YMMV / March Comes in Like a Lion

• Angel/Devil Shipping: Rei/Kyoko, with Rei being the Angel and Kyoko as the Devil. While there are fans of the work that don't want this to happen precisely because of this dynamic, there are also fans that are excited by the prospect of it once the romantic undertones of their relationship become more overt.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Episode 13's opening scene of Smith eating his breakfast. It's an odd scene with a stark contrast with the rest of the series in style and tone, with an jazzy track that's unlike the rest of the soundtrack and a runtime of two minutes. Unlike the scene in Episode 1 where Rei is silently walking to his match with his father, this scene tells the audience essentially nothing about Smith from his silence (other than he eats like a bachelor slob). In comparison, the original scene only took up a single panel and not nearly as much attention was drawn to his eating habits. Context for it can only be derived from an out-of-universe perspective; Shaft wanted to do a shot-by-shot homage of an opening scene from a drama.
• Base-Breaking Character: Kyoko. On one side, she is disliked by part of the fandom due to her treatment of Rei and her toxic behavior towards him; on the other, there are people who sympathize with her due to her tragic backstory and how the show fleshes her out, while avoiding making her a one-dimensional character whose only role in the series is to torment Rei. There is also a third camp regarding her (see Love to Hate).
• Broken Base: When news broke out that Studio Shaft would be doing the anime adaptation, forum threads and comment sections discussing the announcement had a wide variety reactions. There were those who gave positive responses, either out of love for Shaft itself or because they genuinely had faith they could do an adaptation of the series justice. Some approached the news with cautious optimism or trepidation. And lastly, there were those who were outright angered or dismayed, as if them picking the series up would result in some horrendous bukkake of every quirk that Shaft is (in)famous for. When the anime came out, this largely died down, though still a vocal minority of the manga's readers criticize Shaft's somewhat less subtle approach to the series.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: While Rei's never defined as having any kind of psychological or psychiatric disorders, he's frequently portrayed as a few steps outside the norm with his poor social skills. He also shows frequent evidence of clinical depression.
• Growing the Beard: Kyoko's debut in the present day marks a significant uptick in the story quality, the drama, and the character study of Rei integrated into his Shogi games. Rei's match against Shimada only serves to solidify it.
• Jerkass Woobie: While Kyoko's actions by no means should be tolerated, it's not hard for readers to see why she turned out that way and sympathize with her.
• Love to Hate: Another way of feeling towards Kyoko. There are people who actually like her for how awful she is towards Rei, and who enjoy her bitchy side and the way she tries to make him fail in his shogi matches, to the point of finding her behavior mesmerizing.
• Mind Game Ship: Another way of looking at Rei and Kyoko's relationship, with the latter being the manipulator.
• Moe: Almost all characters are prone to this perception, sure, but it's as if Momo's purpose as a character extends little past being the primary source of the manga's cuteness.
• Periphery Demographic: 3gatsu's target demographic is Seinen, but its soft art style and introspective look on life make it accessible to both genders and a wider age range.
• The Scrappy: An even more despised character than Kyoko, who at least has redeeming points to her, or even Megumi, who's an intentional Hate Sink, is Hina's homeroom teacher during the bullying arc for being Adults Are Useless incarnate and for victim-blaming HINA for the bullying. When she ends up having a psychotic breakdown from all the stress having to glance over all of her classes problems and gets hospitalized, very few fans could find in their hearts to feel too bad about it at all, especially since her replacement, Mr. Kokubu, ends up being a far more reasonable and capable teacher in every way.
• The Woobie:
  • Rei, due to his many personal problems the story reveals through its narrative.
  • Starting from Volume 4, Hina becomes one as she starts falling victim to relentless bullying.

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