March Comes in Like a Lion Manga Volumes Guide

March Comes in Like a Lion Manga Volumes — How Many Are There?

Here’s the short version so you know exactly what you’re getting into:

• Japanese volumes: 18 (ongoing, published by Hakusensha in Young Animal — a Japanese manga magazine — since 2007)
• English volumes: 4 from Denpa, with each English volume corresponding to one Japanese volume (Volume 5 arrives November 24, 2026)
• Format: The English edition follows the Japanese numbering — Volume 1 in English is Volume 1 in Japanese, and so on
• Series status: Still ongoing in both languages — your shelf will keep growing

If you watched the anime adaptation and came here wondering where to start reading, you’re in the right place too — the manga is the original source material, and the volumes below will help you find your entry point.

March Comes in Like a Lion (3月のライオン — the original Japanese title) is the work of Chica Umino (羽海野チカ), a manga creator beloved for her ability to draw emotional complexity out of everyday life. Her earlier series Honey and Clover, a coming-of-age drama about art students, gives a sense of her style — but this series goes deeper and darker. It follows Rei Kiriyama, a young shogi player competing at the highest level while dealing with profound loneliness, depression, and the slow process of letting other people into his life.

This isn’t a fast-paced sports action manga. It’s a quiet, character-driven drama that uses shogi — a Japanese strategy board game sometimes compared to chess, though it’s a completely separate game with its own rules and traditions — as the backdrop for a story about human connection. The competitive matches matter, but they matter because of what they reveal about the characters playing them.

How the English Volumes Work — Denpa’s One-to-One Format

This is the part that trips people up, so let’s be really clear about it.

Denpa, the English-language publisher, releases March Comes in Like a Lion as single volumes that match the Japanese edition one-to-one. Every English book on your shelf corresponds to the same-numbered Japanese volume.

What This Means for Your Collection

• Simple numbering: English Volume 3 is Japanese Volume 3 — no conversion table needed
• A faithful release: Each book contains exactly what its Japanese counterpart does
• Easy tracking: The Japanese volume count tells you exactly how many English releases the complete series will eventually take
• Standard pricing: Each volume carries a list price in the typical single-volume manga range — check retailer listings for current prices

This format is great for readers who want a faithful match to the original release. It also means the full English collection will eventually run to 18+ volumes as Denpa works through the series.

The Release Pace Is Slow — And That’s Worth Knowing Up Front

Denpa is a smaller, independent publisher. They don’t operate on the same rapid-fire release schedule as larger manga publishers in North America. The most recent English volume — Volume 4 — came out on September 9, 2025, and Volume 5 is up for preorder with a November 24, 2026 release date.

If you’re coming from series where new volumes drop every two or three months, you’ll need to recalibrate your expectations here. The gaps between Denpa releases can be longer, and that’s just part of the deal with this particular edition. It’s worth the wait, but it does require patience.

Volume Breakdown — What Each Book Covers

Here’s a clear map of every English volume, what Japanese content it contains, and what you can expect story-wise. No major spoilers — just enough to orient you.

Volume 1 (EN)

This is where everything begins. You meet Rei Kiriyama, a 17-year-old who is already competing at the highest level of shogi — and already deeply isolated. He lives alone in a sparse apartment, going through the motions of his career without much connection to the world around him.

Then the Kawamoto sisters enter his life. Akari, Hinata, and Momo are warm, chaotic, and full of the kind of everyday family love that Rei has never really experienced. The contrast between Rei’s cold interior world and the Kawamoto household’s warmth is the emotional engine that drives the entire series.

Volume 1 establishes the tone beautifully. Chica Umino’s art swings between delicate, almost watercolor-like emotional sequences and stark, heavy panels that capture Rei’s depression. If you’re unsure whether this series is for you, this single volume will give you your answer.

Volume 2 (EN)

With the foundation set, Volume 2 deepens every relationship in Rei’s orbit. His connections with the Kawamoto family grow more layered — he’s not just a visitor anymore, and both he and the sisters are starting to depend on each other in ways that feel real and earned.

The shogi world also comes into sharper focus. Early tournament storylines introduce rivals and mentors who each carry their own emotional weight. Umino has a gift for making opponents feel like full characters rather than obstacles, and that quality starts to really shine here. The matches aren’t just about who wins — they’re about what winning and losing cost the people involved.

Volume 3 (EN)

The stakes start climbing. Shogi matches become more intense, and the emotional consequences of competition hit harder. Rei is forced to confront what shogi actually means to him — is it something he loves, or just the only thing he knows how to do?

This volume is where many readers report getting completely hooked. The balance between quiet domestic scenes with the Kawamotos and the psychological pressure of competitive shogi reaches a rhythm that feels distinctly like this series and nothing else. Umino’s visual storytelling is at its most expressive here, using images that fill entire pages and abstract imagery to externalize what characters are feeling internally.

Volume 4 (EN)

Pivotal character development happens in this volume. Without spoiling specifics, several characters face turning points that reshape their trajectories. The competitive side of the story hits some genuinely dramatic moments, and Rei’s growth as both a player and a person becomes impossible to ignore.

This is also where the supporting cast really earns its place. Characters who seemed secondary earlier reveal unexpected depth. Umino has been building these people quietly for hundreds of pages, and the payoffs here feel enormous precisely because of that slow, careful setup.

Volume 5 (EN)

The next English release, scheduled for November 24, 2026. Until it arrives, Volume 4 is the current endpoint for English-language readers.

