#3-gatsu no lion 2

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group H Round 2: #H6 vs H4

#H6: Cozy slice of life about a high school girl with a camera

#H4: Teen Shogi prodigy grows up and battles his mental health

Details and poll under the cut!

#H6: Tamayura: Hitotose

Summary:

In her last year of middle school, Fuu Sawatari had trouble dealing with her emotions following the sudden death of her father. Through the help of her brother and childhood friend, she rediscovered her love for photography, an activity she and her father often did together. In addition, she decided to attend high school in Takehara, her father's hometown and a place they often visited when she was younger.

It has been one month now since Fuu moved to Takehara and became close with her current group of friends: carefree Kaoru Hanawa, excitable Norie Okazaki, and quiet Maon Sakurada. Together with them and several acquaintances around town and abroad, Fuu continues her mission of capturing the joys of everyday life using her father's camera, while also helping her friends discover their own passions.

Propaganda:

No stakes, only warmth. Tamayura: Hitotose is the single coziest anime I have ever watched. It is like Moomins or Studio Ghibli (without all the excitement), in that after watching it you feel like the greatest magic the world has ever known is a home-made bowl of soup, a trip to the mountains, a photograph of a memory. Which is all true. Animes like this teach you to live right, and that's why we need them. Also to teach us to be "more aggressivu!" If you ever have a really rough day/week/month/year/decade, let your soul be soothed and watch Tamayura: Hitotose.

Trigger Warnings: Unknown.

#H4: March Comes in Like a Lion (Sangatsu no Lion)

Summary:

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.

Propaganda:

Sangatsu no Lion is a series that gets praise and has some awards, but it gets rarely talked about. It’s ranked highly on anime lists as being a good anime to watch, but there’s little fan engagement or video essays about it like other promising titles.

Maybe it's because the series is a slow-paced slice-of-life drama that goes over topics like mental health and the trauma of losing loved ones at a young age, and how those factors impacts the lead deeply.

Rei is a hard character to watch sometimes. He’s a doormat, shy and quiet, with crippling low self-esteem. He’s a social outcast. He puts a lot of burden on his own shoulders and blames himself for living up to people’s expectations. He’s a flawed and traumatized teenager forced to grow up too quickly.

Rei lives isolated, and that's how we're introduced to him. He has a strained relationship with his adoptive family. He has trouble interacting with his classmates. He has a few tentative friendships with the people he plays Shogi against, but Rei struggles to connect with others. It doesn't help that he feels pressured by the expectations placed on him as the fifth ever Shogi player to go pro in middle school, making him a prodigy. He's losing multiple matches and stagnating, struggling because of his mental health taking a downward spiral.

When Rei meets the Kawamoto girls, his life seems to get better. Rei initially doesn't want to get to close to the Kawamoto family for fear of rejection, but he ends up visiting often. With them, he receives the care and affection he never had in his foster home. He also learns to socialize and rely on others with his interactions with the Kawamotos, growing as a person.

Trigger Warnings: Child Abuse, Mild child neglect from adopted family, death of birth family, healing from mental health issues.

The plot revolves around Rei and him trying to cope with the stress of life and growing as a person. A part of this is him having to make peace with the trauma of losing his biological family and having a strained relationship with his adoptive family, who are neglectful and bitter towards him. The anime overall goes over Rei healing from his mental health issues, including battling his anxiety and issues with self-worth.

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how they’re presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form, where you can submit revisions for taglines, propaganda, trigger warnings, and/or video.

