can someone please tell me where i can read the manga? 👍

Just finished watching the anime for the first time and figured I'd share my thoughts on seasons 1 and 2. It seems I have a minority opinion, but wanted to share anyway.  

Overall, I really liked this series, especially season 1. At first, the abrupt tonal shifts between serious melancholy and super upbeat visual gag comedy were jarring. I stuck with it because I found the dramatic stuff so good and in time I came to appreciate those tonal shifts for what they represented--those brief moments of levity and joy, or at least distraction, where you forget about your own circumstances for a little while, until eventually reality creeps back in. Episode 5 of season 1 is where the show really hooked me. The psychological realism, interiority, that slow-burn novelesque structure, atmosphere, visual language, and just the general vibes were all outstanding. In a way it reminded me of Ocean Waves, one of my favorite and lesser talked about early Ghibli films.

As a chess player myself, I loved learning about the shogi world and meeting all the players there whose various life experiences and personalities really came through in their playstyles. There were many characters, both in and out of the shogi world, who could have easily been the protagonists of their own stories like Shimada, Nikaido, and Akari.

Kyoko belongs on that list too--her relationship with Rei was intriguing, messy, and confusing. It's sort of hinted in flashback that there might have been some sort of romantic or sexual thing going on between them. I wonder if there are feelings there or if she learned early on how to use desire to connect with others due to her obvious low self-worth (jury is still out on whether Koda is a shitty dad but all signs point to yes). She tends to lash out at Rei for "stealing" her father's affection yet also seems to have felt abandoned by him when he chose to move out, despite understanding his reasoning. Still, despite the abuse she hurls at Rei, she does seem to care and have a high opinion of him--she feels safe around him and stays over at his place when she presumably can't stay at Goto's and doesn't want to go home either, and drops her guard and asks for his advice and seeks physical closeness. 

All in all, it was great seeing Rei over the course of the first season gradually rise from his depressive state in a realistic way, often managing to take two steps forward only to fall one step back, and realizing what a good support system he has and start taking the steps to be happy. 

Season 2 was good but felt like a completely different show. It traded that floaty, artsy vibe for a much more straightforward dramatic structure that, to me, was less interesting. Or maybe more accurately, wasn't what I fell in love with. The main focus of season 2 was Hina's bullying which, while well executed, didn't do much for me personally. Maybe it's just because I'm so far removed from high school but I thought at roughly 10 episodes they could've either shortened that arc a bit and given more focus to other characters or back to Rei himself, or interspersed it throughout the season as a background, recurring subplot. While I do like Hina, I don't think the show really commits to making her a co-protagonist to the extent that is needed to make devoting half the season to her situation work.

I also wasn't super thrilled that Rei's motivation for winning and taking shogi more seriously was external, ie to help the Kawamotos, rather than internal, doing it for himself, but it is realistic that he would take that intermediary step from where he was last season rather than going straight to full self-actualization. Despite that, it was great seeing him buckle down and win the Newcomer King title and finally make friends at school with the shogi science dudes.

My favorite part of season 2 was the white storm chapters where it felt like it captured those season 1 vibes again. I thought the relationship between Rei and Souya, who seem to exist on the same wavelength, was really interesting both as they seem to understand each other and as Souya exists as a cautionary tale of what Rei could easily become if he neglects the people in his life who care about him or continues to play shogi for external reasons.  

And as far as the implied Rei-Hina romance goes, I can’t say I’m a fan but it is what it is. Rei is essentially a functional adult who lags in social skills and emotional maturity whereas Hina is mature for her age but still very much a 14 year old girl. I enjoyed their relationship as friends who inspire and support each other and don't find the romance angle to be necessary, nor do they have the chemistry to make the friends-to-lovers thing believable IMO. If anything, I can see why Rei might feel somewhat drawn to her because he doesn't have many emotionally intimate relationships in his life other than Hina and his former teacher, but not so much she to him.  

I'll be continuing with the manga at least for a bit because I'm invested in the characters so I'm looking forward to seeing where things go from here.  

