REVIEW Anime Review: "Given"

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ANIME REVIEW: “GIVEN”
Written by: Polaris_Tae
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"Given" is a Japanese anime based on the BL manga of the same name by Natsuki Kizu. The story is about Ritsuka Uenoyama, a high-school student who, while going to his regular sleeping spot at school, runs into Mafuyu Sato, a new transfer student who is seen always carrying — but never playing — a guitar with broken strings. After Uenoyama takes it upon himself to repair Sato's broken guitar, the pair slowly grew closer to each other. Spending their lunch breaks with each other, Uenoyama teaches Mafuyu all about music while the latter essentially becomes captivated with Uenoyama and his musical talent. However, after Uenoyama happens to hear Mafuyu sing for the first time, the feeling is 100% reciprocated and Uenoyama is absolute in his determination to have Mafuyu join his band.

We then meet the two members of Uenoyama's band, "The Seasons"Haruki Nakayama & Akihiko Kaji, two college students that joined Uenoyama in the creation of their band. Haruki is a post-grad college student and barista who has had a one-sided crush on Akihiko Kaji practically since the two first met — seen in how he has grown out his hair since he first met the man. Whereas Akihiko is an undergraduate student majoring in music and despite seeming cold and unfeeling due to his outward appearance, is actually a perceptive and caring person. This is particularly prevalent in his interactions with Uenoyama during episode 7, where Akihiko picks up Uenoyama's developing crush towards Mafuyu before even Uenoyama himself is aware of these feelings.

The story of this season of "Given" essentially covers the relationship and plot development of Mafuyu and Uenoyama throughout this season. We see Uenoyama go from seeing Mafuyu as an annoyance from when they first meet in a stairway to caring for him despite lacking the words to confess his burgeoning feelings for the other, while at the same time attempting to heal Mafuyu of some traumas of his past. This all culminates in the group receiving their official name after their first successful performance as a complete four-person unit.


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"Given" is often lauded as being one of the best main-stream anime tv series that is a great introduction for the wider masses that do not go out of their way to find BL content and does not fall into the long-established tropes that often define the genre — this includes but is not limited to stylistic choices: "Yaoi hands", shoujo eyes, borderline assault depictions, etc. — while at the same time being broadcast on network television during their anime-devoted timeslot.

The story, in terms of plot and character development, progressed at a steady and believable pace in my opinion. However, one thing in particular that I found to be jarring was that despite Mafuyu being billed as one of the main protagonists along with Uenoyama — for a large portion of the story Mafuyu acts more like the deuteragonist as if we only had one main protagonist in the show when in actuality there are two. Although it begins this way, the issue with the top billing does slowly disappear throughout the continuation of the series, which by about episode 5-6 is almost non-existent.


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In terms of animation, I found the show to be a hit or miss. It was largely consistent throughout the series, but there were certain times in the series where I found myself questioning the stylistic choices of the directors and animators. One such moment was during the episode where the group are performing on stage for the first time together. The animation seemed like a mix between 2D frames and 3D rendering, which when paired with the unrealistic and slow movements of the character models performing on stage, it seemed like they were performing at a sub-par Vocaloid concert instead. Despite this, I found that the cinematography and colour grading helped in drastically improving the visual aspect of the drama— especially when it came to specific characters such as Haruki's warm, yellow-based colour palette. I greatly enjoyed the stylistic choice that the creative team decided when it came to creating a coherent theme that helped to reflect and contrast each of the characters individual personalities by creating a colour palette that established the character from the other cast members- especially when this choice was not just done with the main four members, but also with the background characters such as Shoga Itaya, one of Uenoyama's friends.

One of the other aspects that I enjoyed within this series was the element of support that came from the characters friends regarding their sexual orientation. Despite overtly displaying an aversion to anything non-heterosexual — aside from a few throwaway comments — the show was fantastic in the acceptance and even encouragement at some points in the plot for Uenoyama to pursue a same-sex relationship with Mafuyu, and even points out that just because you like a person of the same gender does not mean that you have something wrong with you- that just like anyone else Uenoyama is free to pursue his wish for a relationship, regardless of his sexual orientation.

In conclusion, "Given" is a fantastic series that gives us a first taste of the BL sub-genre that may have you looking for more. At the same time, "Given" touches on elements of grief and tragedy that you might not expect from a music-centred animation, and gives us a relationship that regardless of sexuality is wholesome in its entirety. However, if there was one thing I had wished they had expanded upon, it would be the fleshing out of some of the background characters, specifically Mafuyu's childhood friend, Hiiragi Kashima and Akihiko's ex, Ugetsu Murata. Though hopefully, this will be seen in the upcoming film. Be sure to catch the "Given" movie when it comes out in late August (if it doesn't get delayed by COVID-19 again of course).

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Story: 8.5/10
Characters: 8/10
Cinematography: 9/10
Music: 10/10
Animation: 7.5/10


8.6/10
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PROOFREAD BY: @lex.
GRAPHICS BY: @mocha
 
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AKID❀KI

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I read the manga (which is awesome btw so make sure to check it out if you are okay with bl) so I am excited about the series. I probably will watch it when I get some time. I did listen to fuyunohanashi and it is such a gorgeous song. I loved it.
 
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