March Comes in Like a Lion Review: A Professional Shogi Player Learns, Slowly, That He Does Not Have to Be Alone

Quick Take

• A seventeen-year-old professional shogi player lives alone in depression; the series is about him learning, very slowly, that people can stay
• Chica Umino (Honey and Clover) at her most serious and most warm simultaneously
• Ongoing; the bullying arc (volumes 8-12) is one of manga's most important and most carefully rendered treatments of the subject

Who Is This Manga For?

• Readers who want manga that depicts depression with accuracy and compassion
• Fans of shogi who want a manga that treats the game seriously
• Anyone who has felt unable to ask for help and slowly learned otherwise
• Readers who can commit to a long-running, ongoing series of exceptional quality

Content Warnings & Age Rating

Age Rating: T (Teen) Content Warnings: Depression depicted accurately and consistently, the bullying arc is serious and difficult (volumes 8-12), grief and isolation are sustained themes

The bullying arc is required reading for its quality, but requires emotional preparation.

Yu's Rating

Category	Score
Story Depth	★★★★★
Art Style	★★★★★
Character Development	★★★★★
Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers	★★★★★
Reread Value	★★★★★

Story Overview

Rei Kiriyama became a professional shogi player at a young age after losing his family. He lives alone. He goes to tournaments. He wins. He comes home. He doesn't know why he should keep going, exactly.

The Kawamoto sisters — Akari, Hinata, and Momo — live nearby. They feed him. They include him without asking permission. They are a family and they let him sit inside what that looks like.

The shogi world provides structure: opponents who become something more, mentors who see what Rei is doing, matches that mean different things to different players. Umino treats shogi as a complete world with its own emotional stakes.

The bullying arc — when Hinata is targeted by her classmates — is the series' pivot point, where Rei's gradual opening is tested against something real.

Characters

Rei Kiriyama — His depression is not dramatic; it is the specific weight of a person who learned early that caring is dangerous and has organized his life around minimizing attachment. His growth is the most carefully observed character development in contemporary manga.

Akari Kawamoto — The eldest sister; her warmth is the series' consistent emotional anchor.

Hinata Kawamoto — The middle sister; her bullying arc is the series' most significant event and is handled with the seriousness it deserves.

Momo Kawamoto — The youngest; her specific relationship with Rei is the series' simplest and most direct expression of what he is learning.

Harunobu Nikaidou — Rei's primary shogi rival and most enthusiastic friend; his personality and his secret situation are the series' most affecting parallel arc.

Art Style

Umino's art here is more precise than in Honey and Clover — the emotional states are communicated through color (the depression sequences are cool-toned), character expression, and the specific way Rei carries himself versus how he looks in the Kawamoto house. The shogi sequences are drawn with consistent accuracy.

Cultural Context

March Comes in Like a Lion treats professional shogi as a world with real hierarchy, economics, and emotional stakes. The game's culture — the grandmaster system, the ranking games, the specific pressures on young professionals — is depicted with research. The bullying arc's handling reflects genuine debate in Japan about institutional responses to school bullying.

What I Love About It

Volume 9 — the peak of the bullying arc. The specific chapter where Rei, who spent the first seven volumes unable to speak his own feelings, speaks for Hinata. What he says, how he says it, and what it costs him personally is everything the series had been building. I reread it many times.

What English-Speaking Fans Say

March Comes in Like a Lion has a devoted Western following who describe it as the most emotionally intelligent ongoing manga. The bullying arc generated significant discussion about how seriously manga can take institutional failures. Rei's depression is consistently praised for its accuracy and dignity.

Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning

The moment Rei realizes he has been, for the first time, genuinely angry on behalf of someone else — and what he does with that anger — is the point where the series completes its first phase and shows who Rei is becoming.

Similar Manga

• Honey and Clover — Same author; lighter, also beautiful
• A Silent Voice — Depression and isolation, handled seriously
• Shirobako — Industry-as-world, professional stakes
• The Tatami Galaxy — Young man's interiority, philosophical

Reading Order / Where to Start

Volume 1 — the opening establishes Rei's state precisely.

Official English Translation Status

Denpa Books is publishing the ongoing series. 15 volumes available in English.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Among the finest ongoing manga in publication
• The bullying arc is essential reading
• Depression depicted with genuine accuracy and dignity
• Shogi as a world is treated with complete seriousness

Cons

• Ongoing with slow English release schedule
• The pacing is deliberate — not for readers wanting action
• The bullying arc is emotionally heavy

Format Comparison

Format	Notes
Individual Volumes	Denpa Books; standard
Digital	Available

Where to Buy

Get March Comes in Like a Lion Vol. 1 on Amazon →

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