[mysticalflyte]

Shimada 8-dan is my hero

Twitter | Instagram

[nikaidou-stan]

god trying to sleep on a boat is atrocious, here some momo appreciation to clean your timeline

[crehador]

ive looked through your 2023 watched stuff but ive been wondering if youve said anywhere what your favourite animes of all time are ? just curious cus i want more reccs

ooh good question! i am so indecisive and so full of love for so many series that it's always been a bit of a struggle to pick out just a few absolute faves, but here are the first few that come to mind

(i'll try to keep to shorter series here)

and standard disclaimer that everything here is my opinion and my opinion only

best anime of all time: shouwa genroku rakugo shinjuu, and for me nothing even comes close

the story is told over the course of two seasons (the second being shouwa genroku rakugo shinjuu: sukeroku futabi-hen; 25 episodes total) and it is imo just an absolute masterpiece. it's a somber tale, but executed in such a masterful way. the show is centered around rakugo and rakugo performers, and felt to me like not only an incredible story but an incredible performance of the art of storytelling

i don't rewatch this one very often because it makes me so sad, but i think it's a beautiful and worthwhile sort of sadness to experience

best sports anime of all time: kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru (23 episodes), and once again nothing even comes close. which means a lot coming from me because i love sports anime i will watch any sports anime i love good ones i love bad ones i love them unconditionally i'm like sports anime georg so 'best sports anime' is maybe even a more significant crown than 'best anime' coming from me lmao

ahem anyway in terms of objective quality there's just nothing that beats kazetsuyo, and i highly recommend it even as a character-centric piece for people who aren't generally into sports anime. it's just that good

side note 1: while i would call kazetsuyo the 'best' sports anime, my personal favorite is eternally kurobas (though it is on the longer side)

side note 2: honorary mention to megalo box, another of my all-time favorites. it's sports + sci-fi so i typically don't count it solely as a sports anime, but i love it to bits. there is a second season that i haven't even seen yet! i've always heard the second season is even better than the first, so i've been saving it for a special day (also i'm a bit scared of it because i was so happy with the ending of the first season that i'm kinda like resistant to change lol)

best anime i can't tell you anything about: so generally i'm of the belief that spoilers don't ruin much for me, if something is done well then it's done well even if i know it's coming. that said, there are a handful of series where i am so glad i went in knowing nothing, so that every twist and turn caught me completely unawares

and the top two i would recommend in this category are samurai flamenco (22 episodes) and sarazanmai (11 episodes)

definitely do look up trigger warnings if you've a need for them! but otherwise, going in knowing nothing really heightened the experience of these for me

they are... strange, and amazing

this is getting long so i'll just dump a bunch of favorites in a list below (some are Great, some are decidedly Not Great but Very Fun and beloved to me lol, and all are 25 episodes or less)

feel free to ask for details if you'd like to hear more about any of these, or if you'd like recs in any specific genres!

acca: 13-ku kansatsu-ka, appare-ranman!, baccano!, barakamon, cool doji danshi, dorohedoro, fantasy bishoujo juniku oji-san to, gankutsuou, gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun, houseki no kuni, ikebukuro west gate park, kimi to boku, kuragehime, paripi koumei, sabikui bisco, tiger & bunny (and its distant cousin double decker! doug & kirill), uchouten kazoku, wotaku ni koi wa muzukashii, yojuhan shinwa taikei, yuru camp

side note 3: just realized tiger & bunny is actually no longer under 25 episodes because we got a second season after like ten years lmao BUT i couldn't bring myself to remove it because it is phenomenal

[ryustories]

A: 3-Gatsu No Lion 2 | March Comes In Like A Lion Season 2

“It’s strange. He’s supposed to be like a character who’s always been in a book.  But now, he’s sitting before me.”

[houkagokappa]

We finished all the anime we were watching in the anime club.

First off, Samurai Champloo, which I liked it a lot more than Cowboy Bebop. These types of episodic anime aren’t too common, which I could appreciate. I also enjoyed the setting and the fact that it had a unique vibe (the uniqueness more than the vibes, although those were cool too). I liked the trio, how they came together and sometimes had their own little adventures, but I never came to care about any of them. I don’t think that’s a huge negative, since they were still fun to follow and the episodic nature kept things interesting, but I suppose I could’ve gotten more attached to the anime if I would’ve gotten more attached to them. The final episode, which is the one we watched today, was cool and a great way to end the series. I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend the series as a whole, but it’s worth watching.

