I don’t know how I got invested in so many seasonal anime again, but here I am.  March comes in like a Lion was a show that I didn’t expect to like.  It wasn’t because of the subject matter or anything that goes into the source material, but because of the studio behind it.  I really, really don’t like Studio Shaft.  I like Madoka Magica, but I haven’t like anything else that the studio has been behind.  I’ve tried going into the Monogatari series, but with all the random shots with tons of shapes, head tilts, random oblique shots out of nowhere, and the pretentious dialogue that is endlessly long, I hated it.  After that, it seems like Shaft ruined every other adaption with their shaftiness.  March comes in like a Lion “Shaftiness” is toned down.  While there are some shots that don’t make any sense, the emotions of each scene still make it through somehow.  Sometimes without even saying a word, which is phenomenal.  Also, the dialogue is short and to the point.  It all just works for me.

March Comes in like a Lion follows a lonely 17-year-old professional shogi player named Rei Kiriyama, who has no family or that many friends.  While he does hang around a family of three different aged girls and a grandpa who are also suffering from lost family members.  From what I’ve watched of the show so far, the anime is about Rei slowly gaining more and more different sets of relationships with other strange characters and I kind of like that.  While there are some strange tonal shifts in the show that oddly come out of nowhere, I am not actually bothered by them.  There are always times when a person can be energetic and excited, even if they are weighed down by so many things and this is something that Rei needs more of in his life.  I hope Rei and all these strange people find joy at the end of his journey.

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Yay! Only one more of these to go.  Look out for Girlish Number later this week.