3-gatsu no Lion is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Chica Umino.

It was serialized in Hakusensha’s Seinen manga magazine Young Animal from July 2007. This manga is still ongoing, with its 130 chapters collected in 16 separate volumes. This series has many awards and nominations under its belt, including the 2011 Annual Manga Taisho and 2011 Kodansha Manga Award. Both the manga and the anime have been very well received.

Two anime seasons, adapted by Shaft, have been released, with each season consisting of 22 episodes. A third season has been confirmed!

The story begins with Rei Kiriyama, the 17 year old protagonist, having a dream about a girl speaking to him.

He wakes up with a saddened look on his face, gets ready and heads out to the train station.

Rei enters a Shogi Hall and sits at a table in silence until an old man arrives and they start playing.

As the match continues in awkward silence, it seems as if they know each other. Rei ends up the Victor and the old man takes his leave.

As Rei is about to head home, he receives a text from Akari Kawamoto, inviting him to have dinner with them.

As Rei is texting back saying that he won’t be able to join them due to an illness, he receives another text asking him to pick up some groceries on his way.

Now feeling obligated, he picks up the groceries and heads to the Kawamoto’s, where he is warmly greeted by the Kawamoto sisters.

Seeing the Kawamoto sisters preparing dinner and talking to Hina, makes him smile and feel a little better.

While having dinner, Rei sees a news report on TV about an old man being beaten to death by his own son, this makes him remember his Shogi match this morning, the man he was playing against was his adoptive father.

Rei ends up staying at the Kawamoto’s for the night. Hina brings a blanket for him, and notices that Rei still has his glasses on, so she removes his glasses but sees the tears coming from his eyes.

What is Rei’s story? Who is the girl Rei was dreaming about?