March Comes In like a Lion (Japanese: 3月のライオン, Hepburn: Sangatsu no Raion, lit.'The Lion of March') is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Chica Umino. It has been serialized in Hakusensha's seinen manga magazine Young Animal since July 2007, with its chapters collected in 17 tankōbon volumes as of August 2023. It features the life of Rei Kiriyama, an introvertprofessional shogi player, who gradually develops both his play and his relationship with others.
An anime television series adapted by Shaft aired on NHK G from October 2016 to March 2017 and a second season aired from October 2017 to March 2018, with each season consisting of 22 episodes. The English dubbed version was released in four parts by Aniplex of America between December 2017 and April 2019. A two-part live-action film adaptation was released in 2017. The manga has been licensed for English release by Denpa. A spin-off of the manga ran from 2015 to 2020.
March Comes In like a Lion won the fourth Manga Taishō, the 35th Kodansha Manga Award in its general category, the 18th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize's Grand Prize, and the manga division's Grand Prix of the 24th Japan Media Arts Festival. The story has been praised for the psychological depiction of its characters. The anime adaptation has been overall well received by critics, being considered as one of the best of 2010s.
Plot
Rei Kiriyama's parents and younger sister died in an accident in his childhood. He then started living with the family of Masachika Kōda who was a friend of his father. Reaching adulthood, Rei left his foster family thinking he was only causing trouble. He now lives alone and has few friends. Among his acquaintances are three sisters of the Kawamoto family—Akari, Hinata, and Momo. As the story progresses, Rei deals with his maturation both as a professional shogi player and as a person, all the while strengthening his relationships with others, particularly the Kawamoto sisters.
The town where the main character Rei Kiriyama lives is set in Shinkawa which is situated along Tokyo's Sumida River. The Kawamoto family's home is set in Tsukuda which is connected to the town Rei lives in through the Chuo bridge. The shogi hall of the manga is set in Sendagaya area and it resembles the headquarters of the Japanese Shogi Association that is situated there.[4]
17 years old at the beginning of the series, later turns 18. A five dan at the beginning of the series, he is later promoted to six dan. Rei became a professional shogi player while in middle school and his achievements soon made him one of the most promising players of his generation. After his parents and sister died in a traffic accident, he was taken in by his father's friend Kōda and became his apprentice in shogi. After becoming a professional shogi player and completing middle school, he decided to become independent and not attend high school. However, after feeling a "need" to attend school, Rei joins a high school after a one-year delay. He lives in the city of Rokugatsu-chō (June town).
A resident of Sangatsu-chō (March town), she is the eldest of three sisters. After her mother and grandmother’s death, she starts taking care of her two younger sisters. In the morning, she helps her elderly grandfather run a traditional wagashi (Japanese confectionery) shop, Mikazuki-dō, while in the evening, she works as a hostess for a bar in Ginza, Misaki, which her aunt manages. Akari gets acquainted with Rei when she finds him on the street when his older shogi rivals got him drunk and abandoned him; she takes him to her home and looks after him all night, which starts Rei's close relationship with the family. She often calls Rei "Rei-kun". This leads Kyoko to become jealous of her.
The second of the three sisters. A middle school student. She sleeps late in the mornings till the very last minute and often makes bentos by herself. She calls Rei "Rei-chan". Like her elder sister Akari, she likes taking care of Rei, who develops romantic feelings for her as the series progresses. She has a strong loyalty toward her friends and family. She aspires to be as mature as her sister when she gets older. Later she graduates from middle school, enrolls at the same high school where Rei studies, and starts dating him.
The youngest of the three sisters. A preschool student, she attends a daycare center. Pure and innocent, she has a bit of a selfish streak at times. Her favorite anime character is Bodoro (modelled on My Neighbour Totoro's Totoro). She calls Rei "Rei-chan".
Rei's shogi teacher, a pro eight dan. He was both a friend and rival in shogi to Rei's biological father. After Rei's parents and sister died, he adopts Rei and guides him in shogi. He is serious about shogi and is very strict with his biological children when they were studying it themselves. Because of the attention that their father showed Rei, both the Koda children grew to resent Rei and treated him poorly as he was growing up in their household.
