March comes in like a lion Anime's New Visual Shows Shōgi Players

The official website for the television anime of Chika Umino's March comes in like a lion (Sangatsu no Lion) manga unveiled a new visual for the anime on Thursday. While the anime's first visual showed Rei and the three Kawamoto sisters, the new visual shows Rei with the shōgi players that appear in the manga.

The anime will premiere this fall.

The story of the March comes in like a lion manga follows a solitary shōgi player named Rei 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.

Akiyuki Simbo (Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Bakemonogatari) is directing the anime at SHAFT. Nobuhiro Sugiyama (ef: a tale of memories, Arakawa Under the Bridge, Nisekoi - False Love) is designing the characters for animation. Seiki Tamura (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, K-ON!, Mr. Osomatsu) is credited for art direction, while Yasuhiro Nakura (Nekomonogatari (Black), Monogatari Series Second Season, Hanamonogatari key animation) is credited for art setting. Yukari Hashimoto (Toradora!, Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Mr. Osomatsu) is composing the music, while Toshiki Kameyama (Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, Nisekoi - False Love, Kan Colle) is the sound director. NHK listed the anime with 22 episodes.

The manga is also inspiring two live-action films starring Ryunosuke Kamiki in the lead role, and Keishi Ōtomo directing. The films will open in Japan in 2017.​