Alternative Titles
Synonyms: Sangatsu no Lion
Japanese: 3ๆใฎใฉใคใชใณ
English: March Comes In Like a Lion
German: March Comes in Like a Lion
Spanish: March Comes in Like a Lion
French: March Comes in Like a Lion
Information
Episodes:
22
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Oct 8, 2016 to Mar 18, 2017
Broadcast:
Saturdays at 23:00 (JST)
Duration:
25 min. per ep.
Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
Statistics
Score:
8.371 (scored by 300628300,628 users)
Ranked:
#250 2
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#317
Members:
732,730
Favorites:
16,400
Available AtResources
Streaming Platforms
|
Ranked #250Popularity #317Members 732,730 Having reached professional status in middle school, Rei Kiriyama is one of the few elite in the world of shogi. Due to this, he faces an enormous amount of pressure, both from the shogi community and his adoptive family. Seeking independence from his tense home life, he moves into an apartment in Tokyo. As a 17-year-old living on his own, Rei tends to take poor care of himself, and his reclusive personality ostracizes him from his peers in school and at the shogi hall.
However, not long after his arrival in Tokyo, Rei meets Akari, Hinata, and Momo Kawamoto, a trio of sisters living with their grandfather who owns a traditional wagashi shop. Akari, the oldest of the three girls, is determined to combat Rei's loneliness and poorly sustained lifestyle with motherly hospitality. The Kawamoto sisters, coping with past tragedies, also share with Rei a unique familial bond that he has lacked for most of his life. As he struggles to maintain himself physically and mentally through his shogi career, Rei must learn how to interact with others and understand his own complex emotions.
[Written by MAL Rewrite] |
|
Spin-Off:
|
|
|
Summary:
|
|
|
Other:
|
|
|
MALxJapan -More than just anime-
| Characters & Voice Actors
| 1: "Fighter (ใใกใคใฟใผ)" by BUMP OF CHICKEN (eps 1-6, 8-11, 22)
|
| 2: "Nyaa Shougi Ondo (ใใฃใผๅฐๆฃ้ณ้ ญ)" by Hinata (Kana Hanazawa), Akari (Ai Kayano), Momo (Misaki Kuno) (eps 7)
|
| 3: "orion" by Kenshi Yonezu (็ฑณๆดฅ ็ๅธซ) (eps 12-21)
|
Reviews
Mar 18, 2017
Sangatsu no Lion's first five minutes contain a scene I might characterise as one of the best in animation. A boy listlessly wakens, drinking out of necessity, dressing out of obligation, and leaving his sterile apartment out of confusion, an existence so fragile it could perish with the wind. He doesn't say anything. He doesn't tell people about his problems. He just moves on with his life.
At first I did not understand why this scene had such an impact on me. I thought it could have been the beautiful music, or perhaps the captivating artwork so characteristic of Shaft. That wasn't it. What overwhelmed
...
me was how illustrative it was of human life.
People often describe their favourite pieces of fiction with vague terms such as "brilliant" or "life-changing". Sangatsu no Lion is not life-changing, least not in the sense of it developing for me a different personality, or in creating new passions. What it did, rather, is give me the tools to better understand myself and, more importantly, why I am here. And that is the greatest answer of all.
To say that Sangatsu no Lion is powerful would be an understatement. There are numerous moments, much like the opening scene, that do much with little. Most things are left implicit and unsaid. A simple, everyday conversation between family, about what their plans could be for the next day, or a brief conversation about one's quiet hometown can contain more weight and characterisation than a series might in its entire duration. Sangatsu no Lion is as well masterfully-produced, a technical triumph, Shaft's greatest accomplishment.
Sangatsu no Lion is at its surface an anime about shogi, but at its core a coming-of-age story of overcoming depression. Rei, the series' protagonist, is a deeply and inherently flawed being. He is timid - incapable of speaking his mind or getting his feelings across - and unhappy with his role in life. Many characters do not understand why he is this way, and indeed, for someone so gifted at shogi-- enough as to turn it into a career from a young age-- and blessed by such having such a kind family care for him, it is easy to be envious and to question why someone in his position could ever feel unsatisfied. He is still in his teens, after all, so it could merely be an irrational fit of teenage angst. And so they think, and so they patronise him.
There is more to Rei than the people around him give credit for. He never had a real family, nor even a youth, hence why he goes to school in an aimless search of one. He has nothing he can relate to but shogi. Even shogi brings him pain, as his thirst for victory ends only with him driving the loser to disappointment and despair. He needs to feed on other people's happiness to give meaning to his own existence, as without shogi, he will have nothing.