Kōda's daughter and Ayumu’s older sister. She is four years older than Rei. Beautiful and hot-tempered, Kyōko seems to hold a grudge against Rei as she has the habit of exerting a negative influence on him by discouraging him purposefully before his matches. She appears to be in love with Masamune Gotō, a married man. When she was younger, she was openly hostile to Rei when he first joins the family because she is jealous of the attention her father gives Rei. She aspired to become a professional shogi player but was discouraged by her father as the field was dominated by men and she was not talented enough to be a part of it. She often goes to Rei's apartment whenever she is feeling lonely. Later on, she admits to herself that she was unfair to Rei because she realizes that he was not trying to steal her family, rather, he just wanted to be part of one.
Kōda's son and Kyōko's younger brother. He is the same age as Rei. After losing to Rei in shogi, he stopped playing at all and afterward started confining himself to his room and only playing video games.
Rei's self-proclaimed "best friend" and "lifelong rival". A four dan, he has played with Rei since they were children. Even though he appears to be healthy, he is chronically ill, which has contributed to his obesity. He is from an extremely wealthy family. He is modeled after an actual real-life shogi player Satoshi Murayama.
In his late 30s, of the same age as Tōji Sōya. Eight dan. He is a senior fellow student of Nikaidō, whom he takes care of like his own little brother. He is a gentle-tempered person and is naturally inclined to look after younger shogi players. But he is also an incredibly tough soldier in shogi. He hosts the "Shimada shogi workshops", which he invited Rei to join. He originally comes from a rural area. In his youth, he had to work long hours on the farm and relied on his fellow villagers' donations to support his shogi study in Tokyo. He has chronic stomach pain because of the stress from his matches. Takanori Jingūji, the chairman of the Japan Shogi Association, often laments that Shimada is not charismatic or as good-looking as Sōya, the current Meijin, who is his same age.
In his early 40s. Nine dan. A tall and muscular man with a stern and frightening face. His wife is in a coma and appears to have been hospitalized for a long time. He was a younger fellow pupil of Masachika Kōda, whose daughter Kyōko he appears to have a very complicated relationship with, though he calls her a "stalker". Rei sees him as the main antagonist in life for he thinks Gotō is having an affair with Kyōko and breaking her heart. He had an altercation with Rei where he punches him when he was confronted for his improper relationship with Kyōko. Even though she loves Gotō, Kyōko is the one who often helps him get gifts for his comatose wife. He is generally very forthright and impatient to the point of being arrogant, but he also does not hesitate to stand up for Shimada when he overhears some other players making demeaning comments about him.
The current Meijin. He has longed for a rival like Rei. Similar to Rei, he became a professional shōgi player in middle school, and several players who faced both pointed out that their playing styles are very similar. He became the youngest ever Meijin at age 21. Later in the story, it's revealed that he has intermittent hearing loss due to unknown causes.
26 years old. Five dan. A quite expressive and enthusiastic person, he can be aggressive at times as well. He comes from the countryside. He is a fan of Akari.
A nine dan professional shogi player, ranked A for the past eight years, Tsujii Takeshi is a lover of wordplay and craves public attention. Other people within the shogi world call him waste of good looks' due to his propensity for dad jokes and terrible puns. He is usually the only one to laugh at his gags. Tsujii played against Rei during the quarterfinals of the 20th Lion King Tournament.
Shogi Dragon titleholder. Passionate about eventually dethroning Sōya. He temporarily separates from his wife when he thinks a hostess from a bar has genuine affection for him.
A middle school student. A childhood friend and classmate of Hinata's, he is her first crush. He is the son of a milkman. He is the ace of his school's baseball team and aims to be a professional. Since Rei became a professional shogi player in middle school, Yūsuke greatly looks up to him. His father and grandfather are both fans of Rei. He is very straightforward and encourages Hinata during the time she was being bullied. To realize his dream to become a professional, he moves to a high school in Shikoku seeking to participate in the kōshien baseball tournament, much to Hinata's sadness.
