3-Gatsu no Lion Season 2

Hullo friends and welcome back to a short blog about my thoughts and opinions of the second episode of 3-Gatsu no Lion Season 2. So what were my thoughts in the episode? The second episode was alright, I did notice however, that it did really well at making me feel frustrated and angry. Not because I thought the episode’s “lesson” was weak and therefore uninteresting, it was because of two individuals in particular. Gotou and Kouda.

They are the “ultimate” antagonists. You hate Gotou because of his cold and mean behaviour, and because while his wife is in the hospital, in a coma (I think anyway), this fool is flirting with Kouda. While I understand that Gotou is lonely and needs someone in his life to keep him company, I don’t think cheating on your wife while she’s in hospital is the way to go. But for Kouda over here, she is okay with the whole thing apparently. Which in itself boggles my mind. During the episode, the Anime presents a flashback where it cuts to a time when Kouda was in Kiriyama’s apartment holding him saying “I’m scared”, which was in reference to her relationship with Gotou.

So you can tell, that although she is “okay” with her relationship with Gotou, she still is conflicted. I am sure, that she know’s deep inside that what she’s doing isn’t right, but one thing was made apparent during this episode, is that she has feelings for Gotou. Whatever those feelings may be, who knows, nor do I think we’ll ever know the extent of them, but its are there.

Episode 2 was Gotou and Kouda’s episode I think. As they dominated the second half or rather towards the end of the episode by showing their dynamic as a “couple”. Am I opposed to that? Not really, what 3-Gatsu no Lion does extremely well at is building up their antagonists. To the point where us too, the audience feel/experience emotions whenever we see them interact with the rest of the characters (in whatever capacity that is). The antagonists portrayed in episode 2, felt real, because the experiences were similar to what you often hear in real life. As the Anime is mainly about Kiriyama and his life/experiences as a young shogi professional, in high school. A lot of the interactions within the Anime feel real and feel relatable.

I think that is one of the many appeals of 3-Gatsu no Lion. A teenager, who doesn’t have a “legitimate” family; the only real “family” you have is your adopted one, where your older sister abused you when you were you younger; because she thought you were trying to steal her family, but didn’t know at the time, that all you wanted to do is be a part of one. Trying to fit in but your personality makes it hard. Excluding the whole shogi professional part, I personally think the story itself is relatable and is also why I think you’re able to feel more of a connection with the characters whether you like them or not because it feels real.

That is it for now, I will see you again when I talk about episode 3!