84DaysWithout

Given strikes the rare balance of being openly gay - none of that maybe he is, maybe he isn’t crap - while not indulging in over the top eroticism to pander to a niche viewership. This is a vanilla, realistic, down to earth romance that can be watched by anyone open minded to love that exceeds conventional desire. It is fairly unconventional for a single cour romance to have convincing characterization...yet Given makes this a strong point. Each of the band mates are given practical goals, motivations and fleshed out backstories that are sprinkled into the narrative as the episodes progress rather than forcefully crammedin a short span of time. This methodical progression helps the episodes flow smoothly, as it rarely feels as though there is a dominant character focus for any particular episode. It is a great touch for the instruments of the characters to serve as a reflection of their inner struggles and/or role in the narrative. Lead guitarist Uenoyama, for example, is a hot headed prodigy who has been rejected by previous bands for creative differences. He must learn how to channel the volatile improvisation required of his instrument while accepting the input of his partners and empowering them to reach their ideal performance level. Mafuyu struggles with severe trauma to the extent that he is handicapped from genuinely expressing his feelings to others in ordinary conversation. It is only through his singing, songwriting, and encouragement from his fellow band members that he finds a means of finding closure to what tormets every waking moment of his life. Aki and Haruki are both in supporting roles as the drummer and bassist respectively, true to their positions as the oldest members of the band who serve as the voice of reason to their younger partners and the very foundation that keeps them together. In isolation these characters are lost. Together, they build each other up to reach their true and ideal selves. Given is entirely absent of the plot contrivances that plague romance anime today - no ill timed misunderstandings that take an entire arc to resolve, no sudden childhood friend love interest interrupting romantic progression, no almost kiss scenes that are interrupted by a sadist. Just a continual build of trust between two friends who grow to like each other until they agree to become lovers. The relationship between Mafuyu and Uenoyama is founded upon principles that mirror actual strong relationships in the real world today. Beautiful stuff. Similar to other great anime of the genre such as Nana, Kids on the Slope, most recently Carole & Tuesday, music is used as a platform to unite people of different backgrounds who probably wouldn't associate with one another otherwise. This gives the narrative a feeling of "destiny"; that it was meant for these characters to be together in this exact moment and create something special that will change their lives forever. Given does well to hammer this theme and make the viewer feel as if they are watching legends in the making. A fair criticism is the lack of an elite OST track list - there are few outstanding background songs and many of the scenes are without music entirely. But this "flaw" can be considered an intentional creative decision to reflect real life circumstances. After all, in real life we don’t have on the go orchestras narrating our lives in the background and award winning singers belting out our emotions during times of distress. So this detail actually works to make Given more convincing that it would be otherwise. In the climax of this narrative - the signature "big breakout performance" that is a constant of the musical genre - it becomes EXTREMELY gratifying to listen to the most powerful track in a single defining moment. Even thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Another criticism, and one that I actually agree with, is that the narrative ends at a point where so much more can occur. The ending isn’t abrupt to the extent where you should feel cheated, but there is obviously much more of a story to be told in terms of relationship development and progression of the band. This is a common consequence of anime adaptations for continuing series and in truth the only thing keeping me from giving Given a perfect score. So guess it'll just have to settle for being the best anime of the season. Should you watch Given? Yes. Why should you watch it? because it's good. Do you need to affirm your sexuality before watching it? No, contrary to the tendency of every critic who throws out that tired tagline of "I'm a 100% straight male and I surprisingly loved this gay anime". Given excels for reasons that are not at all dependent upon orientation, and the open minded person should find no less value in this narrative than other musical themed romances that use a common passion as a vehicle to develop human relationships. I eagerly look forward to the movie adaptation (confirmed for 2020!) for a continuation of this great story.

