March comes in like a lion, Tome 3

3月のライオン [Sangatsu no Lion] #3

by Chica Umino, Misato Raillard (Translator)

"Cette maison est comme un kotatsu..." Kiriyama tombe malade en fin d'année et les trois soeurs Kawamoto accourent à son chevet. Grâce à leurs soins pleins de gentillesse, Kiriyama se rétablit. Une fois complètement guéri, Kiriyama se prépare à affronter son ennemi juré, Gotô 9e dan, en participant au tournoi qui va déterminer le participant à la finale du tournoi Shishiô... C'est une histoire chaleureuse dans laquelle des personnes vont peu à peu retrouver ce qu'elles avaient perdu.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Fiction, Slice Of Life, Comics Manga, Drama, Japan

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 12, 2009

About the author

Chica Umino (Jap: 羽海野チカ) is a Japanese mangaka.
Her real name is not disclosed, "Umino Chica" is a pen name.

She began work as a product designer and illustrator.
Umino has a unique drawing style, listing Studio Ghibli amongst her influences, and her characters are remarkably well-developed.

Her most famous series to date is Hachimitsu to Clover (English name: Honey and Clover), a 'slice of life' manga series which debuted in 2000 in Shueisha's manga magazine, CUTiEcomic. The series won the Kodansha Manga Award in 2003 and was nominated for the Tezuka Culture Prize and an award from the Japan Media Arts Festival. It was also adapted into an animated television series in 2005, a live-action movie in 2006 and two individual live-action TV series in 2008.

Her ongoing recent series is Sangatsu no Lion (English name: March comes in like a lion), which began serialization in 2007. The series won several important prizes including: the Manga Taisho prize and Kodansha Manga Prize (general audience) in 2011, the Tezuka Osamushi Cultural Prize in 2014, and the Bunkacho Media Geijutsusai Manga bumon in 2021.

Umino has also provided the illustration for the 2009 anime series Eden of the East by Kenji Kamiyama, as well as 'Tobira o Akete' and the Glass Heart series, including 'Boukensha-tachi', 'Netsu no Shiro' and 'Love Way'.

Reviews

[Nicolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume reminds the reader that yes, this is a shogi manga. Being so, the narrative focused on Kiriyama. However, as a reader, I would have wanted the 3 sister to have more screen time. The cats too, I miss the cats.

[Met · Rating 3 out of 5]

L’ho trovato un po’ meno avvincente dei primi due volumi. C’è tanta carne al fuoco, ma credo che stavolta l’autrice non abbia volutamente sviscerato troppo la psiche dei protagonisti.

[Izabela Noga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Otulenie🫡

[marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vol. 1 ★★☆☆☆
Vol. 2 ★★★☆☆

Whereas the first two volumes focus more on setting the stage, this one shows Kiriyama going through some growth. He's so wrapped up in his own loneliness that it prevents him from seeing that others might feel the same way. On top of that, he can be unintentionally dismissive of other people.

[Leonor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qué lindo tomo... Conoceremos más de Kiriyama y saldrán otros jugadores de shôgi, como Smith y Shimada, quien le da una gran lección de vida.

[Adrienne Oliveri · Rating 5 out of 5]

love LOVE this series and anime

[Kaoru Takarai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este volumen me ha parecido fantástico, la forma en que desarrolla los personajes a través de su forma de jugar al shogi. El capítulo de Smith ha sido maravilloso.

[Snail · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far I like this series more than “Honey and Clover”. I adore Chica Umino’s artwork, but she has a habit of focusing stories on characters I find disagreeable and/or irritating that makes it hard for me to really enjoy her manga fully. I’d like to think about why I find those types of characters disagreeable a little more deeply as I read this series.

March Comes in Like a Lion reminds me a bit of Haruko Kumota’s “Descending Stories” in its general set up… (that’s another example of a series that ended up having disagreeable characters, though I think I understood their point more than the sister and the yakuza-faced opponent (Gotou?) in this story so far… I hope the ending of March Comes in Like a Lion will be more satisfying than Descending Stories was!)

The scene in this volume where the main character’s mental state is depicted as being very dark as he realizes he’s losing the Shogi match, and then having his state of mind shattered was very well done artistically.

I hope we get to learn more about the three sisters as full characters as the story progresses, too. It would be nice if no one fell in love with the main character. (Ha, ha.)

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a tribute to Umino's storytelling ability that I don't know the slightest thing about Shogi (a smidgen of riichi Mahjong is about all the classic Japanese gaming this little brain can handle for now) and am still moved and entertained by this story. The Shogi consultant also does a great job making the complex world of the game comprehensible for a lay reader in his brief essays between chapters. The autobiographical comic at the end is fun, too, showing us that even a mangaka with over a dozen volumes under their belt can have worries and/or an inferiority complex, and make their trials funny on top of that.

