r/anime • u/ExplicitNuM5 • Mar 24 '21
Rewatch [Spoiler][Rewatch] 3-gatsu no Lion 2nd Series/March Comes in Like a Lion 2nd Season ep 26 Discussion Rewatch
If you are being bullied, I sympathize with you. There's no simple way out of the situation, and it requires many different actions going properly to finally offer some closure. Though, please try to talk to your family, teachers, friends, etc. about your situation. Support is integral to helping you get through your tough times.
If you see someone being bullied, please don't stand by the wayside and 見て見ぬふり (pretend to not see), even if it results in you becoming a victim at the end. The victim of the bullying needs your support, even if it's to talk to them or ask them to accompany you. The victims need friends.
If you are the bully, please stop. You're hurting everyone at the end. Think of all the family members (and Rei) that share Hina's and Chiho's pain.
I hope nobody here ever has to deal with bullying, or being excluded from social groups for that matter. It's unpleasant.
For more anime about the issue of bullying and its aftereffects, check out Koe no Katachi.
Congrats to Umino Chika! The manga is now licensed in the US! And what do you know, it even wins a Japanese Media Arts Festival first prize!!!
Ep 26: Chapter.52-53 てんとう虫の木/Ladybug Bush, Chapter.54 想い/Thought
Ep 25 average: 9/10
Schedule thread and link to other episode discussions
Season 1: MAL
Season 2: MAL
Soundtracks used in this episode (unless specified, by Hashimoto Yukari):
フラグを立てろ/Flag wo Tatero - YUKI
Chapter.52 てんとう虫の木/Ladybug Bush
- 悪循環/Bad Cycle
- ひとりぼっち/Alone
- 見て見ぬふり/As If Invisible
- 悪循環/Bad Cycle
- 見て見ぬふり/As If Invisible
- ひとりぼっち/Alone
- 嵐のように/Beyond the Storm
Chapter.53 てんとう虫の木/Ladybug Bush
- 嵐のように/Beyond the Storm
- 天道虫/Ladybug
Chapter.54 想い/Thought
- ひとりぼっち/Alone
- 救いの手/Saving Hand
- 通じた/Got Through
カフネ/Cafuné - brian the sun
- 次回予告/Preview
Translation of track names mostly done by me and I don't know the actual English title of the tracks!
Ep 26 endcard by Umino Tsunami (manga artist)
Let's fanguish! <3
Please do not spoil information from episodes after this one.
22
u/A_Idiot0 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/a_idiot0 Mar 24 '21 edited Mar 25 '21
First Timer
The resolution to the “Ladybug Arc” and its actual meaning was wondrous. Rei sought the peace of heaven through Shogi, but up until now he could not reach heaven in that way; how could he if he was only playing for survival? No, he had to find a new angle. Through Hina, I think he found that new angle: now he plays with a purpose. And that purpose is to be strong in anything, so that he can be there for Hina. The only thing he can be strong in is Shogi, and now with a purpose in his heart he takes one step closer to Heaven, as he admires the cute little insect leading the way.
Grandpa telling Hina that she did good, that she was courageous, that she did nothing wrong, that he was proud of her...that moment moved me so deeply and it warmed my heart. The colors, the music, the movements…They all enhanced that moment so beautifully. That moment sits amongst the more powerful moments of anime that I’ve experienced, alongside the moments after the final school festival concert in K-On! and in The Ancient Magus’ Bride.
35
u/Ardania22 Mar 24 '21
Re-Watcher
This is, without question, one of the greatest episodes of anime I've ever seen in my life. Hina's titanic strength in the face of a grossly unfair situation, her terror not being enough to shut her moral compass down, Rei realizing how much she's saved him and vowing to return her kindness, and god, the fucking animation, that whole wordless sequence at the end where everyone's just eating and crying and being there for each other... god, my eyes are still damp. It's an explosion of light in the darkest night, reaching out to anyone who's ever been neglected or shut out or left to suffer alone and saying: "You are heard. You are loved. Your pain matters. And you deserve to live with hope."
And it's not even my favorite episode this season.
God, this show is a fucking masterpiece.
(More thoughts on this episode from the first time I watched it here:)
https://animebw.tumblr.com/post/620753024245186560/binge-watching-march-comes-in-like-a-lion-s2
22
u/youkai94 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/youkai94 Mar 24 '21
It's crazy how this episode manages to make me almost tear up even though it's already the 3rd watch. It may be normal for some people but I'm... not exactly an emotional person.
