March Comes In Like a Lion is a relative sleeper hit franchise, with its manga and eventual anime adaptation becoming quite popular among a staunch group of fans. The series stars a depressed and lonely teenage shogi player who tries to navigate through his often bleak life.
The series' manga is still running, and a spinoff manga series ended just last year. Despite this, the anime so far has only two seasons, leaving fans to wonder if a third season will ever be made. Here's a look at what the story of March Comes In Like a Lion is about and whether or not its anime adaptation is likely to continue.
The Plot & Origin of March Comes In Like a Lion
March Comes In Like a Lion centers around Rei, a young man who found himself orphaned at a young age. He left his foster family, feeling that he was merely a burden to them. Now 17 years old, he lives alone and makes his living as a professional shogi player. Ironically, although he's very good at the game, he doesn't necessarily care for it and envisions a life outside of the cage he feels trapped in. As he tries to advance in life, he deals with heartache and depression, all while growing closer to his few friends.
The manga from Chica Umino came out over ten years ago, starting publication in 2007. Despite its long publication history, it has only 15 collected manga volumes so far. March Comes In Like a Lion: Shakunetsu no Toki, a spinoff manga centering around the Japanese Shogi Association Chairman, was also released in 2015, lasting until 2020. Aside from the 2017 live-action film, there was also an anime, which ran for two seasons from 2016 to 2018. It had 44 episodes in total, but so far, these are the only episodes confirmed for the series.
Will There Be a Season 3 of March Comes In Like a Lion?
So far, there's been no word on whether or not Shaft will produce another season of March Comes In Like a Lion. As mentioned, the manga is still running, and there's now definitely enough material for a third season of the show. Such a delay in seasons isn't uncommon for anime adaptations, and this was most likely done here to ensure that there would be enough material for another season in case the manga ended.
Moreover, fans should keep in mind that the manga won't be releasing in the West until next summer, with sales of this possibly also being a factor. Either way, the anime was already quite popular among viewers and critics, and this interest will likely be the main deciding factor for the creation of a Season 3. Although the popularity of the anime did somewhat diminish with the second season, resulting in disc sales seeing a noticeable drop, hype and fan interest will hopefully be enough to eventually secure another season.
