March Comes in Like a Lion

Firstly this is one of the most underrated anime I have ever come across. Not even the anime blogs that I follow have mentioned about this gem. It might be that since the main lead is a Shogi player and the game is not that popular across the world. But don't let that obstruct you from having a go at this. There are 2 seasons released as of now and the story is still running in the Manga. The 1st season starts off the story introducing us with wide variety of characters, all pretty well structured. We gradually get to know the past and present of Rei Kiriyama and his struggles to lead a life as a pro Shogi player. His relationship with the three Kawamoto sisters are thing to gaze upon. The 2nd season gets deeply into the lives of all the characters and shows how each are overcoming their difficulties to lead a happy life. Especially Hinata's story is the most gripping one as she encounters hardships at school. The dialogues are outstanding in this anime. I would suggest to watch the English dubbed version. They have done a wonderful job in retaining the core emotions in every scene. Overall this anime sure comes into my top 5 favourite anime of all time.

The anime is a great anime of slice of life genre. To watch its greatness be patient and watch both seasons and you will be delighted to watch it. <Must recommeded but on a slow pace.

Making a truly great slice of life anime is not easy, while other genres like shounen or seinen can rely on action to make their stories more entertaining, the quality of a slice of life show depends almost only on the strength of their characters. Fortunately there are some truly great shows of this genre and March comes in like a lion(which a very bad translation of "3-gatsu no Lion") is definitely one of the best shows of this genre. The first season of the show centers more on it's protagonist which is a 17 year old shogi professional player called Rei Kiriyama. If an anime about shogi might seem like a boring idea don't worry because shogi is only used as a tool to tell the story of Rei and the people around him. This is more a coming of age story that deals with themes like depression and lonelines than just been a show about shogi. The character development of Rei throught both seasons of the show is one of the strongest points of the anime, but is not it's most impressive. This anime shines even more when we get into specific story arcs from other characters which are in my opinion some of the best pieces of storytelling I have ever seen in any anime. The mangaka who created the original story in which this anime is based on has a incredible ability to introduce a new character and immediately give us a reason to care about him/her thanks to the fantastic character development that this mangaka gives to the characters. Apart from the great storytelling and character development that this show has, this anime is very well directed. The themes of show are very well represented thanks to the beautiful art and animation that this show has. The soundtrack is also very appropiate for this type of story. Overall, this a very well directed and very well animated story about people just dealing with their problems and doing their best to continue living. Definitely one of the best slice of life anime ever produced.

I saw my character reflecting on kiriyama kei I loved this anime and felt like watching myself

This is a slice of life anime is with themes of sports, romance and comedy. Plot line covers the coming of age tale of a 17 years Shogi (Japanese Chess) player called Rai. As is with most slice of life animation, the storytelling is slow but full of emotions. Besides having a mature story it's got one of the best animation I have come across, it works perfectly with the storytelling, bring out the feelings of the characters. The sound and music are also great and the characters among the most complex ones I have seen in an animation.

As of now I have watched the first two seasons, first season in dubbed and the second in subbed and have loved them both, although I prefer the dubbed version. Really looking forward to see what comes next for Rai.