ข้อมูลอนิเมะMarch comes in like a lion

Rei Kiriyama, a high school student and pro shougi player, lives alone in Rokugatsu-cho, an old town in Tokyo. After a game with Kouda, his pro shougi player foster father, Rei heads for the Kawamoto house in Sangatsu-cho. He receives a lively welcome and dinner from the Kawamoto sisters: Akari, the eldest; Hinata, the middle sister; and Momo, the youngest. But all is not well with Rei…

Professional shougi player Harunobu Nikaido is waiting for Rei when he gets home. Nikaido has thought of himself as Rei’s rival ever since they were kids and he looks forward to their next match. Days later, after a match with an older player named Issa Matsumoto, Rei, Issa, and another shougi player, Tatsuyuki Misumi, go to a hostess bar. They are greeted warmly by the eldest Kawamoto sister, Akari, who happens to work there.

It’s the day of Rei’s first game with Nikaido since becoming a pro. As he heads for Shougi Hall, he reminisces about one of the times he faced off against Nikaido as a child. Nikaido is full of fighting spirit as they clash once more. Just like when they were younger, the two opponents have the same overriding thought: “I don’t want to lose…”

In preparation for the middle school baseball game the following day, Hina makes lunch for ace Yuusuke Takahashi, whom she has a crush on. She’s very excited about making an extravagant and cute lunch, but quarrels with Akari, who argues that a normal bento would be best. The next morning sees Hinata frantically finishing her lunch and deciding what to wear. How will this major event in the young lady’s life turn out?!

Rei does Akari a favor by picking Momo up at day-care, but on the way home, Momo falls, sustaining a few scratches. While Rei tends to her wounds, he recalls the day he lost his family, when he was a young child. A sudden accident had robbed Rei of his warm family, parents, and his little sister, too. At the funeral, Rei is standing alone when Masachika Kouda, his father’s friend and pro shougi player, starts talking to him. “Do you like shougi?”

“I want to go somewhere…” In order to be independent and make ends meet on his own, Rei desperately clung to the game board and became a professional shougi player while still in middle school. However, in this, his second year, he missed the chance to advance to the next level. After much struggling, Rei has gotten to where he is now, but he can’t find a reason to move on from there. Rei is at a loss over his own tendency to “stop halfway.”

Soon after going to a fast food shop, Hinata and Rei bump into Hinata’s crush, Takahashi! Hinata is so nervous that she panics, while Rei is baffled over what to talk about with the sportsman. However, Takahashi realizes that Rei is a pro shogi player and talks about his own desire to become a pro baseball player in the future. But then he asks Rei why he chose to go back to high school a year after becoming a pro. How does Rei answer after seeing Takahashi’s serious expression?

Rei and Nikaidou continue to teach Hinata and Momo how to play shogi. Momo and her sister are delighted by Nikaidou’s cute homemade shougi picture book that is chock full of cats. This visual aid makes learning the basics of shougi fun for them. Between suddenly intruding on Rei’s privacy and delivering passionate messages while doing shougi commentary on TV, Nikaidou directly expresses his feelings of friendship for Rei and his enthusiasm for shougi. But will that enthusiasm rub off on Rei?

It’s the day of Rei’s match against Shouichi Matsunaga, a 65-year-old who’s been a professional shougi player for 40 years. Rei braces himself to battle a man who’s been playing for more than twice the years he’s been alive. However, once the game begins, it seems like Matsunaga is making random moves, which makes Rei’s job even tougher. After the match is over, though, Rei gets sucked into having dinner with Matsunaga…?