Shogi is a fun game, it always feels a little sad that it doesn't get more exposure outside of Japan (and my understanding is that, by and large, in Japan it is considered an "old persons" game)
Because captured pieces change sides, there is less of an "endgame" scenario, and as a beginner (like me) it is very easy to put too many captured pieces back into play, which makes it hard to defend everything and essentially you end up giving them back to your opponent
It recently got renewed attention when Fujii Sota, 14 year old turned pro at the youngest age since Kato Hifumi, and subsequently had a record breaking winning streak (29).
I've been interested in learning both shogi and xiangqi for a while. If anyone knows a nice engine with graphical frontend for either game, I'd love to know. Wasn't able to find much the last time I looked.
I'm curious to see if "San Gatsu no Lion" (the Lion of March) will spark interest. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in more slice-of-life/drama kinds of things. It's quite a beautiful anime/manga, even if the shogi isn't quite centre stage.
Recommendation seconded, Sangatsu no Lion is a lovely work. On the other hand, it has been running for 10 years (!), if it could spark interest like Hikaru no Go, it would have happened already.
Because captured pieces change sides, there is less of an "endgame" scenario, and as a beginner (like me) it is very easy to put too many captured pieces back into play, which makes it hard to defend everything and essentially you end up giving them back to your opponent