Rei Kiriyama turned professional at shogi in middle school and now, at 17, lives alone in a Tokyo apartment, estranged from his foster family and winning matches without knowing what for. The three Kawamoto sisters, Akari, Hinata and Momo, keep pulling him to their dinner table, and slowly the game and the people around it start to mean something.
2 titles · 44 episodes · ~18.5 hours
Two TV seasons of 22 episodes each, watched one after the other. Season 2 starts at the manga chapter right after the one Season 1 ends on, and there are no anime movies or OVAs to fit in.
22 episodes (2016-2017). Rei Kiriyama, a 17-year-old shogi professional living alone, is drawn into the home of the three Kawamoto sisters while he works his way up the rankings. Adapts manga Chapters 1-45.
⚠ A recap of episodes 1-11 aired between episodes 11 and 12. It adds nothing new.
22 episodes (2017-2018), picking up at the very next chapter. Includes the storyline in which Hinata is bullied at school, alongside Rei's matches. Adapts Chapters 46-89, and this is where the anime currently stops.
The anime is a straight adaptation of Chica Umino's manga, and the episode titles are the manga's own chapter numbers: Season 1 runs from Chapter 1 to Chapter 45 and Season 2 from Chapter 46 to Chapter 89. That leaves nothing to rearrange and nothing to skip. A recap of episodes 1-11 aired in the middle of Season 1 and can be passed over. The other items that carry the title are not part of the story: the Blu-ray bonus shorts in which cats teach the rules of shogi, a few music videos, and two live-action films from 2017 that retell the manga with actors.
March comes in like a lion has 2 seasons in the main run — 44 episodes altogether.
| Title | Type | Episodes | Aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| March comes in like a lion | TV Series | 22 episodes | October 2016 |
| March comes in like a lion Season 2 | TV Series | 22 episodes | October 2017 |
2 titles · 44 episodes · ~18.5 hours
Where each part of the anime lines up with the source, so you know where to pick up reading.
Season 1 ends and Season 2 begins partway through Vol. 5, and Season 2 ends partway through Vol. 9. Nothing is anime-original: the episode titles are the manga chapter numbers. Season 1's last episode also adapts the spin-off chapter Fighter, and Season 2's last episode moves Chapter 97 forward, so readers starting at Chapter 90 will meet that chapter again. The English edition from Denpa has reached Vol. 4.
Start with episode 1 of the first season. Nothing comes before it, and Season 2 continues from the chapter right after Season 1 ends.
Season 1 (22 episodes), then Season 2 (22 episodes). That is the whole anime. There are no anime movies or OVAs.
44 episodes: 22 in each of the two seasons. That is about 18.5 hours. A recap episode that aired during Season 1 is not counted.
Yes, one. A recap of episodes 1-11 aired on December 29, 2016, between episodes 11 and 12. It contains no new story and can be skipped. The US Blu-ray includes it as a Digest. Season 2 has no recap.
There is no anime movie or OVA. Two live-action films directed by Keishi Otomo came out in Japan on March 18 and April 22, 2017; they retell the manga with actors and are not a continuation of the anime. The Season 1 Blu-rays also carry Moving Meow Shogi, ten shorts of about four minutes in which cats teach the rules of shogi, and there are a few music videos made with the band Bump of Chicken. None of these are story episodes.
No. The series is about Rei and the people around him, and it does not expect you to follow the moves on the board. If you want the basics, the Moving Meow Shogi shorts on the Blu-ray explain how the pieces work.
The anime's latest episode aired on March 31, 2018, and no Season 3 has been announced as of October 2026. The manga is not finished. It has 18 volumes, and in Volume 18, released in September 2025, author Chica Umino wrote that she intends to finish the story in one more volume.
Season 2 ends with Chapter 89, so pick up the manga at Volume 9, Chapter 90. The final episode also adapts Chapter 97, so you will meet that chapter again a little later.
No. The anime adapts the manga chapter by chapter in order, and the episode titles are the chapter numbers. The only extra is the spin-off chapter Fighter, which is adapted in the last episode of Season 1.
Yes, for both seasons, produced by Aniplex of America. Khoi Dao voices Rei, with Laura Post as Akari, Kayli Mills as Hinata and Xanthe Huynh as Momo, and all four play their roles in both seasons.
In the United States, the series streams on Crunchyroll. Availability varies by region.
Yes, but only the early part so far. Denpa publishes the English edition and has released four volumes as of October 2026, so the point where the anime ends, Volume 9, is not yet out in English. The Japanese edition from Hakusensha has 18 volumes.
