Anime Review: Given Episode 1

Given Episode 1

Studio: Lerche

Genre: Music, Drama, Romance

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Music animes in recent years have been heavily influenced more by idols than other musical genres but Given is one of the exceptions to this which makes for a refreshing experience. The series starts by making things very clear that this anime is going to be very different in tone with a surprisingly sombre beginning. This is not a story about people performing on stage with happy smiles.

We are introduced to Ritsuka, the protagonist – whilst good at both basketball and guitar he appears to have lost his passion and spends his high school days, bored.  Until that is, that he meets Mafuyu who is taking up his favourite sleeping spot, clutching a broken guitar. Mafuyu is something of an oddball and appears very out of touch with the world around him. Reluctantly Ritsuka ends up helping him fix his guitar and the two form a rather weird friendship with Mafuyu requesting Ritsuka’s help with learning how to play it. Ritsuka is clearly irritated by all the attention and shrugs it off until, despite himself, he brings Mafuyu along to one of his band’s practice sessions.

The art is pretty and while the character designs themselves are nothing out of the ordinary, they are drawn well and with a fair amount of charm.  Whilst we only see Ritsuka’s bandmates briefly, they’re both given some key moments which make them likable and memorable. As expected from a show focused around music, the opening song and the jam session are particular highlights. The pacing is fairly slow There is also a level of maturity to the show that makes the characters seem more like adults than high schoolers and shows the potential of deeper storylines between the characters. Mafuyu in particular, while something of an airhead, is hinted at having a past trauma which influences his strong desire to get involved in music.

It should be noted that this series is classed as a romance – so far at least, this has been very subtle and the anime works better for it. Still, if this anime does choose to follow a romantic storyline, it seems highly likely that such a relationship would be handled maturely and seriously. Mafuyu is perhaps the weak link so far in this series – he comes across as rather ditsy and too vague to really make much of an impression yet. Time will tell if this changes.

So far, I’m pleasantly impressed with Given and whilst it’s not fast-paced, there is a definite likable quality to the characters and a surprising maturity to the plot and themes.

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