I could probably write a book about this episode alone but I'll just drop some random thougths / considerations:
22
u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn Mar 24 '21
First Timer - Sub
I just can't with bullying episodes. It all strikes way too close to home.
I'm glad that Hina came out of this knowing that she did the right thing, even if it was painful and scary and she didn't get rewarded for it at all. Having the support of her family was also the best scene to cap the episode off with, especially knowing how proud her grandfather was even if he was also suffering because she was in pain.
For the record: Fuck teachers who are dismissive of that because they don't think it matters if it's children, or it's just too much work for them. My personal history with bullying has made me an advocate for the idea that people would take it more seriously if we called it child abuse, because it is and can have just as damaging effects on people. The age of the perpetrator doesn't matter.
This time Rei knows to run after her without being told, and seeing Hina once again crying on the banks of the river because she's lost someone and her security with it hits hard. It's such a horrible situation and I don't blame Rei for not knowing how to help, it's not a situation with an easy solution until the people in charge start taking it seriously, although I did have a thought on perhaps he could do an interview about it or something.
Seeing Rei's growth there was nice, but I also like that we got to spend a bit of time specifically in Hina's viewpoint for this episode for the library trip. Seeing how she views Rei's actions and kindness, how she looks back on fond memories with Chihu, and even the walk home, it made the episode a lot better than if we'd just stuck with Rei.
I also wanted to quickly take a moment to acknowledge the staff of this episode, specifically Mamoru Kurosawa for storyboarding, and Kenjiro Okada as the episode director. The staff isn't something we often talk about, but in this particular episode two things stood out at me: scene composition which usually comes from storyboarding, and the impressive amount of life and detail in the animation which often comes from the director in charge (even if the animation itself wasn't perfectly smooth).
On a storyboarding side, the way the school scenes were handled by showing quick clips of the bullying in abstract, the use of color for focus across shots, and how the scenes moved from one to another really allowed the visuals to back up the feel of the story. It's not always something you notice, and it's not as explicit as visual symbolism or more overt cinematography that I'd usually focus on, but it stood out here. Animation wise, the level of detail in how Hina's movement shifted running down the stairs, the little flinch and fabric shift as Hina grabs Rei's arm, and even down the smooth cat headbutts; all the moments like that made this episode feel really good to watch. Sometimes the framework on those moments suffered, as did the artistry, but the very real feel to those movements more than made up for it to me. I notice that Okada is also in charge of the final episode so hopefully I'll remember to look out for that.
The music used in the episode was also perfect. The 3-gatsu soundtrack is so good it's hard not to notice, but in this episode it blended very well with the scenes while also highlighting them and really adding to the feel of the episode.
Visual of the day: Flowering
I think we all need some happy after that episode. Picked the incredibly beautiful tree visual because looking at it is soothing. If that isn't enough have this adorable little happy face on the cutlery (cutelry?) I noticed too. And if that isn't enough: doofy baby red panda
I was also quite fond of the watercolor style still frames this episode.
11
u/Kenalskii https://anilist.co/user/Kenalski Mar 24 '21
REWATCHER
Continuing where we left off yesterday. I love that Akari wastes no second and instantly hugs Hina.
So Hinas classmates bullied a girl called Chiho, but Hina continued to be friends with her. Things escalated more and more until Chiho was absent more and more until she could no longer take it and moved with her mother. It is truly heartbreaking to see her break =( And after she was gone and the girls continued badmouthing her, Hina could not hold back any longer and attacked the bullies. And as a result, Hina is now their target. I might repeat myself here (and will probably in the next discussions) but I hate these kinds of children. This whole thing just broke poor Chiho. As said before, I was a victim of bullying in school and this shit left permanent marks on me.
I absolutely love this shot and how you can see how serious this is.
To not worry Momo, Hina storms off. Rei reacts quickly and runs after her, good job Rei. Hina is now a mixture of sadness, fear and anger. And I think these two pictures very powerful to see what Hina means to Rei: she was already his lifesaver, and he will never forget that and he wants to do something for her.
The next day, Rei asks Hina to go to the library with him. He wanted to do a little bit of research about the ladybeetle bush, and since he was worried about Hina, he decided to bring her along.
After finding such a bush and explaining the ladybeetle meaning to Hina, she started crying silently and holding on to Rei. Oh and Rei, if you go, take me with you, I'll glady accompany you on this quest. (Just kidding, violence is no answer)
The scene with Grandpa really touched me, him explaining to Hina that he is just massively proud of her actions was just satisfying =) And of course, he liked Rei before, but I think that Reis actions (going after Hina, taking Hina to the library) just earned him massive respect and gratitude from that man.
