3-gatsu no Lion

 The story follows Rei Kiriyama, a shogi elite that has been a savant at an early age and grew up being in the light of success, but as he grows older, he realises the amount of pressure and finds it hard to keep a float in the world. The opening really speaks to it, which actually shows the waves of water that are crashing into him symbolising all his trauma and expectations, etc that he's going through and I think the full animation opening video really metaphorically shows the imbalance of Rei’s life perfectly. Rei however finds three sisters that bring him into their home and show him admiration and love; it’s super wholesome to watch their daily lives and make Rei come out of his comfort zone. For me, I very much relate to Rei as when I first started watching, I experienced very much what he was going through and it’s very cathartic to watch this anime as it deals with so much heavy and deep stuff, but also it’s a very meaningful life lesson for anyone going through stuff. I’d highly recommend the anime, as it is not only a very complex story but also a simple one as well, that will make you sad and make you happy.

Throughout the story Rei deals with his mental state that revolves around his past and holding the weight of trying to be the best at shogi, I think the story is amazing because you get the deep and emotional story; then he comes back to this bubbly and wholesome atmosphere that he can call his new home. It means a lot to him as he was an orphan and was adopted into a family that didn’t care for him because some of his family didn’t like him, just being born into shogi was all his purpose until he found Kawamoto Residence. Although, it’s not just about Rei’s struggles but we also see him be around others who have gone through stuff like him, with his adopted sister Kyouko who is as much of a deep character as Rei’s.

Kyouko who was overshadowed by Rei, as she feels him coming into the family ruined it for her and everyone pitied her so she has deep resentment for Rei but they also still care for each other on a personal level, however her pride is so much that she can’t show it. At first, I hated her character because she is very mean spirited and affected Rei emotionally more than she knew, but the more we learn about the more you empathise with her; however, she realised too late that Rei cared about her and as she craves for love that no one else gave her because of her upbringing. I hope they reconcile and that she can develop more as a character which would be a very touching moment.

The animation is very stylised to suit the manga, it’s similar to that of welcome to the ballroom. It uses a lot of bright and sometimes dark at times to reflect the mood with the anime using a lot of metaphorical art like being trapped in a dark net or going upstairs to the sky for example, which I think it’s one of my favourite storytelling of anime I have ever seen. There’s a reason I gave this anime both seasons a 10/10 because everything in this anime is perfect and is the most I’ve felt on a personal level from any show I have seen. The anime pulls at your heartstrings all the time and someone who relates so much to it, it’s very therapeutic to watch and I wished that there was more of this anime.

Hinata is one of the best characters for Rei as she acts like a younger sister to him and a friend, with them both helping each other with their struggle, Hinata also goes through bullying which is eventually revealed when she runs away from the house and he goes off to find. Hinata is full of energy and always tries to be upbeat even if behind it all she is also suffering because she is a very strong person as she has to support others and not upset her loved ones. I like this character because she is a complex character as she also has trauma from her mother’s death and does a big job helping her family, someone who always has a smile and makes others feel better as she is a very kind individual.

The sound and music of this anime is amazing too, as the anime even has ambient noises for some scenes and a lot of care or thought was put into this anime and it does show a lot when you watch the anime. If you don’t fall in love with this anime, then I think you must be an alien who cannot comprehend humans or emotions. This anime is filled with emotional scenes and the most wholesome scenes as well, which it does perfectly without feeling weird or bad. This is a true masterpiece. They even made an effort to show the openings and endings of the episodes to be more of symbolising for the main character which is genius because the more you watch, the more you can understand about what it all means and the extended animation is just a work of art if you haven’t seen it.

This anime is also about shogi and there’s episodes or scenes about it and you really get to learn about shogi aka Chinese chess, without it being boring or uneventful. It’s similar to Chihayafuru if you like shogi and want to know more about it or an anime about it. The background music is at times very beautiful and adds to the emotion to the scene, which is not just basic bgm but sounds to suit the anime like plucking of an acoustic guitar or a jazz instrument so the bgm is varied and always different but gives the same feeling. Everything about this anime is amazing and I hope you watch it too 🙂

Thanks for Reading!