The grandfather of the three Kawamoto sisters. He runs a traditional wagashi shop, Mikazuki-dō (Crescent Moon). Even though he gives off an impression of a grumpy old man, he dotes on his granddaughters a lot, in particular Momo, and aims to live long enough to send them away for their marriages. He is incredibly passionate about being the sole male protector of the family.
The butler of the Nikaidō family, who has been in continuous service for them for over 45 years. A gentle and kind elderly man, he has been taking care of Harunobu ever since he was a baby.
A teacher of the high school where Rei decided to join. He is a big fan of shogi and regularly reads shogi magazines. He is the only one in the high school who had heard of Rei being a professional shogi player though when he first knew of him joining, he presumed he only had the same surname. He speaks in a very friendly manner with Rei and is often concerned with his well-being, always thinking of ways to help him socialize with others. He later develops feelings for Akari.
The aunt of the three Kawamoto sisters. She, helped by Akari, manages a bar in Ginza called "Misaki". She has a strong and confident personality and employs Akari to work at her bar so she can at least spend one night a week dressing up so she does not lose herself to a state of only being a mother to her younger sisters. She encourages Rei to bring his fellow shogi players to the bar so she can make money off of them.
President of the After School Bunsen Burners Club, a chemistry club in the school Rei goes to. Because he has a mustache, everyone assumes that he is Rei's teacher.
The father of the three Kawamoto sisters. He left them and their mother when Momo was still a baby to live with another woman and returns several years later, after a long time without contacting them once. Once Misaki warns Rei about him, Rei makes his investigation about Seijirou and discovers that he kept leading an irresponsible life, involving himself with other women and abandoning them on his whim, just like he did with Akari, Hinata, and Momo's mother. After Rei exposes Seijirou, the sisters reject his plea to raise their half-sister, the daughter of one of his other women, and he leaves with her to never return.
Kuro-chan (クロちゃん), Mike-chan (ミケちゃん) and Shiro-chan (シロちゃん)
Voiced by: Ai Kayano (Kuro-chan), Kana Hanazawa (Mike-chan) and Misaki Kuno (Shiro-chan) (Japanese); Laura Post (Kuro-chan), Kayli Mills (Mike-chan) and Xanthe Huynh (Shiro-chan) (English)
The three cats of the Kawamoto household. Kuro-chan the tuxedo cat and Mike-chan the calico cat were the first two gathered, while Shiro-chan the white cat is a new arrival. They are big-eyed and always appear hungry. Shiro-chan looks strikingly like an owl at times.
The late grandmother of the three Kawamoto sisters.
Production
The English title March Comes In Like a Lion is written on the cover of the manga. Although Umino had not seen the 1992 film March Comes In like a Lion [ja], the movie poster and the title of the movie left an impression on her: "A girl with a black haircut is holding a half-eaten ice cream in her mouth". This phrase is from the British weather proverb "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb".[9] In addition, the supervisor, Manabu Senzaki, commented that the shogi rankings begin in June, and the final game for promotion and demotion is held in March, so the professionals become lions in March.[10]
Umino stated that the manga is "a story based on researching and hearing various stories about worlds [she] didn't know" whereas her previous work, Honey and Clover is "a story about a world [she] already knew without having to extend [herself]".[11] She chose to write something different from her previous work for if it was a failure, people would think she moved to another field too hastily rather than call her a "one-hit wonder".[12]
Umino stated that she only wanted an adaptation if it was to be directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and produced at Shaft, otherwise the manga "did not need to be adapted".[12] She doubted if they would accept to adapt the manga as, unlike adapting a light novel (like Monogatari) or original anime (such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica), they would not have much freedom.[12] Ryou Tomoda, Umino's editor from Hakusensha, asked about the possibility of the director-studio duo adapting the work, but was told that such a production would be impossible.[13] Despite this, Makoto Tanaka, the son of famous shogi player Torahiko Tanaka, who worked at Tohokushinsha Film, approached Tomoda about the potential for an anime adaptation as he was a fan of the manga.[14] Through Tanaka, Tomoda was able to meet with Aniplex producer (and soon-to-be CEO) Atsuhiro Iwakami about the possibility of asking Shinbo and Shaft to make the series.[14] Iwakami then met with Mitsutoshi Kubota (CEO of Shaft) and Shinbo, and the two agreed to the project.[14] Although Shinbo is credited as director, many of the main responsibilities were shared with series director Kenjirou Okada working under Shinbo.