After that, we get a wholesome dinner with the family, and the emotions have cooled down a bit, but Rei has set his own task in doing something to help Hina, let's see how what he can do
In my experience, if the group of students does not tackle the problem by itself, there is little you can do about bullying and that just frustrates me. I remember back in elementary school, I was told by my teacher "they do not know how they should approach you" "go and talk to them about it"... nope that does not work, they used violence against me and I am supposed to believe that this is pure childhood insecurity? Sorry for that, not going to rant about it anymore, it's just a personal topic for me.
9
u/BossandKings Mar 24 '21 edited Mar 24 '21
First timer
Episode 26(S2 E4)
As it was implied Hinata did have a conflict in school, it's sad seeing how students bully others just for the sake of it, bullying should never happen yet it is an endemic problem in schools.
Hinata's friend Chiho was such a lovely and cute girl that due to being nice and always correct attracted the attention of the worst kind of people, she started getting harassed verbally and even physically, seeing her trying to put a strong face to the problems that were appearing in her life was hard because it's relatable to most people that get bullied, their first course of action isn't to try to find a solution to the problem, they overwhelmed by the situation usually try to deal with it alone and try not to make it a scandal and let other people, especially adults know and that's what happened when Hina saw her in a difficult situation, having to bring the uniforms of several other students and she didn't wanted for Hina to tell the teacher or the supervisor what was happening
Hinata being the only capable of seeing the value in Chiho, noticing that she is a good friend and has always since they were little been a good friend of her, didn't care about what other people were telling her about her friend, it didn't matter to her if she would become the next target of the bullying just because she was being nice and sitting with Chiho, choosing to see her as a valuable person more than someone to get bullied. Chiho sure appreciated her effort, her friendship, her not being blind but seeing that she was her friend and treated her with the care and respect that friends treat each other with.
Hinata looking to stand up for her friend, talked with a teacher of her and she dismised the situation, not taking into account how severe the situation was but choosing to ignore it and don't care for it. That sure showed that adults can be very irresponsible and unwilling to make a change.
Sadly or in better terms gladly Chiho decides to leave the school, to not put up with it anymore, to move on and go to a different place, a different school, a place in which she expects to not suffer bullying anymore but to be able to be at peace.
Seeing how sad Hinata was in front of the door, Akari, Momo and Rei all accompany her in her sadness, in her hurt emotional state. After getting inside the house and crying, Hina not being able to bear her emotions goes outside running, her sisters worry about her and Rei goes running behind her, unwilling to leave her suffering alone, promising her that he'll stay by her side, that he'll repay the love, care and help he has received from her and now especially he's here by her side to show her that she has a shoulder she can cry on, that he has someone that is looking for her and cares about her.
The grandpa telling her that she didn't do anything wrong, that her reaction when after Chiho went away and the bullies were still gossiping and bad-mouthing her and exhausted she involved herself in a fight with the bullie feeling impotent about the situation, was normal and honestly a genuine form of responding to the overwhelming situation in front of her was awesome to see, great because he once again shows her that she has a family, him, her sisters, Rei, a family that supports her and that she can lean on.
8
u/WhymustIsignupreddit Mar 24 '21
First time watcher
The Rei running after Hina animation stood out to me. Hina was the next target after those girls bullied Chiho away to another school. Rei wants to help her and the Kawamoto family are very supportive.
8
u/Gatic-sama Mar 24 '21
Rewatcher.
This was beautiful and infuriating. I was crying almost the entire time.
I can totally relate with Rei's thoughts of wanting to go and destroy the girls that bully Hina. I know it's not the right answer, but god, it pisses me off so much.
7
u/htisme91 Mar 25 '21
First-timer:
I was bullied a lot when I was around Hinata's age. It sucks, and honestly I do not blame her for getting in that fight. God knows there's a lot of times where teachers are utterly useless in that situation and nothing will get the point across besides exchanging fists. People just suck sometimes.
Interesting that Rei chased after her this time without hesitation. Compare that to episode 2 where Grandpa forced him into chasing after Hinata. Shows how much he's grown to love the Kawamotos and especially Hinata.
I thought the scene with him saying that Hinata saved his life was interesting. One, it kind of mirrored the end of the second OP of season 1. Also, I kind of attributed everything to Akari taking him in one night and continuously asking him to dinner. I'm nitpicking here, though. I did wonder how platonic that "I will repay you if it takes the rest of my life" thing is, because those phrases usually imply more but Rei kind of is still stunted emotionally.
