(CR) 3-gatsu no Lion Season 2

[Kanon]

Finally, the sisters are getting decent screentime again. Too bad this had to happen to Hina. I also noticed Rei was the first name she said, and he'll most likely be the one to help her since he went through the same thing in the past. I believe helping Hina will also help him work through his own issues. As we've seen, his past is still haunting him.

This marked the return of the cats too. Always liked that we can hear their thoughts.

[Marcus H.]

This episode is both a bridge between Rei's current problem (an issue with his personal mindset) and a ghost of the past that's haunting him in two ways (a "feeling of nostalgia" over his elementary days as a bullied student and Hina become a target of bullying herself).

Personally, I understand Rei showing signs of "Stockholm syndrome" over the things that happened in his life. If you think about it, without being orphaned, without having a pushover stepdad, and without having jealous stepsiblings, he won't find the drive to learn shogi to this competitive level. BUT, this also meant that Rei having this kind of mentality over what happened to him has scarred him to such a level that he still thinks that the bad unnecessary things in his past made his current successes possible.

This really shows how Nikaido and the Kawamoto sisters were a big help in improving Rei's mindset in life... and this time, he now gets the chance to give back the love they have given to him.

Hang in there, Hina!

[DragoonKain3]

One reason why I like the cats is you hear the sister's VAs doing goofy voices, and the fact that I can't distinguish which HanaKana cat is which just by voice. Both has the HanaKana voice quirk, so I always resort to distinguish them by colour (one is yellow and the other is multi-color).

And yeah, there are two things that's keeping me here. Rei and Kyoko, and Rei and Hina (and by extension her family). So them going back to more Kawamoto family time is a welcome one from me, though admittedly seeing Hina in that disarray fuels a fire not unlike which Rei exhibited. Really wonder how Rei will handle this confrontation, as his last big one he got into a fist fight with Goto. XD

[BWTraveller]

Will probably be a while before we see the subbed version since CR got attacked, but I managed to watch the new episode and boy, it was even more intense than I expected. I'm always impressed by the animators' work in this series, the way they expand on the original to make it even bigger.

Anyway, all aboard, this ship's getting ready to sail.

Spoiler for ep 4:

Hina tells about her situation: a childhood friend by the name of Chiho was getting bullied. She'd been friends with some popular girls until recently, but suddenly they started to mess with her. Mostly it was simple and stereotypical stuff, like stealing her shoes or dropping her bag in the toilet, but it was relentless and the girls managed to get everyone else afraid to even associate with Chiho. Hina was the only one that continued to stay by her side, right up to the day when Chiho moved away to finally escape the torture. When the bullies snickered and acted like they had no clue why she'd up and leave, Hina jumped the leader, and since then she's been the victim.
Hina ran away when she realized how upset Momo was getting, and Rei naturally took off after her. When he got her to sit down, she talked about how frustrated and angry and terrified she was, how scared she is of the sort of isolation she anticipates. But she insists that she'll never regret her choices because she absolutely did nothing wrong. This somehow hits deep in Rei, the sight of Hina's strength and resolve piercing his own memories of having just accepted isolation and bullying. He feels she'd changed him, turned him years after the fact from a painful path, and he awkwardly defines his feelings as owing her a great "debt", and swearing to stay by her side, and pay her back no matter how long it takes.
After this, he indeed continues to accompany her when he can, catching her after school and taking her to the library, bringing her lots of books on Japanese sweets while he looks for the name of the ladybug he'd seen as a child. He explains to Hina that the Japanese call the ladybug the "Sun Insect" because of the way it'll often seem to fly straight for the sun; this brings more tears before she goes home.
At home, Akari prepares all Hina's favorite foods and Grandpa gives her a long talk about how horrible bullying has gotten these days and how proud he is that she stood up to such people for the sake of her friend.

As always, the anime is incredibly faithful to the original, opting to aim more for expansion rather than cutting, and the way everything is presented is absolutely beautiful. I can't get enough of the contrasting styles and the intensity given to each scene. Here's hoping CR resolves things fast so we can see this ep subbed.

[blakstealth]

This was not a good episode to watch before going to work. Wow, I'm always a sucker for the "bullying" themes in shows. I thought it was great that Hina tackled the girl that was the root of the bullying. And Rei's inner thoughts of violently ripping those people apart were very violent but oh so satisfying. I wonder if he'll come up with any solution.

The last few minutes of the episode after Grandpa gave his 2 cents to Hina were so good and so emotional. I had to stop myself from crying. If you weren't a fan of the Kawamoto family by this point, then I dunno what to say! They are easily the best parts of this show!

[Stark700]

ED card for episode 4:

[SeijiSensei]

I felt so bad for Hina. She's such a nice young girl and doesn't deserve to be treated this way.

I noticed that the teacher(s) were largely indicted as unseeing bystanders. I would think given how serious a problem bullying has become in Japanese schools that teachers would be on the front-lines in trying to put an end to the practice. When the first day of school is also the day that suicides spike because of bullying, how can the teachers turn a blind eye to it?

[Kanon]

Hina is such a kind person. If she wasn't before, she's definitely my favorite girl in the series after this. I loved how despite what's happening to her and how though it is, she doesn't regret her actions one bit and is convinced she did the right thing. And she definitely did, as her Grampa himself stated.

The moment Rei felt like he had been saved by her and said he would spend the rest of his life trying to repay her was beautiful. Shipping these two harder than ever. No other pairing is acceptable.

