3-gatsu no Lion – 07

「Chapter.13 神さまの子供（その③) / Chapter.14 大切なもの。大切なこと。/ Chapter.15 将棋おしえて」 (Chapter.13 Kami-sama no Kodomo (Sono (3)) / Chapter.14 Taisetsunamono. Taisetsunakoto / Chapter.15 Shougi Oshiete ()
“Chapter 13 Child of God Part 3 / Chapter 14 Important Things. Important Matters / Chapter 15 Teach Me How To Play Shogi”

It’s hard to describe exactly how I felt, but I was in tears when a little bit of color finally entered Rei’s life.

Color That Touches the Soul

I’ll talk about the first half of the episode in a second, but I need to get these emotions off of my chest. I’m sure everyone watching this show has at one point in their life experienced some sort of depression. Be it a tiny hump to completely breaking down, one thing that’s constant is that feeling of color leaving the world. Everyday activities become too troublesome to do and everyday becomes cloudy even if the sun is shining straight on you. If there’s something that 3-gatsu has done a great job at portraying, it’s the feeling (or lack of feeling) that Rei has when he gets caught up in his thoughts. Constantly viewing the world in black and white since there’s nothing in his soul to add color to it, things really hit me hard this week when a tiny bit of color started filling out his inner thoughts. Because, out of the many feelings one can have throughout their life, the experience of having happiness reenter your heart is up there as one of the best. It’s such a strong emotion that I clearly remember some hot tears of happiness flowing down my cheeks as I realized what was going on when Hina asked Rei to teach her shogi.

Nikaidou Is Actually Really Cool

Okay, he may have given us the wrong impression with his introduction, but Nikaidou has become one of the show’s best characters. Giving literally zero f***s about how people perceive him, I really love how he goes at his own pace and just does whatever feels right. I mean, it’s one thing to call someone your best friend and another to be on NHK and yell words of encouragement (or rather criticism?) at your best friend even though you’re supposed to be providing non-biased commentary. In any case, I hope we get to see more of him since he’s been bringing out the best in all our characters whenever he appears.

Looking Ahead

Boy am I loving how this show is handling the pacing. Giving us just enough sadness and emptiness and bringing our spirits up right before we hit rock bottom, this is literally the definition of an emotional rollercoaster. Watching Rei grow and mature as he deals with the crappy situation that life has given him has been fantastic and I can’t wait to see where all of this leads to. That said, I suppose you could say 3-gatsu might end up being a show where it’s not necessarily the destination that makes it worth watching but experiencing the journey we took to get there.

See you next week!

 

ED2 Sequence

ED2: 「ニャー将棋音頭」 (Nyaa Shougiondo) by 川本あかり、ひなた、モモ (Kawamoto Akari, Hinata, Momo)

Preview