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March comes in like a lion
Episode 7

by Nick Creamer,

How would you rate episode 7 of
March comes in like a lion ?
Community score: 4.5

After a full episode spent deep within Rei's depressed psyche, it was nice to get a breather this week. March comes in like a lion has stumbled with its lighter material in the past, but through meetings with Hina's crush and beyond, this episode handled both its optimism and comedy very effectively. If the show can lock down its approach to this style of material going forward, it might finally achieve its own substantial potential.

The episode opened where the last concluded, with Rei being forced to make small talk with ace baseball player Yūsuke Takahashi. Though Rei was initially intimidated by Yuusuke, it turned out that sense of awe was mutual. Yuusuke's current scholastic path was actually prompted by his admiration for Rei, who he saw as someone with all their issues truly sorted out. It turns out the people we think have it all together are generally still a mess in their own ways.

Though Yuusuke was impressed by Rei, he had an awkward question for him: why had Rei returned to high school after his first year as a professional? Caught off-guard by this question, Rei ultimately came up with a well-considered speech on his desire to avoid regrets. Although he was worried about this speech's reception, Yuusuke's response made it clear that he understood Rei's feelings completely.

Hearing that confirmation of understanding made Rei truly happy for perhaps the first time in this series. On a character-writing level, this was smart storytelling. Much of Rei's anxiety over the past couple of episodes has been prompted by his distrust of his own feelings - he doesn't know what inspires him to move forward, and he doesn't know why he hates to lose, so all he can do is second-guess everything. Hearing a confirmation that your feelings make sense and are valid isn't just a generally satisfying feeling, it also directly answers one of Rei's biggest fears.

On a visual execution level, that moment of happiness allowed March to establish the motif mirrors for Rei's waterlogged depression. Rei's feelings of hopelessness are generally represented through water, be it either the bubbles rising in his water bottle or visions of himself sinking beneath the bridge. But when Rei is able to find happiness, his feelings are represented by birds in flight, soaring over that same bridge as the sun sets.

Whether positive or negative, all of Rei's emotions are tied to visual markers of the bridge, which makes sense. Rei's depression, and depression in general, often expresses itself as a total lack of feeling, which is exemplified in how Rei finds it so strange when he sees Hina crying. Even being able to feel sorrow can be an escape from depression, and one Rei clearly needs to reach given that he's still bottling up his grief over his family's death. By tying both positive and negative emotions to the imagery of the bridge, March emphasizes how Rei's route to emotional wholeness is also the route he takes to the sisters' home. Their influence on his life is the context for his escape from emotional emptiness.

It was also just nice to see Rei happy for his own sake, something the rest of this episode emphasized as well. Though I felt a couple specific gags in this episode's second half were oversold (Akari's tussle with the cats was abrasive and overlong), I also felt those scenes were some of the most effectively comic and genuinely warm moments of the series so far. Adding Yuusuke to the family dynamic made for a more vibrant back-and-forth, with feelings of happiness and camaraderie emerging naturally from the dialogue. March has sometimes used signifiers of positive emotions in place of scenes that truly engender positive feelings in the audience, but the rapport between the characters this week conveyed the warmth of these relationships without any on-the-nose aesthetic salesmanship.

Even the show's use of manga asides is starting to feel more graceful, largely because the show isn't actually emphasizing them. When March uses airtime to specifically spell out one of its goofy bits of commentary, it drags - when it lets them linger in the corner of the frame instead while other things are happening, they come off as unobtrusive and mostly endearing. All that plus Nikaidou's fantastic “shogi commentary turned motivational pep talk” sequence made this episode the most successfully upbeat segment March has constructed yet. I hope this episode's triumph over the show's usual missteps is a sign of things to come.

Overall: A-

March comes in like a lion is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Nick writes about anime, storytelling, and the meaning of life at Wrong Every Time.


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