Everything the series has been building toward — Rei’s emotional development, his relationships, the weight of competition — continues to evolve. If you’ve read this far, you’re committed, and Volume 5 — available to preorder below — rewards that commitment.

What’s Still to Come

Here’s the reality: Japanese Volumes 6 through 18 have not been translated into English yet. That’s thirteen Japanese volumes of untranslated story. The series is also still ongoing in Japan, meaning even more content will accumulate over time.

Since the English edition follows the Japanese numbering one-to-one, each future English release will correspond to the next Japanese volume in sequence. Volumes 6 and 7 have already been officially announced by Denpa with confirmed release dates on Amazon. The remaining volumes beyond Volume 7 have not yet been officially announced — they’re included below to give you a sense of how much story is still waiting.

English Volume	Japanese Volume	Status
Vol 1	JP Vol 1	Available
Vol 2	JP Vol 2	Available
Vol 3	JP Vol 3	Available
Vol 4	JP Vol 4	Available
Vol 5	JP Vol 5	Preorder (November 24, 2026)
Vol 6	JP Vol 6	Announced (December 22, 2026)
Vol 7	JP Vol 7	Announced (February 9, 2027)
Vols 8–18 (projected)	JP Vols 8–18	Not yet announced

Collecting Tips — Availability and What to Watch For

Smaller Publisher, Smaller Print Runs

Denpa doesn’t have the production scale of the largest manga publishers in North America. That’s not a knock on them — they publish beautiful books and take on titles that bigger companies sometimes pass on. But it does mean the number of copies produced per printing can be more limited, and individual volumes may occasionally be harder to find at standard retail.

This is especially worth watching for the earlier volumes. With smaller publishers, early volumes can sometimes become scarce if the publisher hasn’t kept them continuously in stock. If you’re starting the series and you see the early volumes available — whether at a bookstore, online retailer, or anywhere else that carries manga — it’s worth grabbing them rather than assuming they’ll always be sitting on a shelf.

Consider Digital as a Backup

If physical availability is spotty for any particular volume, digital editions can be a reliable alternative. Digital storefronts tend to keep titles available indefinitely regardless of how many physical copies were printed, so they’re a good safety net for completing your collection if a physical copy is temporarily out of stock.

A Series That Rewards the Wait

With the release pace Denpa maintains and the amount of untranslated content remaining, collecting March Comes in Like a Lion in English is a long-term commitment. This isn’t a series you’ll be able to buy all at once and have complete on your shelf. You pick up each new volume as it arrives, enjoy it, and then wait for the next one.

That pace actually suits the series well. March Comes in Like a Lion is the kind of manga that benefits from sitting with you between reads. The emotional weight of each volume needs room to breathe — and each book gives you plenty to sit with.

Is It Finished? What Collectors Should Expect

Let’s lay this out plainly:

• In Japan: The manga is ongoing with 18 volumes published
• In English: 4 volumes are available from Denpa, covering Japanese Volumes 1–4, with Volume 5 arriving November 24, 2026 and Volumes 6–7 officially announced for December 2026 and February 2027
• Translation progress: The English edition covers roughly a quarter of the currently published Japanese content
• Completion timeline: Unknown — at Denpa’s pace, catching up to the current Japanese volume count will take years, and the Japanese series is still adding new volumes

Your collection will not be complete for a long time. If that bothers you, this might be a series to revisit later. But if you’re comfortable with an evolving, growing shelf — and many collectors genuinely enjoy that experience — then there’s no reason to wait. The four volumes available right now contain a massive amount of incredible manga, and each one stands as a satisfying read on its own.

The ongoing status also means the story hasn’t concluded in Japan either. Chica Umino is still actively creating new installments for Young Animal magazine. (In manga, individual installments — called chapters — are published in magazines first and later collected into the bound volumes you buy. So when we say the series is ongoing, it means new chapters are still being created and will eventually become future volumes.)

Who Should Collect March Comes in Like a Lion

You Don’t Need to Know Shogi

This comes up a lot, so let’s address it directly: you do not need to understand shogi to love this manga. The game is ever-present, but Umino treats it as an emotional landscape rather than a technical puzzle. Matches are depicted through the feelings of the players — their fear, determination, loneliness, pride — not through move-by-move analysis. You’ll absorb what you need to know about the game naturally through the story.

The Ideal Reader

March Comes in Like a Lion is a perfect fit if you love:

• Character-driven stories where internal growth matters more than external victories
• Found family narratives — stories where characters who aren’t related by blood form deep, family-like bonds. The Kawamoto sisters and their relationship with Rei is the heart of this series
• Competition as emotional metaphor — shogi functions the way a sport does in the best sports manga, as a lens for examining what drives people, what they fear, and what they’re willing to sacrifice
• Expressive, artistic manga — Umino’s visual style is distinctive and emotionally powerful, shifting between styles within the same installment to match the tone
• Slow-burn drama that rewards patience with genuine emotional depth

One Volume Is All It Takes to Decide

The single-volume format keeps the barrier to entry low. One English volume — matching one Japanese volume — gives you a full, self-contained taste of the series. That’s enough story to decide whether March Comes in Like a Lion is for you.

If you grab Volume 1 and connect with Rei’s story, the Kawamoto family’s warmth, and Umino’s extraordinary art, you’ll know. And if the quiet pace or shogi setting isn’t clicking, you’ll know that too — without having spent money on five or six individual books to figure it out.

This is one of those series that people tend to fall hard for. The combination of melancholy, warmth, competition, and gorgeous artwork creates something that doesn’t have many direct comparisons in manga. It occupies its own space, and for the readers it resonates with, it resonates deeply.