March Comes in Like a Lion

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.

Characters

Main characters

Rei Kiriyama (桐山 零, Kiriyama Rei)

Voiced by: Kengo Kawanishi, Yumi Uchiyama (young) (Japanese); Khoi Dao, Wendee Lee (young) (English)

Portrayed by: Ryunosuke Kamiki

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).

Akari Kawamoto (川本 あかり, Kawamoto Akari)

Voiced by: Ai Kayano (Japanese); Laura Post (English)

Portrayed by: Kana Kurashina

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.

Hinata Kawamoto (川本 ひなた, Kawamoto Hinata)

Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese); Kayli Mills (English)

Kōda family

Masachika Kōda (幸田 柾近, Kōda Masachika)

Voiced by: Tōru Ōkawa (Japanese); Cam Clarke (English)

Portrayed by: Etsushi Toyokawa

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.

Kyōko Kōda (幸田 香子, Kōda Kyōko)

Voiced by: Marina Inoue (Japanese); Lauren Landa (English)

Portrayed by: Kasumi Arimura

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.

Ayumu Kōda (幸田 歩, Kōda Ayumu)

Voiced by: Marina Inoue (Japanese); Janice Kawaye (English)

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.

Professional shōgi players

Harunobu Nikaidō (二海堂 晴信, Nikaidō Harunobu)

Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto (Japanese); Zach Aguilar (English)

Portrayed by: Shota Sometani

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.

Kai Shimada (島田 開, Shimada Kai)

Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki (Japanese); Kirk Thornton (English)

Portrayed by: Kuranosuke Sasaki

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.

Masamune Gotō (後藤 正宗, Gotō Masamune)

Voiced by: Hiroki Tōchi (Japanese); Ray Chase (English)

Portrayed by: Hideaki Itō

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.

Other characters

Yūsuke Takahashi (高橋 勇介, Takahashi Yūsuke)

Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (Japanese); Chris Hackney (English)

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.

Someji Kawamoto (川本 相米二, Kawamoto Someji)

Voiced by: Shigeru Chiba

Portrayed by: Gin Maeda

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.

Hanaoka (花岡)

Voiced by: Yōji Ueda (Japanese); Doug Stone (English)

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.

Takashi Hayashida (林田 高志, Hayashida Takashi)

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese); Keith Silverstein (English)

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, 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". 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.

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]". 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".

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". 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. 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. 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. 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. Iwakami then met with Mitsutoshi Kubota (CEO of Shaft) and Shinbo, and the two agreed to the project. 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. 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. 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. 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. He also visited Tsukishima to see the Kawamoto house area and a bridge used in the manga.

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. Hakusensha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on February 22, 2008. The first eleven volumes were originally released under Hakusensha's Jets Comics imprint, before Hakuensha rebranded it as Young Animal Comics starting in June 2016. As of September 2025, 18 volumes have been released.

In North America, Denpa announced in March 2021 that they have licensed the manga for English release. The first volume was released on June 6, 2023.

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, was published in Young Animal from April 24, 2015, to March 27, 2020. It features 27-year-old Takanori Jingūji who is the chairman of the Japanese Shogi Association in the manga. Its chapters were collected in ten volumes, released from September 26, 2015, to May 29, 2020.

These chapters have yet to be published in a tankōbon volume.

Chapter 209: "Chapter 216"

Chapter 210: "Chapter 217"

Chapter 211: "Chapter 218"

Chapter 212: "Chapter 219"

Chapter 213: "Chapter 220"

Chapter 214: "Chapter 221"

Anime

An anime television series adaptation was announced in the Young Animal magazine's 19th issue of 2015 on September 25, 2015. 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. The anime's first opening and ending theme songs are performed by Bump of Chicken, titled "Answer" and "Fighter", respectively. Yuki performed the series' second opening theme song, titled "Goodbye Bystander", while Kenshi Yonezu performed the series' second ending theme song, titled "Orion".

Season one of the anime began airing on October 8, 2016, and finished airing on March 18, 2017, with a total of 22 episodes. A second season, announced at the end of the first season's final episode, premiered on October 14, 2017, and finished airing on March 31, 2018, with a total of 22 episodes. The series aired on NHK G at 23:00 on Saturdays. It was also simulcasted by Crunchyroll. The series was licensed by Aniplex of America and Anime Limited for North America and the United Kingdom, respectively. 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. The second season was also released in two halves, the first on December 18, 2018, and the second on April 9, 2019.

Live-action film

A two-part live action film adaptation of the same name directed by Keishi Ōtomo, starring Ryūnosuke Kamiki and distributed by Toho and Asmik Ace was released in two parts in 2017, with the first part released on March 18 and the second released on April 22.

Reception

Manga

By January 2022, March Comes In like a Lion had over 3 million copies in circulation.

The manga was nominated for the second annual Manga Taishō award in 2009; and it won this award in its fourth edition in 2011. Also in 2011, it won the 35th Kodansha Manga Award in the general category, along with Space Brothers. In 2014, it won the Grand Prize of the 18th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. In 2021, the manga won the manga division's Grand Prize of the 24th Japan Media Arts Festival. 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; eighth in 2020; seventeenth in 2022; and sixth in 2023. 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. 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.

Denpa's English release (Volume 4) is nominated for Best Continuing Manga Series at the third American Manga Awards, which is co-organized by Anime NYC and Japan Society, and scheduled for August 20, 2026.

Anime

The anime series was listed as one of the top 25 anime of 2010s by Anime Feminist. Crunchyroll listed it in their "Top 100 best anime of the 2010s". IGN also listed March Comes In like a Lion among the best anime series of the 2010s. The second season was placed as "runner-up" in IGN's "best anime series of 2018" list.

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 very pleasant surprise to discover".

Chris Beveridge of The Fandom Post also praised the portrayal of the characters and their lives. He liked Nikkaido's backstory and his connection with Shimada. 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. 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. 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. 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.