This isn't meant to instil feelings of pity in the viewer. Rei's problems, while significant and real, aren't much different from what everyone else in his world is dealing with. His eventual mentor, Shimada, struggles with a fear of disappointing others and with a chronic sickness that disrupts his ability to play shogi. Even Hinata, the carefree, younger-sister figure to Rei is dealing with issues of love and an anxiety of growing up. Rei's journey is not just about recognising and facing his own problems, but also in understanding that pain is a normal part of life, and something that everyone deals with. All one can do is to take it with stride.
Rei's eventual breakdown is one of the story's most notable moments. I have read complaints of the scene being too dramatic, or that it took too long for Rei to get there. I feel that was the point. Simply being told "no, you are wrong" does not do anything to help fix a person's issues. Rei has already been told his entire life that he is wrong. It is through being kicked down, made a fool of, and, yes, breaking down completely that humans are able to grow the most. We are resilient creatures, and respond to failure with success. Rei is not meant to be entirely likeable to the viewer. He's just a dude and he has his limits, much like anyone else. He is meant to be human rather than an embodiment of all things cool and attractive, and I suppose it is this distinction that is bothersome to certain viewers.
The scene where Shimada chats with Rei about Yamagata, his hometown, represents a lot of what makes the anime so special. The conversation is only 90 seconds long, and yet it encapsulates Rei's growth as a person. It culminates in his one simple quip back to Shimada, that even something dull is still "something". Rei has by this point become capable of standing his ground and arguing back, and of framing the world more positively. It is easy to not notice these things because Rei's evolution is not sudden or obvious. That is precisely what makes it great, and is why it feels so real. It is only in the small details do we notice change.
Many aspects of Shaft's production are experimental in nature, and that definitely shows through in this case. While some of their other works, such as the Monogatari series, got a bit too focused on style rather than content (to the extent of being pompous or even pretentious, I would argue), the direction and artwork of Sangatsu no Lion is artful and stylish while still managing to keep genuine. The tenth episode's shogi match is one of the more prominent examples of this, where a thunderous orchestral piece plays as the two furiously and silently challenge one another. It doesn't require dialogue, as the visual and audio cues do more than enough to demonstrate who is winning and losing, and how much stress they are undergoing. There is even a scene that more closely resembles theatre, with jazzy beats playing while Smith slowly (very, very slowly) eats breakfast. Some may feel this is unnecessary, but I am of the opinion that it provided a wealth of character to someone who we really had not seen or understood much of by that point in the story.
It's a bit remarkable just how reminiscent the anime is of life in Tokyo. I feel that those who have never been here are missing quite a bit, as its depiction does well to make the world the characters live in feel real and relateable. It was actually a bit surreal in my case, as Rei goes to train stations, bridges and other areas that I have personally been to, and visits Sendagi at one point in the series: the quiet little neighbourhood in which I live. He even wears the exact same black coat that I bought at a local Uniqlo some months ago. So, understandably, I think, the anime has been a fairly personal experience for me. It's nothing short of stunning how much effort Shaft has put into making the setting feel like a real place where real people live. It is not a portrayal of Tokyo - it is Tokyo.
The music in Sangatsu no Lion is without doubt some of the best that has been in anime. Most of the more heavy-hitting tracks are used sparingly, often only in one specific scene for a specific purpose, and accomplish said purpose with power and with triumph. In some scenes, such as the Yamagata talk, the first time "Sayonara Bystander" began playing, or the end of the twelfth episode when Rei promises to Momo to win, the music was effective enough to make my eyes water a bit. That isn't a reaction I normally have towards music.
One could argue that there is a bit too much comedy in the anime. And, certainly, if you are looking only for serious storytelling from start to finish, you may end up feeling somewhat alienated by the end. I might have preferred a bit less comedy, too, as the light-hearted scenes, while enjoyable (especially with how adorable Hinata is), are not quite as exciting as all the other pieces. But I can still appreciate its existence, as it would be disingenuous to remove it altogether and to pretend as if there are no happy moments in the characters' lives. Seeing Rei grow to accept the Kawamoto sisters is quite heartwarming, too. They care about him, even if he may not always care about himself, and by the end, they help him to find more meaning in life than shogi.
It's true that Sangatsu no Lion does not have much conclusion. Most of the problems the characters are dealing with are still an ongoing struggle by the end, and Rei is far from becoming a master of shogi as most anime protagonists typically would. Part of this can be attributed to logistical issues, such as a limited production budget and the fact that the manga is still ongoing. I don't think this creates an inherent flaw with the anime, however, as Sangatsu no Lion isn't really in need of an ending. There's no plot with a specific starting point and ending point-- it is rather a moment in time, a piece of Rei's life and those of the people around him. His depression persists, and he remains an imperfect and flawed person, even if he now has friends and family by his side. He's still searching. He's still running. Perhaps that will change by the end of the second season or the manga. Maybe it won't. And that would be completely fine. I don't believe there is anyone, even on their deathbed, who has ever been complete as a person. We start imperfect, and we end imperfect, gradually, yet surely, evolving, unchanging.
