3-gatsu no Lion is pure art. It's an anime that captures you in the first 5 minutes of the first episode, without you knowing it.
It was a rainy day in Fall 2016 and I eagerly searched trough the web for a new Anime to satisfy my addiction. I almost gave up while furiously clicking through anime sites that recommend me yet another of those boring harem animes. And this is when I finally found this magic piece of art, in all the garbage that likes to call itself Anime.
Synopsis:
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.
Overall:
You might say "What the fuck is this bullshit, this Anime is about Shogi???? BOOORING!"
Let me tell you that you are completely wrong. The Anime is really not about shogi at all, it might appear as such on the surface, but as you dwell deeper into the Anime you begin to understand what this is really about. Well, yeah there are is a lot of content about shogi, but this isn't really anything bad or boring at all.
Sangatsu no Lion is at its surface an anime about shogi but at its core a coming-of-age story of overcoming depression, finding friends and family and growing as a person.
I came to entertain myself for a few hours and stayed to see how the character would develop. The Anime is one of the rare Animes that made me cry - DAMN you onion cutting Monkeys!
To say that the Anime is powerful would be a huge understatement.
Characters:
The Anime introduces a ton of characters, four of the are main and the rest ist secondary. The great thing about this is that even the side-characters are as full-fledged as main characters in some other Animes. Every opponent Rai faces aren't just mere players, they're more than that and every one of them greatly contributes to the Story.
There a lot of Animes out there that treat certain characters just as support, that doesn't really contribute to anything in the Series, but that is different with 3-gatsu no Lion. You will be surprised at the importance that some characters will take during the series.
Animations:
The Art is really unique and defines everything that we are used to from other Animes, but that is not a bad thing at all. The Artist really did a great job with the facial expressions, as well as with the gesture of all the characters. Everything was made to fit the mood and contribute to the human-like characters.
You can properly feel what all the characters are feeling in each scene. It's unique and powerful. It's something that I've personally never seen in another Anime and what makes me love this series so much.
Sound and Voice Acting
A total plus for this animation are the high-quality soundtracks. I'm not some that like to listen to the opening or endings of any Anime, but this anime made me listen to the openings and endings every single episode. The Openings and ending are really well made and kinda tell the story of Rei in a song.
The Sound in the Anime is really relaxing and always fits the mood. You can really feel when you are meant to laugh, feel sad or be happy.
The Voice acting is great and feels a lot more realistic and calm that in other Animes.
Conclusion:
I'll keep this one short for you guys.
Some People might say that the Comedy in the Anime is kinda forced and doesn't really fit in there, but I didn't feel that that was the case at all. 3-gatsu no Lion is really like a rollercoaster that will take you away into the far land of "feelings".
3-gatsu no Lion will make you happy, sad, angry, frustrated it might even make you cry but it's worth it. The Anime is actually a statement that unhappiness ist okay. Being depressed, unhappy or unsatisfied doesn't make you weak or wimpy - it's what really makes you human.
"So what do you say at a time like this?"
"You say to do your best."