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The 2nd season of 3-gatsu no Lion is the most perfect anime that I have watched. Everything in this show is just written to perfection and I cannot see any other studio than Shaft that can execute the story as well as they did. And, if you are reading this review, then I am going to assume that you already watched the first season. There might be spoilers ahead so read at your own risk.

Story (10/10):
The plot of the first season of 3-gatsu no Lion focused more on the problems of Rei and how the people around him is helping him out of his ... depression. However, in this season, Rei is now the one reaching out his hand to the people that were there for him before such as Hina, Takahashi, Akari, and even Souya.
Moreover, Hina's arc was definitely the highlight of this season. After every episode of this arc, I think to myself that the next episode can't get any better than this and boy, was I very wrong every time. Hina was just phenomenal throughout all the episodes of this season and I'll talk about her more later in the character section. The way that they depicted the long lasting effects of bullying to the victim is so realistic and depressing knowing that this happens all the time in real life as well. We also get to see the impacts of having that one friend that will always stay by our side and will continue to fight for us even no one else is brave enough to do so. Well, you just have to watch the show to fully understand what I'm saying.
The shogi scenes and the backstory of the players were so inspiring and badass at the same time. The bullies in Hina's arc filled me up with so much rage that I wanted to become an advocate of true gender equality and go right through the screen and slap them myself. Seeing Rei slowly become more comfortable and mellow was very relieving considering the broken state that he was in the first season. The cooking scenes with the Kawamoto family made me crave for japanese sweets in the middle of the night. Hearing Rei laugh was probably the most joy that I felt watching any anime. And I think I cried at almost every episode since I watched this show when I myself was going through depression and even the timing of me watching the show seems perfect. This is what Drama/Slice of Life animes should be. They are not supposed to just make you feel sorrow during your whole time watching. Life is not full of downs and struggles since there are also good things in life and 3-gatsu no Lion depicts that perfectly in both seasons. No matter how alone you feel, know that there are people out there that will reach out their hand, you just have not met the right people yet. And that hope is what 3-gatsu no Lion is trying to tell their audience.
Overall, the story made me feel every emotion that I can think of.

Art (10/10):
The art of this show is just so visually stunning. I'm not sure about this but the backgrounds look like they were brush painted which makes every frame pleasing to look at. The use of contrast in the animation and art style perfectly portrays the theme of the show. This is more evident in the first season where Rei is in rock bottom and you can clearly see the contrast in the character designs of Rei and the Kawamoto family. Rei's color design has more of a black color while the Kawamoto family is so colorful and vivid. Even their homes have huge differences, Rei's apartment is spacious but has very little things and furniture while the Kawamoto home is small but filled with all sorts of stuff and you can interpret this any way that you want. But in the second season, we can see Rei's character design gradually change as every episode passes on. Furthermore, Shaft definitely did a wonderful job with the animation. The use of symbolism is such a trademark for Shaft and this is one of the main reasons why I think this anime was meant to be done by them since there are so many symbolisms done throughout the story. I'll never forget about this one scene where it was raining and they animated the shadow of the raindrops falling through the window produced by moon light. It seems extra but still a lot better than watching a still frame. This shows how much effort Shaft exerted in delivering this anime and I respect them for that. The visuals in the OP and Ed are also amazing and I can watch it all day. They are also great since they are not directly spoiling anything but you can get some hints of what might happen.
Overall, the art for both seasons is probably the most beautiful piece of animation for me. And I recommend this show just for the art alone and that is not even the best part of the show.

Sound (10/10):
I don't have anything to say about the OPs and EDs other than they are all great. I don't understand Japanese but I know that they are singing about Rei's thoughts and feelings and I become excited to see how Rei develops as a character.
The OST of 3-gatsu no Lion became one of my favorite OSTs along with Toradora and Yorimoi. Every time there is a dramatic scene and the OST starts playing, I cannot stop myself from tearing up. And for the "happy" scenes I can't help but smile for the characters and OST enhances that.
The voice acting was definitely key in making the scenes more heartfelt and realistic and the voice actors all did a tremendously good job at that, especially Kana Hanazawa (Hinata Kawamoto). Every time that there is a catharsis in the show, I felt all the emotions that the character is going through and that was mainly because of the voice acting.