As a fan of Shinbo's works with Shaft, Umino had originally wanted the series to take a similar aesthetic to Hisaharu Iijima's art direction and Akio Watanabe's character designs in Bakemonogatari; however, Shinbo told her that he did not think that type of art direction would suit the series, and Watanabe's schedule was already busy enough that he could not participate on the series.[15] Instead, the services of art director Seiki Tamura were employed and the team made use of watercolor-style; and although Watanabe could not participate, the character designs were instead drawn by Shaft animator Kazuya Shiotsuki.[15] Umino believes that Shinbo usually shows a close-up view of the characters rather than showing them from a distance, which is a reason she stated why she wanted him as the director.[12] Shinbo said that he wanted to make each of the three primary settings—Rei's room, the Kawamoto's house, and the shogi hall—distinct to make the world into a sort of triangle.[12] He also visited Tsukishima to see the Kawamoto house area and a bridge used in the manga.[12]
In the 17th volume of the manga, released in August 2023, Umino revealed that the manga was heading to its final stretch.[16]
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by Chica Umino, March Comes In like a Lion started in Hakusensha's seinen manga magazine Young Animal on July 13, 2007.[17][2] Hakusensha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on February 22, 2008.[18] The first eleven volumes were originally released under Hakusensha's Jets Comics imprint,[19][20] before Hakuensha rebranded it as Young Animal Comics starting in June 2016.[21] As of August 2023[update], 17 volumes have been released.[22]
In North America, Denpa announced in March 2021 that they have licensed the manga for English release.[23][24] The first volume was released on June 6, 2023.[25]
A spin-off manga, titled Sangatsu no Lion Shouwa Ibun: Shakunetsu no Toki (3月のライオン昭和異聞 灼熱の時代, "March Comes In like a Lion – The Untold Showa-Era Tale: Scorching Times"), by Hideaki Nishikawa [ja], was published in Young Animal from April 24, 2015,[26] to March 27, 2020.[27] It features 27-year-old Takanori Jingūji who is the chairman of the Japanese Shogi Association in the manga.[27] Its chapters were collected in ten volumes, released from September 26, 2015,[28] to May 29, 2020.[29]
An anime television series adaptation was announced in the Young Animal magazine's 19th issue of 2015 on September 25, 2015.[47] The series is produced by Shaft and directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and Kenjirou Okada, featuring character designs by Nobuhiro Sugiyama and music composed by Yukari Hashimoto.[48] The anime's first opening and ending theme songs are performed by Bump of Chicken,[49] titled "Answer" and "Fighter", respectively.[50]Yuki performed the series' second opening theme song, titled "Goodbye Bystander", while Kenshi Yonezu performed the series' second ending theme song, titled "Orion".[51]
Season one of the anime began airing on October 8, 2016, and finished airing on March 18, 2017, with a total of 22 episodes.[8][48] A second season, announced at the end of the first season's final episode,[52] premiered on October 14, 2017, and finished airing on March 31, 2018, with a total of 22 episodes.[53] The series aired on NHK G at 23:00 on Saturdays.[54][52][55] It was also simulcasted by Crunchyroll.[56] The series was licensed by Aniplex of America and Anime Limited for North America and the United Kingdom, respectively.[57][58] Aniplex of America released the English dub of the first season in two Blu-ray discs, the first half of the season was released on December 19, 2017, and the second on April 10, 2018.[59] The second season was also released in two halves, the first on December 18, 2018, and the second on April 9, 2019.[60]
By January 2022, March Comes In like a Lion had over 3 million copies in circulation.[64]