Next up we finished Jormungand: Perfect Order. Because I decided to pay attention to the anime, I was never bored, although it’s definitely an anime I would’ve dropped before I even picked it up if I would’ve been watching it on my own. Depending on how much I value my time, watching these two seasons weren’t a complete waste. I enjoyed some characters and story lines that were introduced fairly late, and since one of the characters in the main group was Finnish, it was a fun anime to watch with a group of other Finns. HAKKAA PÄÄLLE VALMET! I liked the last 2-3 episodes with Koko revealing her master plan and Jonah finally putting his foot down. The last episode/ending was a little weird, and maybe unsatisfying for some(?), but I think it was fine.

Then we went on to Excel Saga. Ever since we started watching it, people were hyping up the last episode as something so extreme and scandalous it couldn’t be shown on TV (which is true and was a deliberate choice by the production). For some reason I interpreted this as the Japanese audience not getting a conclusion to the story, instead of the final episode being a weird extra following the conclusion that aired. It was honestly a little disappointing. I’ve pretty much forgotten what happened in episode 25 already, and episode 26 wasn’t as crazy as people made it out to be. The added nudity and sex wasn’t interesting at all? It was just there for the sake of being there, and felt out of place for most of the time. It wasn’t over the top enough for a good reaction, or then it was simply gross. I was expecting more violence too, but at least the added bleeding was funny! (What am I typing here?) Despite this, I loved the series itself. I thought it was really funny and I love following series were I have no idea what to expect next. Excel being hyper was the star of the show for me, huge props to her seiyuu Kotono Mitsuishi!

And then finally we finished Sangatsu no Lion, which was a rewatch on my part. It’s such a great series and while some people always skipped it, those who stayed seem to have appreciated it immensely! There’s this trend of anime that we watch in the club getting sequels after we watch them, no matter how old they are, and I’m hoping for 3-gatsu to follow suit, since I NEED MORE!

[bas-writes]

For sleepover Saturday! What are your top 5 fave characters in any fandom, and any anime/manga you would rec?

I answered something similar about fav characters here so maybe some recommendations 👀 With all 5 I worked with my gremlin hands so I spent more time with them than I normally would - and I still reread them in my free time...when I usually can't look at the titles I work with for months 😂

3-Gatsu No Lion (March Comes In Like A Lion)

There's a chance y'all heard it's good 'cause it's been drown in many prizes. I confirm: it's hella good. Heart-wrenching and warming at the same time slice of life, wrangling with the problem of depression, loneliness and growing up. The MC is VERY autistic-coded. From what I know it has anime, but never saw it.

2. Dead Mount Death Play

From Durarara's author - so it explains a lot. Pretty simple plot intertwined with a crazy mix of high fantasy, urban fantasy and thriller. A lot of eye candy. Very dynamic art style. Anime is currently airing and I heard it's very good.

3. Jigoku Kurayami Hana mo Naki

Sherlock Holmes-style classic crime stories mixed with horror and stories straight from Japanese folklore. Can be dark and brutal at times, a lot of stories are depressive as fuck (there are graphic scenes of suicide included so, huge TW, and definitely not a thing to read on depressive mood). Can piss you off with this dumb smart MC-stupid MC dynamic. But also has beautiful art and unique atmosphere.

4. Koori Zokusei Danshi to Cool na Douryo Joshi

Cute urban fantasy workplace romcom based on himbo x oblivious dynamics. Cute art style. A manga equivalent of hot chocolate with extra marshmallows. Not recommending anime here, they ruined the vibe, imho.

5. Shimanami Tasogare (Our Dreams At Dusk)

A pearl of queer manga. If you haven't read it yet, you definitely should find some time - and it's only 4 volumes long. Queer slice of life adorned with breathtaking art. Truly a heart-touching, very personal history. One of the best things I ever heard and one of my steps towards nonbinary realization.

