VERY Intriguing! I rather enjoyed all the symbolism, I saw another poster mention the symbolism of water in this show and I just had kept that in mind. The water or his thoughts of loosing and having to find another route in life seemed to pressure him. Hues of: blue, blacks. The dreading black and dark colors, sometimes other colors when Rei was playing in the shogi hall for matches. How the color tone changed drastically when Rei visited the sisters house. Cozy, comfy, a place to put your feet up and relax. Safety away from the world. Hues of: Pinks, greens, pastels, flowers and kitties too. ___ ~~~__The Music:__~~~ >__I have a rule for ops and ed's: I watch each ONCE for every session I view. If there is a change in OP and/or ED in the session I still watch it once through.__ I LOVED The first op, Answer by Bump of Chicken. Had me swaying the whole time every time I'd start a session I __JAMMED__ to both ED1, Fighter by Bump of Chicken and ED2, Orion by Kenshi Yonezu *Chefs kiss*. Ive heard of both before thought sooo I might be biased hehe.... ___ ~~~__Dub & Sub:__~~~ >__Now another rule of mine in watching shows is this: I watch one episode in sub and one in dub [if there is one] & I usually pick from there which language I'm going with__ ^BUT sometimes that is not the case.... With this viewing I did Dub thorough out most of it, but I did go back between the sub and dub. To me either sounded just fine, __EXCEPT ONE THING__ ...sub voice for Momo ANY DAY.. I couldn't enjoy her dub voice. ___ __Other Thoughts: __ A friend of mine who hasnt seen this series showed my some YouTube essays about this show which helped put some thoughts more into prospective about Rei, loss, and how it applies to Shogi. ~~~ 6/10 from this viewer. Really for me the art saves it.
img220(https://images2.alphacoders.com/689/689249.jpg) This is a heartwarming story about a boy named Rei Kiriyama, a shogi prodigy who has just moved to a new city. Knowing nobody at all, he felt really isolated and alone. That was until one day, he met the 3 sisters Akari, Hinata and Momo, and this is when his whole life started to change. This anime shows the every day life of Rei and the 3 sisters and shows the importance of having people who love and care for you. ~~~__There are some spoilers in here if you don't want to read that__~~~ Akari is the oldest sister, working in a bar to provide for her 2 younger sisters. Hinata is a hyper middle school ball of happiness and Momo is such an adorable little cinnamon roll. Rei meets them when he passes out on the streets one day and Akari finds him and takes him in. This is how his chaotic life began. This anime portrays trauma so effortlessly they somehow manage to make it somewhat beautiful? Whenever something happens with Akari, Hinata or Momo he starts getting flashbacks to his past as if comparing what hell he went through to the life he's living now. I honestly feel so bad about Rei's past he went through so much growing up :( he didn't have the same interests as everyone else so he was bullied and had no friends. Then one day he came home from a school trip to find out his parents and younger sister had been killed in a car crash and his snobby aunt didn't want to take him in, so he was taken in by a further relative and so he became the son of a shogi family. As good as this sounds it really wasn't :( he had an older sister named Kyouko who couldnt control her emotions very well and got angry easily. The presentation of emotions in this anime is so realistic it's insane. Happiness and joy, but also grief and trauma intertwining each other to portray such a bittersweet yet fresh point of view to life. It also really shows what a bad life could do to such a young child, because as the anime shows, Rei completely shut off his emotions to try and live life but it would always come back to haunt him. I also really love how the creator put so much importance on the shogi aspect of life. It strongly portrays how sometimes there's only one small thing keeping you going in life and without it you would go insane. For Rei shogi is like an escape from reality because as you could see, the more Rei suffered the more Shogi he played and before he knew it he was completely invested. Younger Rei also learned independence so he could leave his home. Not for his sake, but for his family's sake. He was scared he would devour them so he left and moved to his new home like I said In the beginning, but this is when he realised he was better off when he had people in his life. This really portrayed the importance of relationships in life and whether you only have 1 or you have more than 100, you should cherish them all and keep them close to you because having people in your life is a blessing. Now let's talk about the art style. It's BEAUTIFUL. It's got an old yet realistic style to it? I can't really explain it but it's so beautifully put together and it really matches the style of the anime. Linking to the art, the openings are AMAZING. The songs are so good and the art in the openings is so mesmerizing to look at (>‿<✿) My heart felt so fuzzy whenever Kiriyama felt a sense of happiness or any kind of emotion （〜^∇^)〜 like when he said "I had no idea, if someone has interest in a world I was in, I didn't know it would make my stomach feel fluffy, and happy" it makes me so happy watching him rediscover happiness in his life (´∀｀)♡ One of my favourite characters is Nikaidou. I love how he claims to be Rei's best friend and even though rei always denies it he just persistently soldiers on LOL. He's such a positive character and even though Rei doesn't realise it Nikaidou also makes a huge impact on his life. I also love how deeply they portray the emotions of each and every character, even the smallest characters have such good characterisation it really makes the story much more interesting. Overall, if you like a good old slice of life anime and don't mind things like trauma involved in it and want a deeper storyline and great characterisation I highly recommend this anime, I can't wait to watch season 2! Should I do a review on that too once I've watched it hmm??