Hitting the Right Notes

from Animation Magazine - Licensing Show Jun/Jul Issue

Tech Reviews

The popular Given anime series and movies offer a different take on high school romance.

- By Charles Solomon -

Atypical BL (“boy’s love”) romance is as predictable as your typical Hollywood rom-com. A senpai (upper classman/corporate superior) falls for a cute kohai (lower classman/ corporate junior). The kohai is awed by his senpai’s good looks and self-assurance. An overwrought confession of love by one partner causes the other to puzzle over his response to a same-sex declaration of affection. After a few misgivings and misunderstandings, everything is resolved, and they live happily ever after.

In her music-themed BL tale Given, Natsuki Kizu avoids the clichés of the genre to tell a more interesting story about believable characters. No wonder it’s remained popular in various media since the manga was first serialized in Chéri+ magazine in 2013. The first animated series was directed by Hikaru Yamaguchi, produced by studio Lerche and debuted on Fuji TV four years ago. Mina Osawa was the show’s character designer.

The 11-part series centered on high school student Uenoyama Ritsuka, a guitar prodigy. He plays in a band with two college students. But his technical skills can’t disguise that he’s losing his edge: Music no longer excites him the way it used to. School and his fellow students excite him even less.

Music of the Heart

When he sneaks out of class to his favorite spot for a covert nap, he finds Mafuyu Sato, a kid from another classroom waiting for him. Although he uses very few words, Mafuyu wants to know if his Gibson guitar can be fixed. It can: Ritsuka grumpily replaces the broken strings.

Mafuyu asks Ritsuka to teach him to play. He refuses — he’s never taught anyone, he doesn’t how to teach … but he can’t resist Mafuyu’s pleading stare.

Mafuyu progresses rapidly. The blisters and callouses on his fingers reveal how hard he’s practicing. When Mafuyu sings a melody that’s haunting him, Ritsuka is shaken by the intensity and power of his voice. He invites him to join the band. The other band members tell Ritsuka his pupil’s style is starting to affect his own. The bond between Ritsuka and Mafuyu grows stronger but remains unspoken. While Mafuyu struggles to write lyrics to the melody, Ritsuka discovers his friend’s back story. His boyfriend in middle school was an aspiring musician who killed himself. Mafuyu comes to terms with his past in the lyrics: He mourns the partner who lives on in his memory — and acknowledges that his loneliness will end when he finds a new love. Ritsuka helps his friend off stage after his emotional performance. As Mafuyu thanks him for teaching him so much, Ritsuka’s suppressed feelings crystalize in a first kiss.

A less talented writer would overplay the scene with too much build-up leading to a too-certain conclusion. Kizu underplays. Rit-

Given (TV series, 2019)

Given (original movie, 2020)

Given: On the Other Hand (OVA, 2021) suka realizes that he’s in love for the first time and that Mafuyu loves him. But they’re not ready to shop for rings. Their emotions are still raw and uncertain, as a 16-year old’s would be. They both recognize they’re at the beginning of a relationship: Neither one pretends to know where it will go. They’re together and they’re happy, and for now, that’s enough. Ritsuka and Mafuyu don’t conform to the senpai/kohai pattern. They’re talented young men who bond through their music. Mafuyu is less experienced as a musician, but the death of his boyfriend brought him a maturity Ritsuka lacks. Ritsuka has been struggling to find himself; music seemed unsatisfying because he was coming to terms with complex emotions.

Both the animated (2019) and live-action (2021) Given TV series adapt the first two books of the manga. The 11 episodes of the anime give Mafuyu more time to develop his chops as a musician. But he begins as such a monosyllabic, understated character, he nearly fades into the backgrounds. In the six episode live-action version, rapper Sanari may lack the pretty boy looks of Mafuyu in Kizu’s drawings, but he commands a much more powerful voice than actor Shougo Yano in the anime. When Sanari sings the notes that haunt him, the audience hears the strength and sorrow that knock Ritsuka off his perch.

The OAV, Given: On the Other Hand (2021) is a minor follow-up: It shows Ritsuka and Mafuyu beginning to date, stealing a smooch in a deserted classroom during summer school. The Given movie (2020) focuses on the other two band members, drummer Akihiko Kaji and bass player Haruki Nakayama. Akihiko, who’s apparently been in more beds than a motel sheet, keeps trying to break up with his first lover, an obnoxious violin prodigy, while Haruki pines for him. After a lot of melodrama, they end up together — to no one’s surprise.

Given TV (live-action miniseries, 2021)

[All stream on Crunchyroll]

Given by Natsuki Kizu (Sublime Manga: six volumes, $17.99 each)

In early spring, plans for a new Given feature were announced with a teaser trailer. With any luck, the new film will shift the focus back to the more likable Ritsuka and Mafuyu. ◆

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A Day In The Life

This month, we catch up with popular Toon Town mover and shaker Cort Lane, who is eOne’s development VP and exec producer on the show My Little Pony: Make Your Mark. The pics depict a big crunch day as the team puts the finishing touches on the 40th anniversary special, Bridlewoodstock, with teams in four cities across three countries. The special launches June 6 on Netflix.

6:45 a.m. It’s time to make breakfast with my three tiny tyrants supervising.

10 a.m. Weekly creative review with our brilliant Atomic Cartoons partners in Vancouver. Loving the final VFX renders from our director, Will Lau.

7:30 a.m. Working with our brand team in London means early morning Teams updates from home. Swooning over promo art of our Bridlewoodstock celebrity guest, Sofia Wylie, who voices Ruby Jubilee.

11:30a.m. Co-exec producer Tristan Homer updates me on Bridlewoodstock QC fixes from our Toronto office.

9 a.m. Arrive! My team (Alex and Erin) and I work out of Hasbro’s epic Burbank, Calif. office.

2:30 p.m. A threehour time difference means files come in for afternoon review. Final premix of the Bridlewoodstock special means the last review for this exec!

6:30 p.m. Playtime at home! My three pups attack daddy to get their energy out at the end of a long day for all of us.