[newgameplus]

Tagged by @sagurus!!!! bless jade <3

Last song: Waltz Right In by matt maeson and ofc ofc OFC hozier's new ep. been listening to a Ton of the mountain goats lately especially some of the older shit like hot garden stomp but the last one i listened to was moon colony bloodbath

Last show: lmao i got out my computer to watch anime and saw this notif n got distracted, so it's gna be last night's taskmaster episode we watched w dinner- somehow we ended up watching JUST the last 2 episodes of s14 for no reason? but its fine still deeply funny show even 2 rewatch

Currently watching: w victor: darker than black and the 2nd season of the legend of vox machina! i still have to foist badlands rumble (trigun movie) upon him .... soon... eyes dot emoji. but on my own im watching game changer, katanagatari, and various random shows that ive seen go by- i just finished deaimon, and was just gonna start bocchi the rock <-guy who genuinely appreciates a good slice of life.

Currently reading: shifty eyes. yes. r- reading..i do that. jk. mairimashita! iruma-kun, san-gatsu no lion, things like that. just light stuff. fending off the naruto or bleach reread w a stick

Current obsession: my dnd guys AUGH. AUGH... ruckus tiefling rougeslinger of my dreams. when im done his character design sheet maybe ill post it. im super proud of it.

not tagging anyone 2day but if you'd like to do it as always feel free to say i tagged u <3

[to-the-void]

Things that I love #6

March comes in like a Lion

Or 3-gatsu no lion, how I originally knew it.

Anime series, 2 seasons and 44 episodes... correct me if I am wrong. I watched this series in one of my slumps. It was comforting. And a soft warning, even though if follows the ups and lows of a shogi player, you don't actually need to know how to play shogi to enjoy the show at all.

I tried to find out where could you watch it, but was unsuccessful. Sorry!

What is it about?

At 17 years old, Rei Kiriyama is a proffessional shogi player that lives alone. Existing mostly as a human machine, all he does is practicing shogi, going to class and repeat. Drowning in a deep deression, he is resigned to live what has been served in his life, but life keeps going and small rays of hope keep on sneaking in his reality in the form of three lovely sisters, Akari, Hinata and Momo.

Reasons I like it

The openings and endings are incredible.

The imaginery is astonishing and doesn't get you out of the story. It helps you to understand better the characters and convey their feelings. And they do it with an ample range of different styles.

This one is personal. When I was 10 or so I was bullied at school. I still remember the rage and sadness of it. So, there is a bullying arc at some point. When I finished watching it, I felt relieved. Finally, someone has got it right. Someone has seen and convey what I had lived when I was 10 and I didn't have the words or the maturity to explain it.

[someawesomeamvs]

Warning: Potential spoilers

Title: Hurtless

Editor: Anime MV Sensei

Song: Hurtless

Artist: Dean Lewis

Anime: Kaguya-sama: Love is War, Hibike! Euphonium, Fruits Basket (2019), Kimi no na wa (film), The Day I Became a God, Umibe no Etranger, White Album 2, "Josee, the Tiger and the Fish" (film), Twin Star Exorcists, Weathering with You (film), Komi Can't Communicate, Kanojo Okarishimasu, I Want to Eat Your Pancreas (film), Sword Art Online series, Re:Zero, Violet Evergarden, Kono Oto Tomare, Koe no Katachi (film), Ao Haru Ride, Nerawareta Gakuen (film), Zankyou no Terror, Genshin Impact (game), Musaigen no Phantom World, Steins;Gate, Summer Ghost (film), 3-gatsu no Lion, Patema Inverted (film), Boogiepop wa Warawanai, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl-senpai, Golden Time, Cowboy Bebop, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (film), Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo, 86, Kimi no Iru Machi, 10 Centimeters per Second (film), Clannad After Story

Category: Drama

[piduai]

i’m sorry, i promise i’ll remember not to use it. to be honest i was just wondering if you liked something enough recently to recommend it more so than i’m looking for a tailored rec for myself. so anything really!

bruh last 2 months i've been so busy the most i can do is a random anime episode every few days when i'm having dinner at home... so nothing i can offer from new stuff for myself.

from the old and loved: if you haven't watched it, vengeance trilogy by park chan wook, it's three different movies with a common theme (is revenge worth it?) and i'll never tire of recommending them to people lol they're just good. especially sympathy for lady vengeance, my favorite movie.

