3-gatsu no Lion 2nd Season (March Comes In Like a Lion 2nd Season)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Sangatsu no Lion Second Season

Japanese: 3月のライオン第2シリーズ

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 22

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Oct 14, 2017 to Mar 31, 2018

Premiered: Fall 2017

Broadcast: Saturdays at 23:00 (JST)

Producers: Aniplex, Dentsu, NHK, Hakusensha, Asmik Ace, Toy's Factory

Licensors: Aniplex of America

Studios: Shaft

Source: Manga

Genre: Drama

Themes: Childcare, Strategy Game

Demographic: Seinen

Duration: 25 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.92¹ (scored by 199,447 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #19²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #567

Members: 401,786

Favorites: 15,065

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8.92

Ranked #19Popularity #567Members 401,786

Fall 2017TVShaft

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Episodes: /22

Trailer (Aniplex USA Version)

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Synopsis

Now in his second year of high school, Rei Kiriyama continues pushing through his struggles in the professional shogi world as well as his personal life. Surrounded by vibrant personalities at the shogi hall, the school club, and in the local community, his solitary shell slowly begins to crack. Among them are the three Kawamoto sisters—Akari, Hinata, and Momo—who forge an affectionate and familial bond with Rei. Through these ties, he realizes that everyone is burdened by their own emotional hardships and begins learning how to rely on others while supporting them in return.

Nonetheless, the life of a professional is not easy. Between tournaments, championships, and title matches, the pressure mounts as Rei advances through the ranks and encounters incredibly skilled opponents. As he manages his relationships with those who have grown close to him, the shogi player continues to search for the reason he plays the game that defines his career.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	3-gatsu no Lion
Prequel:	3-gatsu no Lion
Other:	Lion meets HachiClo

Ootsuka, Houchuu
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Ooshima, Miku

Producer

Oota, Kyouko

Assistant Producer, Publicity

Shinbou, Akiyuki

Director, Series Composition

Okada, Kenjirou

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

	1: "Flag wo Tatero (フラッグを立てろ)" by YUKI (eps 1-11)
	2: "Haru ga Kite Bokura (春が来てぼくら)" by UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (eps 12-22)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Kafune (カフネ)" by Brian the Sun (eps 1-11)
	2: "I AM STANDING" by RUANN (eps 12-2)

Reviews

Dec 14, 2023

whiteflame55

Recommended

I’ll start with the minor frustrations before I gush. This season doesn’t do a whole lot more than the first to dig into shogi, so when a big move happens in a game, it’s hard to appreciate as a viewer. Some of the characters from S1, including Kyouko and Gotou, largely take a backseat this season despite getting a little more complexity early on. It’s a bit disappointing after how both of them were built up to see them stray out of the story, and the fact that the MC’s adoptive father and mother remain largely enigmatic throughout doesn’t help.

That being said, those few ... Ls are small potatoes compared to the Ws of this season. There’s a short plot about Nikaido that gives more insight into his character. There’s unexpected bit of epilogue involving Rei’s adoptive mother that, while short, is the only insight we’ve gotten into her so far and paints her in a complex light. We finally get to really sit with Souya in a few episodes that felt heavy with atmosphere. But where this season really shines is in two plot lines, one short and one long:

If you had told me at the start that a newly introduced shogi player named Yanagihara would get some of the best episodes in the season, I wouldn’t have believed you. Dude owns a series of episodes that I expected to be dominated by Shimada. The metaphor of the sashes, the burning field, and what a 66 year old shogi player represents in a competition filled with much younger players was breathtaking. His match proved that you don’t have to understand anything going on on the shogi board to be riveted and it blew me away.

However, even that doesn’t compare to Hina’s arc this season. Again, if you had told me at the start of the season that a story about bullying in her classroom would be the centerpiece for the season and easily its strongest element, I would never have believed it. The sister dynamic between Hina and Akari reached a whole new level this season, but what Hina had to face down for her friend and then for herself is some of the best depictions of bullying, classroom management and its ripple effects that I’ve seen in any medium. It hits hard, and as someone who handled bullying very differently as a child (Rei and I had a lot in common in that regard), I still found it heart-wrenching. If this had been some three episode diversion to the story, I don’t think I’d be praising it this much - it takes up much of the season, and the writers do not let you look away or avoid it for long. It’s always there in the eyes of its characters, in the little touches in their emotional states.

This built tremendously on the groundwork laid out by the first season and while S1 certainly built up different expectations than what we got for this season, I think what’s here is better than anything I could have anticipated.

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Jul 14, 2023

ViolentPete

Mixed Feelings

I finished watching the first season of this a couple of months ago but now that I'm writing this I can't for the life of me recall anything that actually happened in the first season. That's okay, this is the second season, the first season is in the past. Except, surprise, I barely remember anything that happened in this season either and I just finished watching it. I suppose this is why I don't watch slice of life shit, because nothing ever happens in them, but I figured this one could be worth a shot. Well, I can say with confidence that after 40+ episodes ...

