The artwork is beautiful and cheerful with lots of use of bright and warm colors throughout the show. A lot of the characters and stories being told are funny and sweet. But you see all of this through the eyes of the main character who is lonely and depressed. Contrary to popular belief the perspective of depression is not all grey and sad and joyless, rather it is often humorous and filled with acts of kindness with particular attention paid to interesting little details in social interactions.

This is an orginal and unique anime/manga, that's very different from the generic boy meets girl or girls do cute things shojo genre. It feels like the author is probably drawing a lot of this from personal experience, which makes me wonder if Chika Umino made "Honey and Clover" from her experiences in college and "March comes like a lion" from a particular character she knew later in life.

ok ill start with not understanding why there is not any review for this, its a great show giving a slight view from the eyes seen to the world from depression with great characters. Im not much of a critic at all but since this has no review i wanted to write something for people to maybe see.

This anime is an amazing soft slice of life that will make your heart feel sad and warmth through the different scenes seen through the story, learning more about these characters and just how amazing they are ( in my opinion ), its just on episode 8 at the moment but i couldn't wait till it finished to write something for this since it had no reviews so far, i tear up basically every episode and every episode makes me smile with a warmth watching these characters do what well they do ^_^ all the feelings and emotions that are so very much there but not over the top makes this a great anime and probably one of my favorite this year ! not just season. i apologize for any poor gramma but i really wanted to write something for this show that really should be watched by any anime fan that isnt just interested in action shounen!!!

Stunning is the only word I can use to describe this anime. A deeply reflective piece on the main character, Kiriyama, who suffers from anxiety and depression that is realistic - he lives with it while trying not to sink into loneliness, all the while those around him are reaching out to help. It's hard to believe this is a series just about shogi, but the characters really bring it to life. The three sisters bring so much warmth and joy to the screen, the antagonists make the entire room feel cold, and the friends surrounding Kiriyama are hilarious to watch.
This anime is equal parts light and fluffy, and dark and chilling, but none of the humour or seriousness is out of place. The visual and art direction is phenomenal, and I'll describe my favourite part in the spoiler below but truly a 10/10 would recommend!

Season 1 and Season 2 are different. In season 1 we became acquainted with the protagonist, the sport of shogi, and his relationships. In season 2, the focus is more on the lives of the protagonist and the people around him. The second season begins very differently, but do not bail on the series, it will be rewarding in the end. I think that as an adult watching this or as a high schooler you will get two things this series:

1) as an adult I looked back at all the missing o[portunities I had for sports that I should have taken and time I wasted right after high school.
2) as a high schooler this anime can give you a great perspective regarding your hobbies and future life choices and how to deal with some difficult decisions.

I loved coming from work and watching this series.

I love that there is a season 3. I like this show soo much that I stopped anime illegally lol.

I recommend this show to everyone especially if you are 15-25

This anime started out really slow for me, so I took a break and came back to it. Before I knew it, I was completely engrossed in the characters of this story about a high school professional shogi player living alone in March Town.

I want to emphasize that my opinion of this anime is based on all 44 episodes taken together, so keep that in mind.


To summarize why I think this show is a 5/5, I'll break it down by 5 categories:

Music: The music in this show is stellar. I found the opening and ending themes to be pleasant to here every time I sat down to watch this anime; however, where the music really shone for me was in the soundtrack: the ambience by the melodic piano and symphonic violin was a gorgeous coat of colour on a frequently quiet show. They really went the extra mile to pair the music with the visuals and moods in the show and it worked really well.

Art: The characters all look great, but once again I find myself drawn to the beautiful setting this show creates. I'm pretty sure in the last opening theme you could get a beautiful wallpaper just from pausing at any moment their. I also appreciated the switching from greyscale to colour at moments when it felt appropriate. While the music and art both amplify the setting together, I take each as an individual point because of how impressive I found it.

Imagery: This is a slice of life anime in the most realistic sense: no aliens or magic involved. The story is about the everyday life of these characters and the problems they grapple with as they are growing up. This show does an excellent job of conveying those feelings, especially in the second season, through imagery or visual representations of a character's thoughts and feelings. I'd particularly point to the Shogi matches as a point of success for imagery and symbolism.

Characters: To be blunt, this is the most important factor for me in any show I watch, regardless of whether it's a slice of life anime or a historical fiction novel. Despite initial skepticism, the anime has done a fantastic job at building up its characters over two seasons, in part by adding a lot of helpful context to better relate to and sympathise with them. In the case of the main character, it's as clear as day by the end of the anime that he has completely transformed as a person--you can really see how the characters he interacts with affect him (and in some cases how he affects them) in a meaningful way.

Engagement: This anime has engaged me at an exponentially increasing level. One particular arc sucked me all the way back to middle school when I was dealing with a lot of the issues one of our main characters has to deal with. What happens in the anime and what happened to me were so similar, that I don't think any other show has touched me this way before. I could not be more satisfied with how they handled that arc--it did not seem superficial or cliche to me at all. Outside of those personal feelings, I also found the show to be generally increasing in engagement as I went along. When I started, I'd watch one or two episodes at a time, and by the end I was storming through several episodes a day.

I realise this isn't a show everyone will enjoy, but for me, this kind of Slice of Life left a deep impact on me, and I don't think I will ever forget that. It is not a perfect anime as far as pacing and animation may go; however, the music, art, imagery, characters, and meaningfulness come together in such a brilliant way that I could not give it anything less than 5 stars.

Sangatsu no Lion is the king of slice of life anime, faithfully adapting the manga written by the queen of slice of life stories, Chica Umino. The characters are amazingly deep and the story gets incredibly real and moving. Written with a lot of heart and delicately empathetic to its very varied cast of characters, Sangatsu no Lion is a powerful story in many ways. It's left a lasting impact on the way I view the world, especially other people, and I am truly grateful for that. It's a real treat, a blessing, and my favourite anime.