3-gatsu no Lion

Description

From Denpa:
Rei Kiriyama is a child prodigy. Rei Kiriyama is also an orphan who lives alone in an empty apartment. Rei Kiriyama is a teen working in an adult world. Life is complicated for Rei. He's an up-and-coming shogi (Japanese chess) player on the verge of turning pro but he has no home life or much of a life period outside his board game but thankfully with the help of some life-long friends he has an opportunity to start all over again.

Note: Nominated for the 2nd Annual Manga Taishou in 2009 and won the award in 2011. Won the Kodansha Manga Award in the general category (shared with Space Brothers) in 2011, the Grand Prize at the 18th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2014 and the 24th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards Grand Prize in 2021.

Type

Manga

Associated Names

3 Gatsu no Lion

3月のライオン

3月的獅子

3월의 라이온

El león de marzo

Leão de Março

March Comes in Like a Lion

Marcowy Lew

Maret Datang Seperti Singa

Março vem como um leão

Sangatsu no Lion

Sư Tử Tháng 3

Un marzo da leoni

Мартовский лев

يَحٍلُ مارس كالأسد

ตราบวันฟ้าใส

Groups Scanlating

Latest Release(s)

c.215 by Hi wa Mata Noboru 3 months ago

c.214 by Hi wa Mata Noboru 5 months ago

c.213 by Hi wa Mata Noboru 7 months ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

17 Volumes (Ongoing)

Completely Scanlated?

Anime Start/End Chapter

Starts at Vol 1, Chap 1 (S1) / Vol 5, Chap 46 (S2)

Ends at Vol 5, Chap 45 (S1) / Vol 9, Chap 89 (S2)

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

6 topics, 19 posts

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User Rating

Average: 8.7 / 10.0 (580 votes)

Bayesian Average: 8.58 / 10.0

37%

28%

19%

Last Updated

September 4th, 2025 11:59am PDT - 1 week ago

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Genre

Comedy Drama Romance School Life Seinen Slice of Life Sports
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Usagi Yojimbo

Gekka no Kishi

Momiji no Kisetsu

Ryuoh no Oshigoto! (Novel)

Bokura no Shokutaku

Recommendations

Natsume Yuujinchou

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

Original Publisher

Hakusensha

Serialized In (magazine)

Young Animal (Hakusensha)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Denpa (3 Volumes - Ongoing)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #683

(+36)

Monthly Pos #1011

(-240)

3 Month Pos #1599

(+242)

6 Month Pos #1422

(-54)

Year Pos #1481

(+168)

List Stats

On 3232 reading lists

On 1659 wish lists

On 65 completed lists

On 118 unfinished lists

On 596 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

March comes in like a lion reaches final stretch

2 years ago

March comes in like a lion gets 2nd TV Anime in October

8 years ago

Got Tv series and Live action

10 years ago

March comes in like a lion Gets Spinoff Manga Set in 1969

10 years ago

How much romance?

13 years ago

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

Amazing genre-blending masterpiece

by VenusInFurs
10 months ago

Rating: 9.5 / 10.0

Incredible, touching, emotional, and human in a rare way.

Deeply sad and moving, the interpersonal relationships feel profound and when things go bad you really feel it. A mix of tones and genres from chapter to chapter, first its an upbeat funny cooking story, followed by a dark seinen family tragedy, followed by a thoughtful slice of life romance, and then a straight up intense competitive sports shounen. Yet all these styles blend together, connected by the fundamentally wistful, saccharine, subtly philosophical narrative.

Its also an extremely informative manga with stories being intrinsically tied to Japanese folklore and traditional festivals and customs. The cooking element is very technical and cultural background info is presented both in story and in post-chapter glossary notes.

Its not perfect, it can definitely drag a bit and not having an understanding of Japanese chess makes following the in-game matches impossible so you are just kinda trusting that everything makes sense. The melodrama is also overwhelming at times, and while it fundamentally works and gives this book its unique character it can get ridiculous.

This story made me cry at multiple points, which is not easy, the emotional impact of some of these events are harsh and unforgiving.

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Very good

by DefaultPeanut
1 year ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

This one is pure drama and a tiny bit of romance. The portrayal of relationships between the characters and the complex personality of them are really well done.

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It lacks something.

by ninakun
6 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

My review is a little bit different from others below because I think that the cute art and sombre storytelling might start really well, but the story is not as deep as it tries to seem, and the author doesn't have a good plot pace.