from anime on the obscure side (since idk if you watched the more popular stuff lol, like sure i can say dorohedoro for example, but if the posting hasn't persuaded you i doubt my words will) as a light, entertaining watch i like recommending uchouten kazoku, it's just so charming and absolutely unique but literally nobody ever talks of it.

from all time #serious favorites i rarely put on my blog, kara no kyoukai. it's so edgy and pretentious but i was so into it when watching for the first time... one time entertaining watches, kinda similar to each other, shinsekai yori and boku dake ga inai machi. my all time favorite slice of life dramas, hachimitsu to clover and 3 gatsu no lion. depressing stuff, but so good and full of light and soul. first one is a bit similar to paradise kiss, if you liked one you'll probably like the other. paprika and jin-roh for one sitting anime movies. i hope you find something to break your boredom, queen <3

[noname-nonartist]

top 5 animes?

Okay, soooooooo…

Honest time, but like when it comes to series or anime, it actually takes a while for me to get really invested in a series.

Like if you just tell me a plot to a show, it wouldn’t fully motivate me to actually watch it.

What usually gets me to watch a series is that I found a character within it interesting so I give the series a shot to learn more about it. And like it sometimes becomes my hyperfixation for who knows how long.

Example would be, I was initially interested in Miles Edgeworth in the Ace Attorney series, Goro Akechi in Persona 5, Kaeya in Genshin Impact, Maki Zenin in JJK, Mafuyu in Project Sekai…

(Just ignore the fact that these characters are mostly from games lol)

It’s either through that, or like. Someone introduces me to a series by us watching it together or in the rare occasions in that they recommended a series to me and I trust them that they know my taste/preference.

Ah right. The list.

Ummmmmmmmm…

I’ll just tell ya like the top animes series that I really enjoyed watching/reading.

1. JJK (got super hyperfixated on the series last year, ya can see it in my old art post lol)

2. Paranoia Agent (I love all of Satoshi Kon’s works and this anime is no exception, it’s a really good thriller and like I enjoy how all the characters be flawed people and such)

3. San-gatsu no lion (it’s a really good anime that I watched during my high school years. And I still look back at it fondly, but it’s been a while since I’ve caught up to it)

4. Digimon Tamers (I honestly also like the OG and 02 seasons too, like Ken be my all time Digimon character fav. But like Tamers in general has a wayyyy better plot and better character development)

5. K-On! (Look. I sometimes like some light hearted stuff once in a while too, and like this show be my comfort show when I just wanna see some nice fluff and characters interactions. Oh god. I think now I know why I’ve been obsessed with Project Sekai lately. I mean to be fair Project Sekai tend to dive into more serious topics. K-On be 100% pure soft fluff~)

I have watched other anime in the past before. And I enjoyed them, but like. Not enough for it to change my brain chemistry, ya know?

But yeahhh. That’s all! Thanks for the ask! ^w^/

Ask game if ya guys be curious on asking me anything lol

[tsukkilatte]

[ashpiasworldofanime]

“Flag wo Tatero” by YUKI

Anime - 3-gatsu no Lion 2

[nikaidou-stan]

Hi my name is Rei Kiriyama and I have short ebony black hair and limpid green eyes like emeralds and a lot of people tell me I look like Touji Souya (AN: if u don't know who he is get da hell out of here!). I'm not related to Kazou Kiriyama but I wish I was because he's a major fucking hottie. I'm a shogi player and a high schooler. I have pale white skin. I'm a nerd (in case you couldn't tell) and I wear mostly my neglecting dad's clothes or my school uniform. For example today I was wearing a white shirt with a green sweater over it and black pants, blue converses and a black coat. I was walking outside the shogi hall. It was snowing and raining so there was no sun, which I was very happy about. Gotou stared at me. I put up my middle finger at him.

[ryustories]

 A: 3-Gatsu No Lion 2 | March Comes In Like A Lion Season 2

“All of the pieces fell into place. I didn’t think I could leave him on his own, so I reached out my hand.”