Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: March comes in like a lion
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chaccide
Posts: 295 |
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This is exactly what depression looks like to someone living inside it. I found it interesting this time to focus on the depiction of the "happier" aspects of the episode to see this, as opposite to the "sad" where it's obvious. That picture of the house where the sisters live, it was completely unrealistic, like something out of a child's story book. The cats, the palette and art style inside the house, they're all a part of how he sees happiness. That too is depression talking.
Happiness to someone who is severely depressed is unrealistic, a fairy tale that falls flat when you try to put any faith in it. It intrudes on realism and is out of place, like all warm emotions and much humor. The depressed yearn for it and crave it even as they fail to believe in it and find it intrusive. The animation has been expressing this all along. The show does excel when it's expressing depression, but what some are failing to see is that the whole show is expressing it, not just the sad parts. I look forward to, or at least hope for moments when that warmth reaches him and he starts to believe. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23769 |
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@ chaccide - that's an interesting insight, thank you for sharing it. I hadn't thought about how a depressed person might perceive something that he or she assumes represents happiness or non-depression, but that makes sense. I wish you were writing the review for this series. Being constantly reminded of Nick's lack of sensibility over the comedy in this show is ... well ... depressing.
*cue image of man drowning in dark, cold water* |
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mooneater
 Posts: 18 |
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What a great great show this is! The way this show displays depression is so smart and calculated I'd never seen something like this in any anime ever before. Usually, in anime, they either tiptoeing around the whole depression concept or they exaggerate it so much that it becomes unrealistic, unbelievable and uninformative. This show just displays the feelings you have during depression perfectly. The way you separate yourself from others, the little happiness that you find but feel like you don't deserve, pushing people who want to help you away and many other things. I have a feeling that Akari dealt with depression before since she understands Rei really well and handle his emotional problems perfectly.
Animation and art style just complements the story. Many people don't like SHAFT's adaption on this work but I love it. Shaft's style is usually centered around the character, not the environment, and for this story that just works perfectly. i like how the bridge works as a transformer for the art style too. as soon as Rei crosses the bridge the tone in colors and the whole art style changes. and the OP and ED are just perfect! They are telling the story of Rei's life without spoiling anything and that's just great! I think a lot of people problem with the comedy is that they expect the same level of comedy from this anime as they'd seen in honey and clover. This happens to many second good works from a mangaka with a popular 1st work. just look at last season and what happened to mob psycho 100! people keep bashing it simply because it was not another OPM! This is the same case. March comes in like a lion is not another Honey and Clover. it covers completely different subjects and has a completely different tone. As many other people mentioned this in the article the jokes in 3-gatsu no lion are not funny because they're not supposed to be funny! they are not HAHA jokes, they are soothing. they are there to break the darkness of Rei's life. and lastly, please please please don't give the best shows of each season to nick! I'm still recovering from his Death Parade reviews and now i have to deal with this! No, just NO! |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23769 |
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Well, in fairness to some of the people who don't like the comedy in March, they may not have seen Honey and Clover, so it may not be a case of unfavourable comparison. I quite like the comedy in March, but I can understand how somebody might not. What I object to, however, is Nick's assertion that some of the techniques used in the comedy objectively don't work in anime for some really dopey reasons he gives. It's like saying slow motion doesn't "work" because that's not how your eye actually perceives things in real life. It's a silly stance to take. A technique can be effective or ineffective, but the idea that it objectively can't work in ANY situation is one of the most bizarre claims I've ever seen a reviewer make.
I am not familiar with March's source material so I wonder if Rei's depression will remain undiagnosed and untreated. Note, I am not asking people who are familiar with the source material to answer that question, I am just musing speculatively. If I had to guess, I would say probably not because anime doesn't tend to go there. Most likely any improvements that Rei experiences will come from his association with the sisters. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11348 |
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Um, Zac did the weekly reviews, Nick just did the single 1-12 streaming review. And he gave it an A-, with some mildly generic criticisms ("Not all episodes are equally strong, and the background story isn't nearly as engaging as the vignettes or main characters," which could apply to almost any series), so what traumatized you so? oO |
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killjoy_the
 Posts: 2459 |
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I dropped Honey and Clover for being painfully unfunny and thought Mob Psycho 100 was about 100% better than OPM, so the comparison sounds funny to me. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11348 |
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Heh, I guess it wasn't Hina that was on Takahashi's radar after all. I like him though. He seems like a nice guy, so I hope Hina can stop tea-kettling around him now and act normally. Maybe she can play shogi with him, which is probably what she has in mind.
It would have been really nice if they'd subbed the end song this time. It was obviously a shogi lesson, and I could use one. At least it's not as bad as not subbing the insert song lyrics when those lyrics were the central plot for two episodes of Dream Festival. Hmm, "on-the-nose" seems to have become this season's fancy buzzword. Three different reviewers here used it in just one day. |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5424 Location: Iscandar |
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Just when I was staring to lose interest in this show, Kyouko reappears to reignite my interest. More than a thunder, she is a hurricane. Episode 8 also made me realize that March Comes in Like a Lion is at its best when there is chaos.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23769 |
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Woah, that Kyouko is quite the piece of work. But yeah, she dials up the interest factor, for sure.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11348 |
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They certainly turned the Shaft up to 11 in the last half.
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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Kyouto is definitely an interesting character, sadly it seems like she was too interesting (light manga spoiler). spoiler[A giant problem I had with the manga is that her story goes nowhere, the interaction she has with Rei happens another 2-3 time and is always the same without ever really changing and nothing is learned or nothing change. I'm not sure if that was the point "Kyouko is going nowhere so here's a bunch of almost identical scene to demonstrate that", but yeah it's boring and just a waste of potential. Ultimately I dropped the manga before anything was resolved and I was really hoping the anime adaption would really speed up the pace, but it seems like they want to take it as slow as possible, so don't expect a resolution for Kyouko anytime soon.]
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skinnywonderfulman
Posts: 3 |
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Can someone tell me which character this?
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23769 |
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That would be Kyouto Koda, Rei's "sort of" sister and one seriously messed up broad.
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skinnywonderfulman
Posts: 3 |
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I almost want to just watch this anime solely for this character. Worth it?
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Jayhosh
 Posts: 972 Location: Millmont, Pennsylvania |
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"But guys, the jokes aren't supposed to be funny!" I'm sorry, but am I the only person here who finds that reoccurring defense kind of silly?
Yeah, and last I checked the majority of people who initially dissed Mob for being a rip-off or clone of OPM had a complete change of heart by the end of the season.
Same thing I was thinking. I love me some appropriately timed head tilts. When done in the right context, that is (which Shaft sometimes goes overboard on). The latter half of this episode indeed reminded me why I kept watching the show in the first place instead of dropping it already. The drama is always done really solidly, as well as the sound design and art/animation. |
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