Character (10/10):
Now, I will talk about the characters which is my favorite part of the show. And in my opinion, the characters are the most important part of any show. No matter how shitty the plot is, if the characters are good, I'm going to enjoy the show regardless. First of all, I just want to say the every character of this show is goated. Each character is written with complex emotions having a compelling backstory and believable motivations, even the shogi players that Rei faces. I can write for a whole day just talking about every character of this show so I want to focus on Rei, Hina, Akari and Souya. But before that I want to quickly talk about some characters that I liked from both seasons.
Nikaidou was one of the characters I did not expect to love since I just thought he was just some random annoying spoiled fat rich kid when I first saw him. But as the show goes on, we get to know more about him and it clearly shows that he is just a really good kid with a passion for shogi. What makes him great is his rivalry and friendship with Rei. They both push each other forward and their relationship is very wholesome as well. Too sad his screen time was shortened this season because of a certain incident.
Speaking of characters with shortened screen time, Kyouko was not seen as much in this season. I liked her character very much but hated her guts (everyone does). I love how even when her intentions are malicious and borderline evil, she still cared for Rei. She's just too broken of a person and she needs someone to help her the same way people helped Rei. Hope we see more of her in the 3rd season, if there will be.
Hayashida-sensei is probably one of the best senseis out there, if not the best. He is the only reason why Rei haven't decided to drop out of school yet. I love how he always look after Rei even when he is not his homeroom teacher anymore. I also love how he gets angry when other teachers are not doing their job properly in taking care of their students. Hayashida-sensei is one of those teachers that we all wish we have during high school.
Now, I'll talk about the characters I mentioned earlier.
Rei's character development is just so satisfying to see. Thinking back on what he was in like the first episodes of the first season is just so heart breaking. Every time that I think about his past regarding his foster home, it just feels so heavy since it is kind of true that he broke the Kouda family apart, not on purpose though. All the people that cares about him really helped him come out of the darkness that he resides on. And what makes it amazing, is that in this season, he is now helping others in their problems. He finally found something to fight for. He finally found something that he alone can protect. He finally found somewhere he belongs other than shogi. He finally found what it feels like to live without getting dragged back down again. He finally found his motivation for playing shogi. And he became unstoppable in both life and shogi. And for shogi, he also improved his state of mind and gameplay with the help of his fellow professional shogi players, specifically Shimada and Nikaidou. I loved how he hasn't realized the impact of his presence and actions to his peers such as Takahashi and Hina so it leaves for more character development in the future. I also love how he doesn't hold grudges to those people that hurt him in the past but wanted to murder those who hurt Hina because I feel the same way too haha. Again, he is genuinely a good kid and seeing him happy makes me cry tears of joy for him.
Hina was undoubtedly the best character of the 2nd season of 3-gatsu no Lion. She was always portrayed as a cheerful and energetic girl but in the first season, we first saw how emotionally vulnerable she is in the Obon scene. This season showed more depth to her character and her arc challenges her emotions and mental fortitude. I'm not going to give some further details but bullying was the main theme for her arc. Her selflessness and desire to help others is a double-edged sword and she has to be strong in order to overcome the onslaught of hurdles that keeps on coming at her because of this. I also love how no matter how she gets angry, she still maintains her composure to avoid causing any more trouble. The morals instilled by their mom remains in her. Rei also served a big part in her arc and their relationship this season feels so warm and fuzzy.
Akari also got more depth this season with regards to her insecurities acting as a mother to Hina and Momo. We have always seen that she is just copying what her mom did to her. So in certain situations, she freezes up and doesn't know what to do, which is a very normal reaction for a young person like her. What I like about her the most is for her unconditional love for Rei due to her personality of helping those who are in need which Hina probably got from her. I love how she gets mad at Rei when he hasn't visited the Kawamoto home in a while which just shows that she truly cares for him and we have seen that many times during the first season.
We finally get a glimpse of Souya's character in this season. Before in his match with Shimada, we saw similar he is with Rei and it made me think that Rei will turn out to be like him in the future. I still don't fully understand what his motivations and goals are. But I do know that he has his eyes on Rei and his long career ahead of him. In Souya's match with a certain someone in this season, he was shown to be satisfied with the play of his opponent which is rare for him to do. His "robotic" and weird personality was also partly explained this season and that twist was so well done since if you pay close attention to him you would have noticed it rather quickly. Hope Rei beats him in the future and becomes the next Meijin.
Overall, this show is full of amazing well-written characters that will make you root for them.

Enjoyment (10/10):
This is one of the few animes that I was very excited to watch the next episode just right after watching the previous one. This has helped me learn some valuable lessons in life and the emotions I felt watching the show is incomparable to any other show or movie that I watched before. I even studied how to play shogi after watching the first season so I can understand some of the technical shogi terms and it was very worth it. I was not bored with a single episode unlike the first season with some of its shogi episodes since I did not understood the context and terms of the sport. This anime was such a great experience for me since everything lined perfectly for me while watching both seasons.

Overall (10/10):
3-gatsu no Lion holds a special in my heart for how entertained I was during my journey with the show. After watching many bad animes before this, I am glad I came upon this underrated masterpiece and I'm hoping more people would watch to appreciate its greatness. This show is the definition of a perfect slice of life anime.