The author loves to delve into the 3rd tier characters for some reason, and it doesn't fit well with the storytelling. The author also chooses to empathizes things that I, personally, don't understand why he would and in such a boring way (such as chapters being one half about cooking/shogi/depression/nothing and the other half about nothing).

The main characters left me with no impression whatsoever. He is called "quiet" and "thoughtful", but after completing the mangá I think he is only a bad written character. About chapter 100 the mangá becomes sexist in a weird undertone way. Suddenly the family dynamics that were so well put together changes:

now the main lead is in love with the middle sister - her feelings are.

Meanwhile, it's difficult to understand where this story is trying to lead us. I honestly don't know why I read 150 chapters. It's cute but boring.

... Last updated 6 years ago

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yes

by emmmma
6 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

I'm not finished reading it but so far it's been a work of complete literary art. I thought nothing could surpass my long-time favorite manga but this one definitely leaves it in the dust and has taken the number one spot for me now

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3-Gatsu no Lion is crazy varied and crazy good, but man, shogi is confusing.

by Swifft
8 years ago

Rating: N/A

I wrote a long review on this series and I believe it came across sounding more negative than positive, but I honestly feel that it's an extremely good manga. It took me a while to actually really enjoy 3-gatsu and even after I started I found that I was a bit miffed how I didn't understand the shogi games. This isn't the manga's fault, but my own, as I'm no good at and not interested in strategic board games. Still, the series covers many different, depressing subjects in a very interesting way and despite all the sadness, it's still rather hopeful. Characters grow, relationships strengthen... it's just all very good.

Full review:
https://terrenceswiff.wordpress.com/2017/05/21/march-comes-in-like-a-lion/

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The Best!

by cecropiamoth
10 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

I've read literally thousands of manga over the last 6 years, and I've concluded that some creators of it have a sense if what human beings are like, both externally AND internally, and some only can imagine the surface. By "internally", I mean that some can imagine the feelings of a different person from themselves, and some can't. Umino Chica is one who can. Often in reading this series I've found myself crying—and not always out of sadness. It's just so REAL, and that's why it's moving.

For example, there's a small arc where the MC tries to take on a guy who's involved with his sister. If you're a man, you can imagine doing that stupid thing even where the guy is an older, bigger man—and you can imagine the result. Most of all, you can imagine the resulting shame. This mangaka apparently can too, even though she's a woman. The exchange is depicted realistically, and then we are permitted to picture how the MC feels afterward. No explanation is given, and none is necessary. As often happens in Japanese written fiction, the storyteller lets the events speak for themselves.

This creator does that often, and on top of that, she can think up many interesting events to have happen. She also has a lot of ability to draw cute people, expressions, and animals. Check out, for example, the cats who make little comments from time to time—and the adorable littlest sister.

All in all, it's a winning package. And thanks to Be With You Scans for sticking with it!

... Last updated 10 years ago

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How I wish more was translated

by great_k
11 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

This is a great slice of life manga.
The character dynamics are so interesting, Rei's relationship with the other cast of characters through the course of the manga is really engaging. I love how these relationships are explored.

I do wish that Rei would raise his shoji game as his career really seems to have stalled after the first few volumes up until the current raw chapters. Hopefully he will start to make a comeback sooner rather than later.

I only have 2 criticisms to make:
The pace of the mange slows down considerably after the first few volumes as the manga focuses on the different shoji players besides Rei. Most of which I don't care about. Feels a lot like the shonen element of showing the past/perspective of each enemy our heroes face in shonen manga, even the small fry.
My second gripe is that so little of the manga has been translated. Only 38 out of 104 chapters have been translated. If this had been translated at a greater rate over the years, I am sure it would have been a lot more popular outside of Japan.

... Last updated 11 years ago

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good

by Azure_1802
11 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

i normally don't like dramas, but this manga is exceptable

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Great manga to read

by nimoniyu
11 years ago

Rating: N/A

Differently of the past opinions, from the first time I saw this manga and star reading I got hook. The style of the drawing is smooth and clean, love the pace in which is unfold, the characters are very centered. Didn't notice that it has been a long run since I started this manga but still worth the wait.

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Shoujo? where?

by melquiades
13 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

Seriously, people should stop judging manga by the art.
This is SEINEN... just look at the magazine it is serialized.
Demographics are not genres, it just says "directed to".

Anyway.
i'm glad scanlators keep bringing us this great manga, it has a very nice feeling for me...
an uminoish-feeling :3

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