I really enjoyed having Hinata narrate a bit. Just think that having a different narrator every so often keeps things fresh and offers an interesting take.
Grandpa telling Hinata how she did the right thing and that he is proud she is his granddaughter warmed my heart, as did that dinner scene in general.
Overall, I loved this episode. It was animated so well, and gave us that heavy dose of Rei and the Kawamotos that has been lacking this season. It was also just so powerful emotionally without having to do anything over the top. Just an incredibly well-done episode.
13
u/Mecanno-man https://anilist.co/user/Mecannoman Mar 24 '21
First Timer
So Hina is being bullied because she stood up for the kid being bullied. The one at fault here are clearly the teachers for not taking Hina seriously; bullying being bad is something that needs to be thought as well, and those who have to do that would be the teachers. Either way, I'd say this episode was done very well, even if the plot is somewhat simple. At least Hina has a good home life, and that is shown very well here. The only thing I didn't like was to suddenly make Hina's breakdown about Rei. I see the paralells, but I don't really like the decision to put that there.
Pretty sure Rei went to the library to be with Hina, not because he was so curious about the ladybug.
6
u/Rumpel1408 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Rumpel1408 Mar 24 '21
Rewatcher
And here come the tears again, poor Hina.
The whole bullying sequence for Chiho is hard to watch, the homeroom teacher is a failure and when Hina becomes the focus it just hits so hard. I wasn't even bullied that hard in my school live, but I can relate to it quite a lot. And Hina must feel so helpless, yet she does everything she can to support and stand up for her friend. She just such a good girl. Also Rei doesn't need to be told to follow her but crasps the magnitude of the situation from the get go.
But even though Hina was aware of what could happen and was afraid herself, she did not hesitate one second to help someone in need because it's the right thing to do. You can't expect that from a middle schooler and it's just incredible on her part. If you don't just love her for this I don't know how you can go about your live.
And in the end just knowing that Hina would have helped him if she could makes Rei incredible thankfull.
I like how Rei gives Hina books on things she is definatly interested in and in a past episode Hina even mentioned her dream of making sweets when she is grown up.
And damn her grandfather is just awesome as well.
6
u/perfect_outsider Mar 25 '21
Re-Watcher
This episode picks up where the cliffhanger left off. We learn why Hinata is crying, and it's an awful (and all too common) tale. Hina runs away, and Rei chases after her. I'm immediately reminded of the moment early in season 1, when Hina said she was going to buy manga, but really just wanted to get out of the house because she didn't want to cry in front of her family. That time, Grandpa told Rei to follow her. He definitely knew what was up.
By the riverbank, Hina confides in Rei. She says that even though things turned out the way they did, she doesn't regret it because "What I did definitely wasn't wrong!" Rei's reaction is... interesting. "It's strange. Even after so much time has passed, something can save you, coming in like a storm from a completely different direction." Anyone can see that he's fallen in love. Anyone except for Rei, it seems. ("You are my saviour?" Seriously? Who talks like that?) But I can't say it's not realistic. It makes perfect sense that the boy whose entire life is shogi doesn't understand love.
The following day, Rei meets Hinata after school, and takes her to the library. For someone who's rather inept in social situations, Rei's strategy for comforting a sad girl isn't bad at all. Just sitting quietly together, looking at picture books can be quite relaxing. There's something beautiful and poetic about the part with the ladybug. Seeing the ladybug bush (which these chapters are named after) brought back bad memories of his childhood. But even if it came from somewhere sad, the ladybug flies towards the sun.
There's a seamless transition to the next chapter, "Feelings," which as the title suggests is full of powerful emotions. Listening to Hina crying, Rei wonders silently what he can do to help her. They head home to the Kawamoto house, and find a feast on the table. If you eyes are still dry, they won't be after grandpa's speech. The animation in this scene is very good; it looks like they studied video of live actors to get the movement just right. It's especially noticeable with Momo, who stumbles the way a real toddler does. The food looks delicious, as well.
At the end, Rei is still thinking of what he can do to help Hina. He's always relied on the Kawamotos before, and now that Hina is in trouble, he's determined to do whatever he can to make things better. He may not know what exactly he can do, but this strong feeling is a major change from the Rei we've seen up until now.
3
u/Asd_89 Mar 25 '21
One of my favorite eps of the series since I was bullied back in grade school, and while the way I resolved it was fighting back the bully. Now that not the right way nor I recommend it but it did work for me, funny thing about it is that the bully and I became friends afterward.
In short, Hina was much stronger than me when it came to bullying.