With most reviews, I feel compelled to discuss the anime in a mechanical way. "The animation was nice", "the characters were developed well", "the plot was inconsistent". It is because most anime feel crafted, like a specimen of sorts to be examined. How is this piece? How is that piece? Sangatsu no Lion never felt that way for me. It's bigger. It feels more real. And so I can't help but write something more personal, too.
Is Sangatsu no Lion better than Honey & Clover? Maybe. Is it the best anime of the past decade? Perhaps. More than that? Could be. It is difficult right now to answer with complete certainty these questions I have been posing myself. Time is the best judgement, I feel. But I can say, without question or hesitation, that Sangatsu no Lion is the only anime since Touch that has had such a profound and visceral impact on me. And Touch was the best anime I had ever seen.
Sangatsu no Lion is a statement that unhappiness is OK. Being depressed, unsatisfied or stressed does not make you weak - it makes you human. And so I find it appropriate to close with a quote from Hinata:
"So what do you say at a time like this?"
"You say to do your best."
Reviewerโs Rating: 10
What did you think of this review?
Jan 6, 2019
โSangatsu no lionโ is an anime with a focus all over the place. It isnโt really a good โdramaโ anime neither is it a good โseinenโ anime, its shogi aspects is also sometimes rather forgotten and taken aside to have lots of slice of life comedy moments. Especially at the beginning there is probably 20% drama and 80% comedy. So if you came to see a mature take on a sports anime with drama and a lot of maturity, in the fashion of something like โPing pong the animationโ, โsangatsu no lionโ isnโt really the show you were looking for. However it does create
...
a very light hearted atmosphere and was easy to watch even for someone who didnโt really like the comedy all too much. And it gets progressively better.
The story focuses around a young high school student who became a professional shogi player. He lives alone in his apartment and has, at the start a very mysterious backstory, which is presented to be very tragic and we should feel sorry for him. The story starts of very one sided, with everything happening out of the perspective of the protagonist and many other character come around as rather one-dimensional because we know too little about them. This was fixed later on by adding backstories to side character as well to make them more interesting. There is also a clear distinction between characters, that are always in comedy scenes and character who mostly are involved in the drama part of the show. This approach is better than to just simply include every character in silly comedy to a point where you canโt take anything they do serious anymore (like in FMA brotherhood), but it still raises the questionโฆ why include both?
I donโt really think that drama and comedy work well together. One of the 2 has to suffer in order for the other one to succeed. This could really be seen in this anime.
The drama aspect of the show seemed to be just there to make the protagonist interesting, for me however it didnโt work and I found him rather bland with a backstory similar to so many other. Thatโs the main reason I really welcomed the later included focus on side character and their relationship to the protagonist.
The shogi aspect is merely a tool and not too deeply focused. It took them 8 episodes to introduce the basic rules of the game to the audience, but then again, if the show thinks you just learned about the game it is understandable that it doesnโt go into any deeper analysis into professional shogi games. Thatโs probably why it was missing completely in this anime. For me this was a bit disappointing to see. The anime also didnt really manage to build up much of a tension with their shogi games (espeically at the start), but it gets better the more episodes you watch.
The slice of life aspect seemed to be the most focused one, at least at the start. What they basically wanted to achieve was to take this introverted main character who only focuses on shogi and has a sad past and put him in a goofy environment with 3 sister who mainly function as comedic relieve. The reason for all of this is also very random, which sets it very much apart from everything else that happens in the show. I found none of these comedic relieve characters to be in any way relatable or interesting and the comedy felt very typical and unfunny (with a weird fetish around cats, which also didnโt do it for me). It tries to be self aware with characters constantly referencing how this and that looks like an anime or a manga, but this was just used to create cheap laughs and nothing more.
However the whole start is very light hearted and because you still have quite a bit of shogi story aspects is wasnโt too much of a chore to go through to reach the more interesting part of the story.
The sound design wasnโt really well done. The voice acting was ordinary, but the soundtrack was really not existent beyond forgettable background songs. There was one fine piano track at some point but it was very quickly forgotten.
The art style is very weird. The characters have huge mouths and often large eyes to make them look cute (a bit different from typical anime character eyes) , but they sometimes look like cgi characters. You will get used to the art style and not notice it too much but at first it kinda annoyed me. Backgrounds were nicely drawn and I found it nice that they depicted the real design of the shogi hall building in Tokyo.
