3-gatsu no Lion 2nd Season

Now in his second year of high school, Rei Kiriyama continues pushing through his struggles in the professional shogi world as well as his personal life. Surrounded by vibrant personalities at the shogi hall, the school club, and in the local community, his solitary shell slowly begins to crack. Among them are the three Kawamoto sisters—Akari, Hinata, and Momo—who forge an affectionate and familial bond with Rei. Through these ties, he realizes that everyone is burdened by their own emotional hardships and begins learning how to rely on others while supporting them in return.

Nonetheless, the life of a professional is not easy. Between tournaments, championships, and title matches, the pressure mounts as Rei advances through the ranks and encounters incredibly skilled opponents. As he manages his relationships with those who have grown close to him, the shogi player continues to search for the reason he plays the game that defines his career.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kiriyama, Rei Main

Kawanishi, Kengo Japanese

Kawamoto, Hinata Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Kawamoto, Akari Main

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Kawamoto, Momo Main

Kuno, Misaki Japanese

Shimada, Kai Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Nikaidou, Harunobu Supporting

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Hayashida, Takashi Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Kouda, Kyouko Supporting

Inoue, Marina Japanese

Souya, Touji Supporting

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Yanagihara, Sakutarou Supporting

Ootsuka, Houchuu Japanese

Ooshima, Miku Producer

Yodo, Akiko Producer

Fukino, Fuminari Producer

Nojima, Masahiro Assistant Producer

Reviews

Jul 1, 2024

CBMiura

Recommended

The 2nd season of 3-gatsu no Lion gives us a little bit more of development that we needed for our other main characters, the Kawamoto's family. Still, it keeps developing the growth of Kei and his shogi journey.

The animation still incredible and the characters even better.

You may get a little dissapointed if you're expecting to be centered just around Kiriyama Rei. If you don't bother about Kawamoto's family maybe this season won't please you.

But in the end, 3-gatsu no Lion is a great show, that have well developed characters and keeps the slow pace and heavy narrative.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 14, 2023

ViolentPete

Mixed Feelings

I finished watching the first season of this a couple of months ago but now that I'm writing this I can't for the life of me recall anything that actually happened in the first season. That's okay, this is the second season, the first season is in the past. Except, surprise, I barely remember anything that happened in this season either and I just finished watching it. I suppose this is why I don't watch slice of life shit, because nothing ever happens in them, but I figured this one could be worth a shot. Well, I can say with confidence that after 40+ episodes ... of this show I still have no interest in slice of life shit. Sorry!

To be fair, I do remember one thing from the first season, and that was the little arc with Kiriyama and his Asuka clone sister. That was actually a pretty interesting relationship and I was genuinely interested in seeing how it got resolved. Unfortunately Asuka-lite is completely absent from this season. I don't think she actually shows up a single time in all 22 episodes. It's a little strange, really, not even getting relegated to background character status but just totally disappearing from existence.

This season does have one arc that's somewhat interesting, which is the bullying arc. I feel like every fucking anime I've seen that involves high school has a bullying arc, but whatever. I was at least interested in what was going on because it felt like some sort of progress was being made. At every other point in the show, it just feels like things happen but none of it has any relation to anything else. Durr hurr hurr that's life for ya, yeah I get it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Maybe some people enjoy watching the older sister cook something and then have everyone eat it and then they all go "Oishii!" for a minute. Maybe some people enjoy watching that exact same scene play out every other episode. I'm not one of those people, and if I ever become one of those people you have my permission to track me down and put me out of my misery (Yes, I'm talking to you specifically).

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Sep 5, 2024

Its_munnan

Not Recommended

The most interesting aspect of the previous season was kyoko and gotou, and rei's conflicts and interactions with them, which are completely absent in this season. We never get any answers for what happened between kyoko and rei, and even the first season's ending parts showed them as being partially reconciled for no reason. Gotou's wife is shown to be hospitalised. That makes it okay for him to sleep around with a college girl! Basically all the darkness from the first season in relation to the main character is gone.

The bullying plot was good. It hit the right emotional beats at the right times and ... gave food for thought. Too bad that the problem was solved by a new teacher swooping in, thereby making the problem not the bully but the previous teacher! It's also not believable that the grandfather didn't take any action himself, seeing as how he loves his family. The bully is apparently a one dimensional sociopath, but people are never like that. Check out the manga takopi's original sin for a better take on bullying.

The issue I had with the previous season was it's end focus on shimada, a forgettable plain character, not at all interesting compared to rei. This season suffers from the same issue. There is too much focus on side characters, to the point rei is forgotten and got almost no development. The family also had fewer scenes with rei. They just sit around and eat food episode after episode. The series is not iyashikei last time I checked.

The next character explored is souya, but what is revealed about him hardly changes his character or the plot. He is the top player and doesn't have many interactions outside the game, which is usually the case for such people. The most interesting character was a shogi player who also trains pigeons for races. He is serious to a fault but kind to his animals and friends. His arc concludes in a touching scene. Too bad he's forgotten promptly. There is also a set up for a romance between rei and hina but I didn't much care for it.

Overall this season just felt vastly inferior to the last one. It has its moments but it's a slogfest to the end. Wouldn't recommend it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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