[Wandering Soul]

I feel bad for Hina, but it's admirable how she never once regretted helping her friend. While I'm sure everyone in the house was proud of her, it was nice to see the grandfather verbalize that praise.

If there was any part of me that wasn't shipping Rei and Hina before, it is now.

[grecefar]

ohh the shippers are showing up.. cool but there's still more for the ship, wait for it

need to catch up with the chapters ;A;

[orion]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I felt so bad for Hina. She's such a nice young girl and doesn't deserve to be treated this way.

I noticed that the teacher(s) were largely indicted as unseeing bystanders. I would think given how serious a problem bullying has become in Japanese schools that teachers would be on the front-lines in trying to put an end to the practice. When the first day of school is also the day that suicides spike because of bullying, how can the teachers turn a blind eye to it?

Are they (teachers and school) held accountable? Bullying happens in U.S. schools, but now they have laws that protect the children and schools are legally held accountable.

If there is nothing in place that affects the financial well-being of those teachers and schools, then they have no incentive to do something.

[Master_Yoma]

Poor Hina she did the right thing but everyone else and even the teachers ignore it

[Verso Sciolto]

～どこまでもあなたの味方だからね～

Slogan for the collaboration campaign against bullying.
MEXT
ANN

[blakstealth]

Originally Posted by Verso Sciolto

～どこまでもあなたの味方だからね～

Slogan for the collaboration campaign against bullying.
MEXT
ANN

cool collab.

[Verso Sciolto]

Originally Posted by blakstealth

cool collab.

One of the good things about the 24-hour SOS bullying help lines, in principle, is the option to speak anonymously [匿名].

[SeijiSensei]

When I visited the MEXT site with Chromium I got the translation:

"In addition, we will set up a special website on the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and plan to publish interviews with voice actors and shogi wrestlers."

[Verso Sciolto]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

When I visited the MEXT site with Chromium I got the translation:

"In addition, we will set up a special website on the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and plan to publish interviews with voice actors and shogi wrestlers."

To "Tackle" the issue together...


[I don't remember seeing these phone numbers on screen, prior to, during, or after the broadcast of an episode like this. Did I miss it or did NHK miss an opportunity?]

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by orion

Are they (teachers and school) held accountable? Bullying happens in U.S. schools, but now they have laws that protect the children and schools are legally held accountable.

If there is nothing in place that affects the financial well-being of those teachers and schools, then they have no incentive to do something.

As the son of a teacher, I'm going to have to protest this. Yes, there are some teachers like this. But there are also a lot of teachers who really do care. Not to mention that, yes, if it can be proven that a teacher was aware of severe harassment or likely illegal treatment and they did nothing, they could at the least get reprimanded by the school, and possibly lose their position No school wants to deal with the bad press if a parent finds out that their teachers are just watching blatant harassment without doing anything.

The problem though is proof usually. Chances are that if you bring a person in with accusations of bullying, they'll claim that they're the victims, that they'd either been defamed by rumors or tormented themselves. With physical confrontations, it's hard to prove that a particular person was the aggressor and wasn't defending him/herself. With nonphysical acts like vandalism, if you can't catch them in the act you're not likely to get anywhere. This can give the bad teachers an easy out, but it can also make it very difficult for teachers who hate this stuff to act. They know they'll face a difficult battle, often against angry parents on the bullies' side as well. It could be a long, stressful battle and could easily result in no repercussions or solutions, or even inspire further resentment and harassment. This isn't to say that a teacher who ignores bullying is in any way excusable. Just that it's an incredibly difficult task and the problem is generally not simply "they don't benefit from doing it".

[SeijiSensei]

Let me just say my original question was about how Japan treats bullying, a subject I know little about. I don't much about how prevalent or how it is handled here in the US, either. My daughter never brought up the subject while she was in school as far as I can remember.

Here's a simple question that came to mind while watching this episode. Why don't the lockers have locks? Wouldn't that be an easy solution to at least a portion of the torment Hina faces? I've watched kids routinely open other kids' lockers as far back as Tenma-chan placing her love scroll in Karasuma's locker in School Rumble. That was over a decade ago. Is it part of a culture of trusting one's peers that the schools want to engender?

[orion]

Originally Posted by BWTraveller

As the son of a teacher, I'm going to have to protest this. Yes, there are some teachers like this. But there are also a lot of teachers who really do care. Not to mention that, yes, if it can be proven that a teacher was aware of severe harassment or likely illegal treatment and they did nothing, they could at the least get reprimanded by the school, and possibly lose their position No school wants to deal with the bad press if a parent finds out that their teachers are just watching blatant harassment without doing anything.

The problem though is proof usually. Chances are that if you bring a person in with accusations of bullying, they'll claim that they're the victims, that they'd either been defamed by rumors or tormented themselves. With physical confrontations, it's hard to prove that a particular person was the aggressor and wasn't defending him/herself. With nonphysical acts like vandalism, if you can't catch them in the act you're not likely to get anywhere. This can give the bad teachers an easy out, but it can also make it very difficult for teachers who hate this stuff to act. They know they'll face a difficult battle, often against angry parents on the bullies' side as well. It could be a long, stressful battle and could easily result in no repercussions or solutions, or even inspire further resentment and harassment. This isn't to say that a teacher who ignores bullying is in any way excusable. Just that it's an incredibly difficult task and the problem is generally not simply "they don't benefit from doing it".

Well, in some cases it can escalate to a civil rights violations. Loss of employment is the least of their fears now.

https://www.stopbullying.gov/laws/federal/index.html


Here's some info on Japanese schools.
https://japanesense.wordpress.com/20...s-life-part-2/