For all the bad things I had to say about this anime I still have to add that I enjoyed watching it. Its story is engaging and grips you into it. Itโs somewhat relatable and in many ways down to earth (at least compared to other anime). It could have been a lot better but for what it is worth it can introduce a lot of people in the fascinating world of shogi.
Reviewerโs Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Oct 17, 2018
Sangatsu no Lion is a completely pointless series, revolving around a few more than flat characters.
I'll try to be as spoiler free as possible while pointing out what I think worked and what not.
Story: 3
In a few words, the story in Sangatsu no Lion is "playing shogi". For as much as I would like to say that it talks about a kid growing, fighting his fears, learning how to relate to other people, eventually understanding how to live one's life, all of this is just barely touched, focusing more on "what if I moved the pawn in A7 instead of B2?". In 22 episodes, absolutely
...
nothing relevant happens. No epiphanies, no events, no change, or if something happens, it's brushed off in an incredibly simplistic way.
We could think that since this is a Slice of Life, it reflects reality as it is, and oh, it does it perfectly. But please don't tell me that your usual, every day, routine lives are worth a series. Mine, is not.
Art: 6
For as much as I love shaft, the style here is pretty different from their usual. The colour palette, the watercolour-ish style, the animation itself were really pleasant to watch, as they give a warm vibe when it's needed, but doesn't work so well in the more "cold" scenes. Also, the classic shaft antics recur here as well, and maybe, they weren't so needed. What really bothers me here is the character design. From the beginning to the end of the series, the characters lose more and more punchiness and details, starting from a very specific character design (those mouths, really?) ending with a generic character from any other series of the last decade.
Sound: 5
Not much to say here
OTs and EDs are not so bad, but also not memorable. I finished the series half an hour ago and I already forgot what they sound like. Same goes for the background sounds and music. About the voices, the cast is galactic, it worked pretty well.
Characters: 3
Let's say you try to give an honest vote to your completely normal neighbour, or the guy that used to sit on the left corner in your classroom. That would be pretty hard, I imagine. The same goes here. The characters are completely normal people, but instead of having those many hues a normal person would have, they are just parodies of their "IRL" counterparts.
The MC is the usual "kind of problematic" character. Introvert, social issues, no friends, focused only on shogi. You keep watching him doing nothing, saying a lot of "I will whatever", then going back doing nothing. Just stupidly thinking about shogi. So much to forget to drink for days! Can you imagine that?
The female cast is the "obliviously-incredibly-good-and-sweet-girl-that-oh-so-love-to-help-you-for-whatever-reason-and-obviously-loves-sweets". As too often, the women in Sangatsu are put in the kitchen or related domestic areas, and those are the only moments in which you see them. Since it's a shogi anime, you could think there are also female shogi players, but no, the only one that you can see doesn't play anymore.
Is the rest of the cast worth mentioning? the fat but passionate kiddo, the cold and invincible player, the mentor, the blonde with weird haircut guy?
Enjoyment 3/ Overall 4
I think I said everything I had to, with very bad grammar and vocabulary, though, but since this anime has been so hyped up, I could not keep it in.
Sangatsu no Lion fails on every front. It fails in narrating a story, even a slice of life story, introducing elements that will be lost in the next scene, breaking tragedy or tension with out of place comedy, but still failing with both of them. It fails with its characters, with too good or too bad people that could exist in other genres, or using cliched characters that, as usual, follow the flow with no question asked. It also fails with the art, lowering the quality episode after episode.
So, there are a lot of way better anime out there. Go see them.
Reviewerโs Rating: 4
What did you think of this review?
26 Entries ยท 15 Restacks
Poll: 3-gatsu no Lion Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )
Stark700 - Oct 8, 2016 |
299 replies | by LordAdi ยปยป
Apr 4, 2:14 PM |
Poll: 3-gatsu no Lion Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 )
moodie - Oct 15, 2016 |
197 replies | by AnimeEnjoyer2357 ยปยป
Mar 17, 2:11 PM |
Poll: 3-gatsu no Lion Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 )
Stark700 - Oct 22, 2016 |
163 replies | by phantom346 ยปยป
Mar 14, 10:28 PM |
Poll: 3-gatsu no Lion Episode 19 Discussion ( 1 2 )
Stark700 - Feb 25, 2017 |
64 replies | by RikkaYukimao ยปยป
Feb 10, 9:29 PM |
Poll: 3-gatsu no Lion Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 )
Stark700 - Dec 24, 2016 |
97 replies | by AcceleratorPT ยปยป
Jan 31, 5:43 PM |
|
|