My ratings:  

S1 9/10-- distinctive, atmospheric, psychologically rich, novelistic, artistic, pure vibes

S2 7/10-- polished, sometimes excellent, but fundamentally a different narrative/dramatic structure that didn't appeal as much  

Favorite characters: Rei, Kyoko, Shimada, Akari, Nikaido when he's not being used solely for comic relief, Yamazaki (shogi pigeon bro)

pov: you are nikaidou/bodoro

¡En junio Devir manga empezó a publicar el volumen 18 de la serie! Está disponible en Amazon y en el sitio de Devir manga. Me alegra mucho de que hayan decido publicar los volúmenes más recientes mientras trabajan en los originales.

https://www.amazon.es/El-león-marzo-núm-18/dp/B0H15H7CX6/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_es_ES=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&crid=2JDFZ5Q5RE94D&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ksc3bnE5wcHQasVi2EoRSOvCaMIQlJCDccNaKclsiprGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.zBMTBwF7qRf7cRqEq2aHiHTcf_8kHr4OLMp8InewR2g&dib_tag=se&keywords=el+león+de+marzo+18&qid=1786250382&s=music&sprefix=el+león+de+marzo+%2Cpopular%2C319&sr=1-1

https://editorial.devir.es/el-leon-de-marzo-num-18-de-19

I poured my heart into this piece over many months because Shimada-san’s character and quiet strength have always inspired me. I hope this adds something meaningful to the Sangatsu no Lion community here on Reddit.

I think because he is this young pro 'genius' player, a lot of the other shogi players forget how old Rei is. He isn't perfect, and is kinda muddling along figuring things out on his own half the time.

From rewatching the anime, it does bug me slightly that you get a lot of "he is underestimating his opponents, he is so selfish and self-centered". Yet players like Smith who have these opinions on Rei literally think the same of other opponents the same way Rei does. Unless I am completely missing something. It just bothers me that it is a lot of Rei hating on himself, but I often feel some of the players reinforce these negative emotions he has about himself. Even in the manga other shogi players say his fault is being too self-centred (not the best way to phrase it, but can't think of a better way)

from mieruko chan

I am on ep 9 rn. I started looking up information about Kyouko online because I was intrigued and mesmerized about her character and relationship towards the MC. While doing that, I found out that her character arc apparently never got a proper conclusion, which led me to dig a little deeper.

From there, I discovered that the manga ended in 2025 and that, at least for now, there's no sign of a third anime season. That honestly made me hesitate to continue watching.

Is the series still worth continuing? Does the anime end in a satisfying enough way despite some unresolved character arcs, or is it likely to leave me feeling like too many things were left unfinished? I don't wanna get heartbroken by an unfinished ending

Finally, I could read the manga after ending the anime, but that's generally not my thing, so I don't think it is a possibility right now

after a week and a day i finally finished both of the season! man this shit is so fcking peak. It got monogatari shaft style, vibes of Sweetness and Lightning, Kotaro lives alone and Bincho-tan. For me, if they continue to animate this series it can reach with Clannad level and yeah this is so fcking peak!
Question: did Rei find any love interest in the manga or something? (is it akari?)
Edit: Btw im glad that they didnt give much screentime to that kyouko the mentally ill bully bitch hoe

March has been my comfort anime/manga and i really wanted to draw something for it ;)

hi! watched the anime with my boyfriend and loved it a lot, any recommendations on where to find merchandise online?

thanks!

I couldnt really tell in the anime whether or not Kyouko was just always extremely violent or their father was responsible for her turning out like that. I mean he seemed like a good dude all things considered, but seeing what happened to kyouko and ayumu makes me think he wasn't a very good parent. I just want to know what other people think.

Sōya Meijin is the embodiment of mystery. His world is shrouded in silence; he is both its guardian and its prisoner. Like all geniuses, he lives in his own bubble, yet keeps a part of himself connected to the real world.

He is fascinating.

