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Japan's Oldest Pro Shogi Player Stars in March comes in like a lion Manga Ads
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Before the second season of Shaft's March comes in like a lion anime premieres next month, bookstores are celebrating the release of the manga's 13th compiled volume. Helping with the promotion is Japan's oldest pro shogi player Hifumi Katō. The 77-year-old ninth-dan played professionally for 60 years up until his retirement in June.
Katō appears in two ads. The first is "Hifumi Katō and Rei Kiriyama Chapter" and compares the manga protagonist to Katō's early career.
The second ad is "Hifumi Katō, His First Lion Chapter" and shows him sit down at a shogi board only to read a chapter of the manga instead.
Both ads are narrated by Rei Kiriyama's voice actor from the anime series, Kengo Kawanishi.
Katō holds the distinguished honor of having the longest professional shogi career, having debuted professionally at 14-years-old and 7 months. He also ranks third in career wins with 1,324 total.
The 13th volume of March comes in like a lion is now on sale in Japan. Bookstores are offering both a regular and limited edition version. The latter comes with a tote bag (pictured below). Stores also have three different posters promoting the volume featuring Katō.
The first March comes in like a lion television anime series premiered on NHK in Japan last October. Crunchyrolland Daisuki both streamed the anime as it aired. The first season also had 22 episodes.
The new anime will also feature a returning staff, including director Akiyuki Simbo, character designer Nobuhiro Sugiyama, art director Seiki Tamura, art setting designer Yasuhiro Nakura, sound director Toshiki Kameyama, composer Yukari Hashimoto, and animation studio SHAFT.
Houchu Ohtsuka is joining the cast as character Sakutarō Yanagihara, the oldest active A-rank shōgi player at 66-years-old, similar at least in career to Hifumi Katō.
The story of the March comes in like a lion manga follows Rei, a solitary player of shōgi (a Japanese board game related to Western chess), and his relationships with a neighboring family. He becomes acquainted with Akari, and two young girls, Hinata and Momo, who also have have a large number of cats.
Source: Comic Natalie, The Mainichi
