I really don’t know how to write about this series. That isn’t to say I don’t know why I like it or anything, but I don’t know how to not hide the bias. 3-gatsu no lion is my favorite anime. I think it’s the best thing this medium has to offer, & it’s by far not only shaft’s but Akiyuki Shinbou’s best project he ever has directed, & ever will direct. That statement may come back to bite me in the ass at some point later on, but I don’t care. I feel it a disgrace to not write about my favorite series. Spoiler alert, you have been warned.

Story: 10/10

Phenomenal. That’s the only word I need. 3-gatsu no lion combines simplicity with complexity. The overall story is simple, it’s about pro-shogi player Rei Kiriyama working to overcome his struggles in life. But what elevates this story is the concepts 3-gatsu tackles, from self-discovery, depression, bullying, understanding others, & many, many more. It takes a story that’s about an ordinary guy overcoming his struggles & turns it into something a bit more grandiose. The places this story takes us too, oh my god. Everyone in this series has their own arc that they go through, their own stories to tell, their own paths they take, every character has something to offer & not one person is wasted space. From learning about Souya’s deafness & how it affected him & his shogi career, Nikaidou & how his match against Kiriyama as a child motivated him to push harder & become a better shogi player, or Hinata’s bullying arc about her friend, Chiho getting bullied out of school, & Hinata standing her ground against the bullies. All of it is great stuff & involved storylines that don’t detract from the overall storyline of the series. The episode structure & storyboarding is also stuff made of legends, creating a great & seamless flow. The flow of the storyboarding also makes the area’s feel jam-packed & full of life. It’s an all around superb effort.

Characters: 10/10

I already briefly touched upon the excellency that are the characters of this show in my story segment, but I will say it again, the character in 3-gatsu are brilliantly written. Rei Kiriyama’s depression doesn’t feel like some cheap tactic to try & make him feel like a relatable character, his depression feels earned because of his circumstances, Shogi is the only thing this poor man has, without it he is nothing. He lives by himself while he’s taking highschool, & he grew up in an abusive upbringing (not from his adoptive father, but his sister & brother either hurting him or ignoring him flat out). But Rei isn’t mopey the whole time, Rei can actually be quite a cheerful individual & when good things happen to him he’s very appreciative of it. Rei Kiriyama is above all else balanced.

Speaking of bright sides of Rei’s life, we have the Kawamoto sisters that consist of Akari, Hinata, & Momo. The Kawamoto sisters are perfect, they serve the story purpose brilliantly & contribute a lot of things to the development of not only Rei Kiriyama, but Rei as a whole. The Kawamoto sisters are very cheerful & upbeat citizens who take in & look after Rei as if he was their own. 3-gatsu no lion has tone-shifts, usually involving the Kawamoto sisters, but these aren’t bad as the series builds up to these tone-shifts through both an establishing structure, & shot. Not only that, but the art-style will also change to match the tone of a scene. From momo’s innocence, Akari’s motherly love of both her sisters & Rei, & Hinata in general, the Kawamoto sisters are actually perfect & this series would be worse off without them.

That’s just scratching the surface of the well rounded cast of this series. We have Gotou, a shogi player with an ill wife doing all he can to try & help his wife, all the time staying loyal to her. We then have Kyouko, Rei’s adoptive older sister who was hard on Rei because her Father gave more attention to bettering Rei in shogi than he did to his own daughter. Next we have Hayashida, Rei’s homeroom teacher who eats lunch with him & is there to have a conversation with Rei & help comfort him. I could go on all day, but the point is that 3-gatsu’s characters are all fleshed out & involved being who all have something to contribute to the story at hand. Not one character in this series is underutilized & each one of them go through their own arc (big or small) that makes them not only memorable, but believably sympathetic characters as well. This might just be one of the most rounded cast’s of characters that anime has ever seen they’re that well written.

Art:10/10

3-gatsu is an artistic masterpiece, but this is Studio-Shaft we’re talking about, even their worst works look good & 3-gatsu no lion is no exception to Shaft anime looking gorgeous. The way the series adapts Chika Umino’s art into animation is excellent, the line work & colors choices were excellent & each scene (even dark ones) are well lite & let the colors pop. The design works are good too, from character designs that tell you exactly what you need to know about the characters, said designs representing the characters well, the general design works of the settings is all excellent stuff. If I may be so bold, as gorgeous as the Monogatari series looks & as much as I praised the design works in my review of Bakemonogatari, the designs works on display on 3-gatsu are so excellent & the adaptation of Chika Umino’s artstyle into animation here transitions so well that I actually prefer the way 3-gatsu no lion looks over the Monogatari franchise.

Animation is of course excellent, the weight, flow, mechanics, etc. All of it is really good stuff. From more intense action moments (such as the shogi battles) & all the little animation details in more relaxed scenes, the animation remains consistently high quality through the (at the time of writing) 44 episodes that this series spans. To put it bluntly, I have no problems with the animation of this series, & the animation itself has no flaws.

Sound: 10/10

The sound is just as great as everything else about the series is, what more did you expect? The voice acting in particular is really good (how does Shaft not only know how to hire talented voice actors, but keep them coming back?). Kawanishi Kengo as Rei, Hanazawa Kana as Hinata, Kuno Misaki as Momo, & Sakurai Takahiro as Hayashida, it’s all great stuff from some really talented people. The music is also really good, it creates some great atmosphere but remains humble & a nice easy listen outside of the show itself. I must also bring mention to the first OP of the series, ‘Answer” by “Bump of Chicken” which might just be my favorite anime OP of all time. I listen to it almost everyday & in-fact I’m listening to it now as I write this review.

Overall: I’ve got 5 words for you, “10 out of fucking 10!”

Finally getting around to write about this series has felt really rewarding. Getting to express my love of my favorite anime, talking about all its great points, its excellent storytelling, it’s phenomenal & well rounded character cast, it’s excellent art & sound. Really, what more can I say here? It’s damn near perfection. Unlike 3 other shows in my top 5, they all have glaring aspects to them that I can pinpoint as flaws, albeit flaws that aren’t high enough to detriment their status as being in my top 5, but still some flaws to them nevertheless. 3-gatsu no lion on the other hand, I have absolutely nothing negative to say about it. It’s in the top 10 on MAL for a reason (though frankly is deserves to be number 1 if you ask me). In conclusion, 3-gatsu no lion #1 anime, Hinata & Rei are the best characters, Answer best OP, Akiyuki Shinbou at his best directing job on this one, & this is what all adaptations should strive to be. Already said it but this one is getting the full 10 out of 10 to nobody’s surprise.