« Just saying his name gave me goosebumps. » Rei Kiriyama

Sketchbook with handmade paper, India ink, watercolor- gouache, gansai tambi.

So! I'm planning to cosplay as Rei at various anime conventions, and as you might imagine, cosplaying him should be pretty straight-forward! His usual shirt, pants, and glasses are pretty easy items to obtain. His wig is pretty easy for me too.

What I worry is that because Rei looks so...ordinary, I think it might be hard for people at a place like an anime conventions to recognize that I'm cosplaying him. I'm not expecting to compete for eye recognition at anime conventions (respectfully and with lots of love, just look at him), but I still want the ~2 grass-touching sangatsy fans out there to realize the character I'm cosplaying if I fall into their gaze.

My solution to this problem is to have a prop of some kind, to make it obvious that I'm cosplaying Rei Kiriyami. Any good ideas as to what kind of prop I could use to distinguish a Rei cosplay?

The obvious is something shogi-related, but shogi pieces are small, and where would I have them? Shogi boards are OK but not really practical to carry around all-day (although if use it as a prop, I could glue the shogi pieces onto the board, to make it obvious that it's shogi and not just a random wooden grid.) I've also considered taping onto myself a print-out picture of momo/hina hugging onto me, simulating in a silly way how she hugs Rei at various moments throughout the story, but I suspect that might give the absolute wrong impression for that aren't familiar with 3gatsu...

any thoughts? =)

it's really really cute T-T anyone know where i can buy one like that? specifically the one kouda gave him that he had to repair

acc just how can i dress like rei... (unfortunately im a girl and i havent seen anything like what he wears in stores)

I see people say they are 4 years apart or 2 years apart. I'm here to legit say what it is. I do not intend to say anything else other than say this here because people in this very fandom in highly upvoted coments say "its a third year student and first year student" without context to their ages or the story. Unless something has just been fudged up by the manga and retconned to make them closer in age, this is where we are at.

Rei is 17 at the start of the manga, the manga starts around the summer, and he skipped doing high school for 2 years, his birthday is in April. He is most definitely 16-17 first year, 17-18 second year, 18-19 SHOULD be his age in year 3 of highshool

Hina is 13 at the start of the series, since someone 2 years away from graduating middle school in japan is 13. She turns 14 in December later in the first internal year of the manga. In her bullying arc she is 15, about to go to highschool as a 15-year-old as a normal Japanese person would be if there birthday is after April. She turns 16 at the end of the first year of high school. Anything else would mean she skipped a year of school in there, correct me if i am wrong but I do not know if that has ever been mentioned; i don't think it has.

At best when Rei declares he wants to marry Hina, even if we guess it's like the first week-ish of April at best, he is 18, days away from turning 19, she is 15, yet to turn 16 as he birtdhay is december, unless there's just a missing year of school we never told about.

They are 3 years and 8 months apart. I have nothing else to add, please do not view this post as a debate if they should date or not. If I am missing something please tell me.

Can you play shogi or go?

I learnt how to play go and then I discovered Hikaru no go. After finishing Hikaru I looked for similar anime and this is how I discovered Sangatsu.

I quite like go. It's more stategic than chess and hence I can be quite good at it despite being bad at chess.

As for shogi - I know the rules more or less, but since this seems to be such very complex chess I didn't even try to play it.

Why about you?

I'm reading the manga. The king stabbed in back with posioned chestnut killed me xD

Hey, I posted a while ago asking if I should read the manga, and the comments were mostly positive so I decided to read it, I'm caught up not more than a week later and I absolutely loved it, even if the drawing is kind of different from the anime, it still has a lot of emotion and weight, the arcs that followed on were I think my favorites one, also the character grow is amazing, and its really emotional on some parts specially with Kiriyama and how his life changes for the better, and how everyone notices it, the shogi games are amazing too. All I can say is thank you for the people who recommended me to actually follow up on the manga, cause even if its not finished its already a manga that I love and I hope to read more about so thank you guys