[Andrea Itziar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creo que el punto más fuerte de esta historia y que ha cautivado más a la gente en general (entre las que me incluyo) son las hermanas Kawamoto y puede que en este tomo se las eche algo de menos. Sin embargo, me ha gustado saber más sobre Kiriyama así como de los nuevos personajes que van apareciendo. Por otro lado, ha sido un tomo con más shôgi que en los anteriores pero, a diferencia del anime en el que el ritmo es el que es, estas partes las puedes leer al ritmo que más te guste y eso es un punto muy bueno del manga.

[アリーチエ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volume spettacolare!
Tutti questi insegnamenti lasciano il segno.
E fanno riflettere! Così tanto che dopo aver finito un capitolo torneresti subito indietro a rileggerlo.
Ho particolarmente apprezzato poi come l’attenzione fosse rivolta alla necessità di Rei di avere un maestro/compagno/amico.
Le tre sorelle, il professore, il club e il maestro di shogi.
Gli serviva un bello scossone e la giusta compagnia per farglielo capire!

[Mits · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, just like the anime and absolutely wonderful. I love the additional insight into shogi we get at the beginning of each chapter - it really made me more interested in Gotou and Shimada’s faceoff! Also the chapter illustrations in this one make an adorable comic with Rei being wingman for Hina.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book felt like a bridge between book 2 and book 4 without a whole lot happening. It was very angsty, a little confusing at times, and didn’t have enough of the girl characters or the cats. I’m still looking forward to book 4 when it’s out in English, but if this had been the first book of this author’s I’d read it probably would be the last.

[bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

march comes in like a lion may be my fav manga… IDK LOL IT MAKES ME FEEL WARM AND FUZZY
i love every character and the plot is just so appealing to me :’)
i don’t think i’ll be able to get a hold of any further volumes though cuz i can’t find them anywhere in english 😭

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

The growing bond between Kiriyama and the girls is just so good. Also him learning to not underestimate or dismiss people.

I do not like Kyoko. I also do not understand her. Her twisted love-hate relationship with her stepbrother.

[Aleksandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shimada 🥰🥰🥰

[ghadah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shimada-san's hard work had influenced me too, I admire him

[lanmreading manga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trời ơi hay quá, diễn biến tâm lý siêu siêu hay mà xúc động vãi. Huhu

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starting to see his shift and how he is maturing in this life he has chosen.

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 rounded. This volume was a little heavier on the Shogi strategies. I liked the first half better, featuring New Year's celebrations.

[Paola Sánchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume presents Rei in bad place, both physically and mentally, in which he finds himself doubting his academic choices, his relationships with those around him, and his development as a shogi player. The depression he's facing was so carefully constructed through the narrative of the previous two volumes that at this point, it is the natural outcome for Rei (a 17yo boy who's living on his own while trying to balance school, shogi, and his feeling in a state of semi-isolation).

The real struggle for the MC here is his blindness. Rei tends to hide from his problems by immersing himself in shogi and forgets to see those helping hands all around him. But shogi is also an excuse, for he fails at carefully watching and respecting his opponents; Rei is so centred in his desire to defeat Gotou that he looks down on other shogi players and he ends up disrespecting them.

By the end of the volume, his own defeats and failures provide him with a much necessarily check up of reality. It is painful to watch him reaching bottom, but, as a result, he realises that it is not that bad being under the kotatsu's warmth (ha!) and if he wants to remain there, he needs to fight for it.

[Armando Hernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume was very interesting Rei lost and know h will try to become stronger. I'm want to know if he likes her step sister like a woman o just like a sister, her story is so sad also I don't know if she likes him or not.

[Khari · Rating 5 out of 5]

私の感想文が三回消えた❗勘弁してください❗

私の日本語は良くないよ！(@￣□￣@;)！！その感想文の動力返して！

はああ。

何が考えたかな？

私は零の教師結構好き。彼は真面目。本当に零に興味あって世界の知識を伝えたい。零君の人生で何年ぶりかな？一緒に暮らしていた人は家族のように扱えなかったし世間のこと教えくれなかった。教師は最初かも。彼言ったことは本当だ。この世は頼りと頼られるのもの。誰かに支えなかたら、誰も支えくれない。誰かに頼れなかったら、誰も頼れない。

零がやるべきことはもうちょっと心を開くこと。

[Vesper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tre stelle e 1/2