March Comes in Like a Lion Episode 9 Review:
While this episode of March Comes in Like a Lion was visually more impressive than episode 8 I liked it significantly less. Mostly this was because the old man, who was the focus for most of the episode, was just an annoying character. I didn’t really care about his plight. Plus, it kind of made Kyouko’s baiting at the end of the last episode fairly pointless given Rei was never going to lose that match.
Actually, what really bothered me was Rei. I get that he is evolving as a character, that’s kind of the point, but at times he was animated with the old man as he is when dealing with Nikaido and there just didn’t seem to be a big enough catalyst for him to have become that involved. Still beautiful to watch but I’m already wanting to see the next episode because this one was not impressive as a story.
March Comes in Like a Lion is available on Crunchyroll.
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Karandi James
Interesting you say that because I really enjoyed this episode, especially the old man. I thought of him as a sort of future version of Rei, and I think Rei sees a lot of his own anxieties in the old man. If the old man wasn’t an endearing personality himself (I thought he was except for the tedious restaurant scene), at least he provided some insight about living as a shogi player… even if that answer was a lack of answers.
I can see the episode working if you enjoy the old man but I found him annoying and tedious.
That’s a really interesting take on it. It is rather plausible that the old man is meant to mirror an older him. I think my main qualm with Shouichi was just that he pulled the story away for a bit to highlight his situation when I was engrossed in the other characters.
I wasn’t as sensitive to that personally, but I know what you mean. I just kind of accept that this show rambles a bit. I would prefer a focused drama if I had the choice, but I don’t mind what it actually is.
Yeah, that’s exactly how I felt. This episode lacked any punch whatsoever. :/
And given that is more or less the strength of the show or is dangerous to let that slip.
Well, at least there’s still a lot of time considering we haven’t even hit the halfway mark. I just hope it doesn’t become unbearable.
Signing under every word.