First Impressions: Chica Umino's Sangatsu No Lion
I wrote this a few days ago, but I didn't have time to post it.
I finally found Chica Umino's ongoing manga, Sangatsu No Lion (March Comes in like a Lion) over at Mangafox. I have been periodically looking for a translation ever since it was announced. I finished reading all available chapters last night. It’s only got two volumes out and I am not used to following a series that’s still finding its feet. I’m used to catching on to a series at the peak of its popularity. Other times I read something only after it’s done and most of its fans have moved on.
I admit I was intensely curious about this series because I am such a crazed lover of Honey and Clover. Among the manga series I’ve read, I feel it’s the only one to have a lasting impact. It’s a text that will probably affect my original writing for years to come. As a literature major who had to read a lot of weird shit over the years, there is no higher praise I can bestow from my heart.
Does Sangatsu No Lion measure up to my obviously high expectations of Chica Umino? On the surface, a manga about a high school pro shogi player seems like a major left turn for a mangaka who elevated love triangles at art school into poetry. After the first uncertain chapters, however, Sangatsu No Lion picks up the pace and delves into themes that made Honey and Clover memorable: death, abandonment, survival, and professional jealousy.
Since I still have a soft spot for death gods, I really liked this page.
The similarity of some character designs might throw some people off. During the first chapters I kept thinking, “is that Mayama again? Why is Morita so fat?!” Umino is not quite as bad as Adachi when it comes to faces, but the 6 face syndrome comes pretty close. To illustrate the uncanny similarities...
Morita from Honey and Clover
Akira from Eden of the East
Nikaidou from Sangatsu No Lion
DAMN IT MORITA LAY OFF THE HAAGEN DAZS ICE CREAM!
It doesn’t help that one of the covers of Honey and Clover have the guys playing shogi too! Thankfully, the main character has an entirely different voice and encounters different challenges.
Since this is Umino, there are a lot of cute animals and at least one chibi toddler running around in the background. Despite these elements, the main character’s history is bleak, almost tragic. His pain is not the ache of first unrequited love; his struggle is the mad scramble to fight for his existence. If you are in a bad place right now, some of his thoughts might trigger painful memories. On the other hand, I’m not doing so well myself in the mood department and I found it horribly cleansing.
Despite occasionally being classified as a “sports manga,” there have been no crazy shogi fights yet. This is not a series obsessed with leveling up or impossible hax moves that leaves spectators in awe. Rei wins and he loses and things move on. Realistically, some of the minor characters are more concerned with losing their current rankings than trying to go higher. The tournaments Rei attends are little more than jumping off points for other life issues.
It’s too soon for the series for me to determine if there’s a love triangle developing (or not). So far only a partial history of the main character has been revealed, and a few tantalizing flashbacks that tease. I’m not exactly sure where Sangatsu No Lion is heading, but instincts tell me it’s going to be a slow, gut-wrenching ride. I want to be there for every minute of it.