The manga was nominated for the second annual Manga Taishō award in 2009;[65] and it won this award in its fourth edition in 2011.[66] Also in 2011, it won the 35th Kodansha Manga Award in the general category, along with Space Brothers.[67] In 2014, it won the Grand Prize of the 18th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.[68] In 2021, the manga won the manga division's Grand Prize of the 24th Japan Media Arts Festival.[69] On Kadokawa Media Factory's Da Vinci magazine "Book of the Year" list, March Comes In like a Lion topped the list for three consecutive years from 2015 to 2017; it ranked fourth in 2019;[70] eighth in 2020;[71] seventeenth in 2022;[72] and sixth in 2023.[73] In the top manga for male readers category of Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list, the manga ranked fifth and tied for seventh (with Drifters) in 2012 and 2017, respectively.[74][75] On TV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150,000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, March Comes In like a Lion ranked 99th.[76]
Anime
The anime series was listed as one of the top 25 anime of 2010s by Anime Feminist.[77]Crunchyroll listed it in their "Top 100 best anime of the 2010s".[78]IGN also listed March Comes In like a Lion among the best anime series of the 2010s.[79] The second season was placed as "runner-up" in IGN's "best anime series of 2018" list.[80]
Both seasons of the anime adaption was given 4 stars out of 5 by Allen Moody of THEM Anime Reviews. He liked how Kyoko is shown to have a vulnerable side under her external cruelty and how the Kawamoto sisters are portrayed when Hinata is being bullied. He also found the story relatable to his own life, and stated "A neurotic and sometimes endearing hero, an incredibly nuanced "villainous" sibling, and a shogi master in the twilight of his career are all fine, I appreciate the things it is trying to do I can identify with some of the things that happen here from personal experience. Overall, lots of solid drama. It was a vert pleasant surprise to discover".[81][82]
Chris Beveridge of The Fandom Post also praised the portrayal of the characters and their lives.[83] He liked Nikkaido's backstory and his connection with Shimada.[84][85] Beveridge gave the anime an audio grade of "B+", and he gave the video an "A" praising how Shaft presented the details, animation quality, and color design in the series.[83] After watching the first episode, Amelia Cook of Anime Feminist found the art direction unconventional. She liked the art style and praised the transition from the expression of Rei's depression to the presentation of humor saying that it was skillfully done.[86] Marion Bea of the same website praised the exploration of the characters' lives and struggles. She also praised the portrayal of the character's psychology and the depiction of others' support in solving one's problems.[87] Bea commended the use of the surrounding environment in portraying the characters' emotional state, for instance showing them struggling to keep swimming or surrounding them with snow.[87]
Notes
^Credited under the collective pen name Fuyashi Tō.
^The second volume of the manga featured an alternate cover illustrated by Berserk manga artist Kentaro Miura.[31]
^Chapters 152 and 153 were combined as chapter 152 in the volume release.
^Chapters 172, 173, and 174 were combined as chapter 172 in the volume release.
^Chapters 177 and 178 were combined as chapter 175 in the volume release.
^Chapters 182 and 183 were combined as chapter 179 in the volume release.
^Chapters 185 and 186 were combined as chapter 180 in the volume release.
^Chapters 190 and 191 were combined as chapter 184 in the volume release.
^Chapters 195 and 196 were combined as chapter 188 in the volume release.
^Chapter 184 was changed to chapter 194 in the volume release.
Book citations
Takahashi, Yumi, ed. (November 23, 2019). Akiyuki Shimbo x Shaft Chronicle (in Japanese). Dotcom. ISBN978-4835457017.
^『ダ・ヴィンチ』2008年4月号 [Da Vinci, April 2008 issue] (in Japanese). Kadokawa. 2008. pp. 214–218. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
^From "Manabu Senzaki's Lion Shogi Column 4", volume 2 of the manga.
