March Comes in Like a Lion // 3-Gatsu no Lion: Episode 31 FULL LENGTH Reaction!
Added 2024-10-03 13:00:03 +0000 UTC*UNDERSTATED HEADPHONE WARNINGS*
This episode has Rei going to the FINALS of the Newcomer Tournament, as Hina goes on a class trip - both fighting as hard as they can for themselves...and maybe in Rei's case...for others! What an episode with such a conclusion!
I am STUNNED and my shipper heart is FULL and I cannot WAIT to see what next week gives us! Y'ALL. Can we talk about this development with our man, Rei!?
LINK TO PIP REACTION: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/MgM5k7HQWmtwRYfgwPrqSh?
Thank you for watching with me and for all the support!
Comments
This show has pulled so many tears out of me, but it’s also been so worth it, too! Yes, the tears this episode were happy ones! I love the theme and symbolism tied with food in this series! I hate that Hina was dreading being on a school trip, knowing she would likely be ignored or at worst, ridiculed or bullied. I was proud of her for powering through, too, though. I agree, some of those trips, you would regret if you didn’t take them! I am so impressed she recognizes that at an early age. I was mad at the ones belittling Nikaido, just like the two men belittling Shimada in an earlier episode. The theme of people going low and bullying is so sad! But yes, THE PARALLELS! And Nikaido rooting and helping Rei throughout the match “spiritually” was so powerful! I love the concept of “new generations” whenever anime bring them up! I definitely feel for Akari and the role she’s had to take on - I feel the series always presents her as this strong individual, but seeing JUST how vulnerable she actually is makes for such a huge moment with her character and the audience. I’m glad Rei won as well - for both Nikaido and Hina - but the rest of this episode? FLAWLESS! The fact he memorized where she’d be, that he immediately came to visit her, Getting her the stomach medicine, and sitting with her by the river? Knowing she’d be there? And the FOREHEAD KISS? Rabid, indeed. And Hina hugging Rei and him offering affection back? SHIPPING FOR DAYS! I just love them as a pair and this entire episode! It’s so sweet and I agree so much with your comment! Thanks for the comment and kind words!
Romaniablack
2024-10-09 15:30:46 +0000 UTCOohhh, that's a really good note about the OP and Hina facing from the camera - I love how OP's, especially for this series, can take that imagery and without giving much away in the moment, foreshadow so much context to come! I love that analysis of it that you did here! Thank you for the comment and kind words!
Romaniablack
2024-10-09 14:33:05 +0000 UTCAw, thank you so much for the comment and kind words! I love Thursdays with this series!
Romaniablack
2024-10-09 14:11:02 +0000 UTCFor me it was this episode that gave some more context to the opening of this season. In the OP before the drop into the chorus it shows Hina facing away from the camera that leads into a tear drop falling on someones hand. Then when the chorus hits it shows Rei running across the water kind of showing the lengths he would go to get to her. It really makes me love that OP more than I already do. Keep up the reactions they're great.
cabbgeptch
2024-10-07 19:37:14 +0000 UTCI believe that the task of not crying is absolutely impossible in this show. My eyes were so full all through this episode but, this time around, it was mostly with wholesome feelings and not devastation, so that was nice. Akari making food for Rei because he is going away to such an important match is so fitting with her character and I love it. Just a few episodes ago, she was saying how Rei is so thin and now, before an important match, she sees him off the best she knows how to, with good food that will give him energy and make her feel like she is taking care of those she loves. I just love how well written and consistent these characters are. Poor Hina though. I can imagine contemplating the prospect of having to go on such a long trip with people that don't like you without the opportunity of any respite, and that is daunting, indeed. That being said, I was so proud of her for recognizing that it would be an experience worth having, and maturely powering through. I can remember once when I was younger and still learning English forfeiting my place in some classes because I was the youngest and felt out of place and regretting to this day even though I did learn in the end. There are just some moments that are very important, but it's difficult to know them in hindsight, and Hina being able to recognize it is impressive. I'll be honest, those people belittling Nikaido's abilities and his fight against Yamazaki made me mad. I just find it pretty low to be belittling someone who is sick, and sick enough to end up in the hospital. That being said, the parallels between this match and Shimada and Goto's, plus Shimada losing against Souya the same way that Nikaido eventually did against Yamazaki, are not lost on me. I find it interesting that Rei is compared with Souya so much and Nikaido with Shimada; that coupled with Nikaido calling Rei and himself the "princes of shogi", or something to that effect, makes me wonder what the mangaka is going for, if it is about the new generation coming on or something else. Rei stopping after getting so worked up about the way Yamazaki plays because he remembers Nikaido's words... that was such a good moment. HE PAYED ATTENTION T_T The fact that those words stayed with him even when it seemed that he was dismissing them, that he tucked them away and kept them safe enough for them to resurface in such a moment; ugh, it's wonderful. Rei has grown so much, it warms my heart. And the animation of that moment coupled with the piano just elevate the whole scene so much in my opinion; I didn't know what to pay attention to for a second, if the imagery, the gorgeous piano, or what was happening on the screen XD. Now, the fact that Akari represents this deep loneliness to Rei is a moment that gave me chills and made my eyes well up. It's devastating, to me, that this girl that has taken care of her family so well and so hard, that gives warmth and safety and care so willingly and carelessly, is the representation of *loneliness* to Rei. It makes my heart ache, and I hope we acknowledge it at some point. On the other hand, the fact that there is someone, Rei, that has born witness to that loneliness now is maybe a good sign; a sign that she is opening up to someone and letting them take care of her, and that her loneliness is coming to an end. I'm so happy Rei won that match, though T_T And he did it for Nikaido and Hina and the people who have supported him and not himself and not for money. And because we didn't already have enough to cry about this episode, we are also gifted with Rei just... rushing to Hina. THIS BOY *MEMORIZED* HINA'S SCHEDULE. I can't state that enough. I swear, at the beginning, when Rei starts rushing to Hina with the stomach medicine, I was convinced that they were in the same city; and I was also somewhat confused because I didn't remember that being the case. But, NO, they were not. Rei just decided that it was perfectly normal to take a train to take stomach medicine to his friend because they had a stomach ache a few days ago... so normal and casual. And, of course, Hina wasn't with the rest of her class. Of course, when Rei went to the expected place, he couldn't find her. But, of course, because he knows Hina, he goes and looks for her in exactly the place she would go. Rei sees Hina, knows Hina in the way that, I think, all of us want to be known. Honestly, it's not just Hina, Rei just pays so much attention to his interactions with the people he cares about; because we have established that Rei wants to be of service to others. But it seems that with Hina he has come to read between the lines some, and I'm obsessed with it. I DID NOT NOTICE THE FOREHEAD KISS UNTIL YOU MENTIONED IT, AND NOW I'M RABID ABOUT IT. Are you kidding me? In Japan's society, for Hina to be hugging Rei is huge. And it was such a heartbreaking and heartwarming hug all at once. To be fair, if I were Hina and was in her shoes, I, too, would have cried for a long time in the arms of someone I love just coming to look for me because they care enough to be that worried for me. I felt that moment in my bones, and still do.
Alexandra Q
2024-10-04 00:31:01 +0000 UTCbest part about thursday is being able to sit down after work at watch 3gatsu!
Liam Polzl
2024-10-04 00:30:33 +0000 UTC