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Mar 25, 2020

Shrabster

Not Recommended

*Potential spoilers for Oyasumi Punpun

I once heard a saying that life is 90% shit and 10% good. I thought it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard because at least you know there is at least 10% good to look forward to if nothing else. Being able to capture that little feeling of hope in a story is what makes or breaks most drama series

3-gatsu no Lion is yet another entry into the sad boi genre but this time with 99.7% more shogi.

I would classify the first season of 3-gatsu ... no Lion as a drama with slice of life elements. The opening scene has become something of a legend. We see the main character, Rei, slowly wake up and get out of bed as he starts his day. With just a few beautiful shots the viewer already understands that Rei has probably done this countless times, each time just as lost and without purpose. It is clear he is someone who has experienced pain and tragedy. This excellent story telling last for about all of five minutes before subtly is thrown out the window and is replaced with a million slow pans and grimacing face shots every time someone so much as says “hi”. At this point my PTSD was acting up as every series that focuses on depression flashed through my mind. I wondering when Rei was going to refuse to get into the robot and thought it was just a matter of time before he was going to go jerk off into the river by his house. Fortunately the direction changes, unfortunately that direction still isn’t spectacular.

I would classify the second season of 3-gatsu no Lion as a slice of life with drama elements. Rei's depression is healed for the most the part and I guess the story is over but it isn't. Instead, scenes of Rei moping about is changed to more scenes of food and other uneventful things. Much like every other slice of life there’s a lot of pointless bullshit, sometimes it works but most of the time you just want to kill yourself. Seeing Akari and Hina enamored with food is cute, but so are cat videos on Youtube and they take up much less of my precious time. At this point in the story I was only invested in seeing Rei's journey to be a shogi master given that is the only thing providing a sense of progression, however painfully slow it may be.

The tonal shifts between seasons leave me wanting. While it could be written off as Rei's journey I find that his transition from someone who was in such a dark place to someone who is partaking in high school club shenanigans is quite jarring. I don’t think it’s a problem with the tone being inconsistent per se but more so how fast it all happens with what little we’re given. While the second season tried to have some darker moments with the bullying arc it didn’t really work for me. It felt over the top, not necessarily impossible but just improbable given the lack of depth the situation had as a whole. We only know Chiho for about an episode before she is hospitalized for bullying? The teacher has a mental break down because all of the bullying situations over the years have caused her anxiety? Takagi’s reason for being a bully is because she is anxious about her future? For how dramatic everything was it needed to have a good sell and I just didn’t see it. In that sense I feel the first season had much more impact.

Despite the second season falling short in terms of the drama, it also focused more on the aspects of the series I enjoyed the most and that’s the backstory of all the shogi players and the psychology of the matches. Each and every player has their reasons for playing and their own demons to conquer. Though some of these could be considered a little cliché, I find it matches the tone the story has which tends be a little grand. I mean, I felt like some of these characters would literally die during the shogi matches the way they talk and act. I think the competitive aspect appealed to me because I use to play TCGs competitively back in the day and a lot of the psychology of winning, losing, and etc. is spot on in those environments. It's a long and dark road, and if you ever want to see the worst humanity has to offer just go to a Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament. That all being said, I'd say I prefer the second season as a whole.

Overall 3-gatsu no Lion is a very interesting case. It falls into the pitfalls of both of its genres but they also kind of cancel each other out and then create new problems. The story plays it close to the line with their focus on Rei's angst, but the slice of life non-sense they shift to doesn't thrill me either. The story in general can't make up its mind, as it can be very realistic one moment, then go full anime the next. Through out this there are moments I like of course, but that’s just it- I felt like I was waiting for moments instead of enjoying the series as a whole. As for what those moments ultimately count for, I’d guess I’d say 3-gatsu no Lion is about 60% shit and 40% Akari.

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Recent Forum Discussion

3-gatsu no Lion is getting a season 3 ( 1 2 ) ranzer - May 26, 2020	68 replies	by Gaurxv »» Apr 22, 4:56 AM
Poll: 3-gatsu no Lion 2nd Season Episode 22 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Mar 31, 2018	247 replies	by Matdredalia »» Apr 13, 11:24 PM
2023: Who else hasn't given up hope for S3? FMmatron - Jan 10, 2023	43 replies	by DatRandomDude »» Apr 4, 9:26 AM
Poll: 3-gatsu no Lion 2nd Season Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Jan 6, 2018	197 replies	by anshumankrsingh »» Mar 30, 5:03 AM
Series recap before reading the manga Lakitu64 - Mar 12	4 replies	by Lakitu64 »» Mar 14, 6:47 PM

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3-gatsu no Lion 2nd Season

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Kiriyama, Rei

Kawamoto, Hinata

Kawamoto, Akari

Kawamoto, Momo

Shimada, Kai

Nikaidou, Harunobu

Hayashida, Takashi

Kouda, Kyouko

Souya, Touji

Yanagihara, Sakutarou

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3-gatsu no Lion 2nd Season

Alternative Titles

Information

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Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

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