KANLen09

As Crunchyroll states it: "Why You Should Rock Out With Given, The Best Summer Anime You're NOT Watching" AND YOU SHOULD WATCH IT, regardless if you're a fan of Shounen Ai (or as we otakus like to call it BL) or not. Heck, it's not even about if you're a straight male or female casually watching BL. It's just SIMPLY PHENOMENAL in every degree. Many will tend to call out Shounen or Shoujo Ai (or as we know it, Lesbian and BL) as those kind of taboo subjects that are made even worse when described into a medium (e.g. anime), and more often than not, themediums triumph and/or silence the naysayers to an insane degree, that it's worth watching them to understand more about their world and how these people perceive same-sex love (a.k.a LGBT). Heck, look at Japan and their recent history with LGBT, with more people coming to accept it even though it's criminalized (for the better seriously). One solid reference I can give is last Fall's Yagate Kimi ni Naru (Bloom Into You) by budding yuri mangaka Nio Nakatani, more than knowing that there's a demand for such a genre as BL or Lesbian, she decided to go that route, and lo and behold, Troyca's anime adaptation made justice to her manga source and garnered a name for herself. In the same way (as @RebelPanda puts it), (also budding managaka) Natsuki Kizu's Given treads along that EXACT SAME path: "it is NOT a romance, but rather, a self-realization love story." But more than that, it's not just about the good times, but also the bad times, where letting go past hurts and moving on reeks of more damaging and hurting to the soulless human spirit. Mafuyu Satou, a seemingly random boy, holding onto a broken guitar. The start may not seem like much, but the broken Gibson ES-330 he's clutching onto dear life, holds all of his past memories, from the presence of the other people that it has been used from, and the strings which shows the connections and then the eventual disconnect with the events thereon that has scarred his life to bits, not letting go of the past, and certainly not moving forward towards a brighter future. He leads the usual day in, day out with his 9-month old Pomeranian dog named Kedama, petting it before he leaves his house, and nothing more. That is until he meets the person who will change his life and turn it upside down musically with tremendous force: Ritsuka Uenoyama, a young, up-and-coming guitarist for a small band. His training from young serves his expertise well, though his character interactions seems somewhat bullish due to his inexperience communicating with others amidst his kind personality. Oh, and he doesn't fall in love easily, unlike the rest in his band: Haruki Nakayama and Akihiko Kaji, both of which have treaded the BL line and are experienced in what they do (in music DUH), but on the romance side, not so much as their secret rivalry extends onto people in relation to them, that are in love with one another (a.k.a Haruki's crush on Akihiko, while Akihiko is livng with his present boyfriend). With the seemingly kind-as-usual Uenoyama reaching out to Mafuyu, the first step being to repair the strings of his Gibson guitar, sparks a full-on length of descriptions of who Mafuyu realy is, deep in his core: not just someone who has played in a band before, nor someone being both a musician and singer, but someone who can't quite get his feelings right and remains on the fence after his past childhood love (a.k.a Yuki Yoshida) is gone from his life which eludes the constant aloof to the surroundings around him. And along with the help of Uenoyama's band friends Haruki and Akihiko, plus his friends in his previous band (i.e. childhood friend Hiiragi Kashima and band member Yagi Shizusumi) who was once tolerant but ignorant on the overwhelming effect of post-mortem Mafuyu and getting his groove back, it was a journey of many embarrassingly trivial issues with momentary feelings and emotions on the rocks until the disperse of negativity into pure frustration, a sound that needs to be let out into the wilderness. A sound that supresses all the times of unhappiness, into one of a solid firm foundation and connections that are once snapped but threaded back (like guitar strings) to right where they started to overcome and take hold of their own futures. And believe me, the guitar string has always been a ridiculous yet personified symbolism in this show (and rightfully so), but it works to a T here. What I simply love about Given is more than just extending the main and backstories of both the essential and related characters from the manga source, it ACTAULLY fleshed out the somewhat brushed-pass casual scene shots in the manga to full activity statuses, meaning that you could actually see more of just their usual stances, be it in the band, in their own individual happiness and sadness, and co-animating it with the present manga scenes made it for an experience that I could well say, the anime is leaps and bounds better than the manga in every conceivable way. Furthermore, the "show, don't tell" approach works insane wonders, working with very few from the start and slowly letting us the audience know of the true value and disposition of each of the central characters, be it the roles that they play in each other's lives and the eventual "Eureka!"s which led them to develop resolutions to NOT keep each other at arm's length, and work together to create an impact so big that it keeps us on our toes all the time. And before I go on, I would like to applaud the shounen VAs who worked on this series for their voice acting, especially co-leads Yuuma Uchida (for Uenoyama) and upcoming new VA Shougo Yano (for Mafuyu). More notably for Shougo Yano, because while he has done a main lead before (that being Tsurune's Nanao Kisaragi as his first), this depiction of Mafuyu is simply amazing right down to the core subjects. And holy smokes, for a young 20 year-old, his voice acting is one of the new generation's best. That song in Episode 9, was just true refinery and soulful acting to everyone's knees, leaving all of us speechless. What a VAer, literally taken aback by his sheer performance going above and beyond. Once again, on the art and animation side, Lerche doesn't disappoint to great effect, and it seems that aside from Kanata no Astra (by the same studio) being a underrated heavy-hitter, Given is the one which shares the same lineage as the studio's way of recent above-average quality shows through and through, ONLY except that this series is massively overlooked for it being the basis of a taboo subject. But regardless, what the production team managed to do, with director Hikaru Yamaguchi landing his very first full-on half-hour series, it was nothing but god-damningly, exceptionally impressive to say the least. I'd thought that the 3DCG would waver at times, but surprisingly Lerche did their very best to keep it as consistent as it would watching someone play the guitar on YouTube. The vibrant art helped play along with the background emotions of the characters, whether solemn or casual emotions that acts as the casual to the shift in relations with swiftness. All I can say is that Lerche is my SOTS (studio of the season), and having watched Kanata no Astra, Given, in the same season, really gives the studio the cut above the rest. And of course, how would Given be without its iconic music, I mean, why the hell not! Since it is made out of a musical setting, music is the primary source, the icing to the cake. Making music out for a living is bread-and-butter of these small bands, and whether they are liked or not is up to them to create inspirational music, one that deeply touches the soul. And need I say more when Mafuyu's music makes us shudder in spirit? That was definitely an explosion of tense feelings that needed to be plugged out into the world. And as priceless as Uenoyama is to Mafuyu, his inspiration as the latter's new found love interest only gets better from here on. Not to mention the extremely senstitve and foreshadowing OP which sounds great, as well as Mafuyu's ED with his cute and cuddly pet dog being the visual cue into his singing. Both are top-notch songs worthy to be placed into your J-pop playlist. Overall, Given is a by-product of a wonderful and amazing adaptation, but as mentioned, the BL aspect hinders people watching it, so get your mind out of the gutter, and go watch this, NOW. I believe that this (along with Bloom Into You) are the strongest contenders and representations of respective gender's same-sex romance, that their shows are not afforded to be missed critically. So even as a straight male, I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend that you take a gamble at this series, and it will set you ablaze at its Given (pun) potentials.