Well everyone, SHAFT has returned for the second season of Sangatsu no Lion and while Rei Kiriyama felt behind after repeating a school year, I’m worried that he’ll be stuck in high school forever even though Kiriyama is still a professional shogi player.
On the other hand, Kiriyama has started his life as a member of the shogi science club as he teach his seniors Eisaku Noguchi and Oota-kun on how to play the game.
Of course, given that both Noguchi and Oota are newbies to shogi, they have a hard time learning tactics and stuff. You know, would it be nice if Rei-kun brought Harunobu Nikaidou, but then again I feel that Nikaidou is busy coming up ways to beat his eternal rival.
Also, here’s their club advisor Takashi Hayashida as he’s asking Kiriyama for help. Um Hayashida-sensei, Kiriyama won’t help you on winning an online shogi match.
Meanwhile, the members of the shogi science club are watching a high-level match between Touji Souya and Kengo Kumakura.
While Souya would have a higher chance of winning a match against Kumakura, he’s not that invincible as the master has 70% win percentage which is worrisome to some shogi analysts. Also, it’s very taxing to defeat his opponent that Touji consumes a lot of glucose to fuel his brain.
Regardless, it’s just the first match in a series to determine the title of Meijin.
Speaking of glucose, Noguchi and his assistant Oota-kun teaches Rei Kiriyama on how to make ramune candy from scratch, using baking soda, glucose, and a bit of citric acid.
C’mon, it’s not like they’ll play shogi everyday as they’ll have to do some scientific experiments as well.
But you know what, the fact that Rei Kiriyama is participating in a club activity other than playing shogi felt that he had a place to belong. Seriously, it’s touching to see Kiriyama interacting with his fellow club members.
In any case, it’s a great experience for Rei-kun and kudos to Studio SHAFT for this wonderful premiere of Season 2!
With that said, it’s off to a great start and I’ll end this post with Kiriyama visiting the Kawamoto sisters.
Well, I hope Rei-kun can show off what he learned from the shogi science club!
The Anime Rambler - By Benigmatica 
I really loved this start to the second season even if I am a little worried that they are just setting us up for a future punch to the gut when Fri inevitably has another set back.
Rei sorry, not Fri. Auto – correct has a lot to answer for.