March comes in like a lion Anime's 2nd Season Previews Songs in Video

The official website for the anime series based on Chika Umino's March comes in like a lion manga beganstreaming a long promotional video for the anime's second season on Friday. The video previews YUKI's opening theme song "Flag wo Tateru" (Raise the Flag) and Brian the Sun's ending theme song "Kafune." (Note: The video linked above is region-locked to Japan.)

The new series will premiere on NHK channels on October 14 at 11:00 p.m., and the show will have 22 episodes.

The anime's main cast members are reprising their roles for the second season.

The cast will also include:
Houchu Ohtsuka as Sakutarō Yanagihara, the oldest active A-rank shōgi player at 66 years old


Aoi Yūki as Megumi Takagi, Hinata's classmate


Asuka Nishi as Chiho Sakura, Hinata's classmate


The first March comes in like a lion television anime series premiered on NHK in Japan last October. Crunchyroll and 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.

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.

Umino started the manga series in Hakusensha's Young Animal magazine in 2007, and Hakusensha shipped the 13th volume on September 29. The series has won several awards including the Manga Taisho award and Kodansha Manga award in 2011. The manga also won the 18th Tezuka Osamu Prizes' Top Award in March 2014.​