The past few years have really gifted us with some quality gay anime. With LGBT romance in anime long-time being portrayed as overly melodramatic, rape-y, and fetishistic, this new crop of shows over the past few years that aim more for realism and positive representation is quite refreshing. Doukyuusei, Yagate Kimi ni Naru, and Yuri on Ice stand out as the most notable examples, and Given is another worthy addition to this (hopefully ongoing) list.

I loved this show. And I wasn’t really expecting to. I had no experience with the manga going in, and even now after finishing the show I don’t know what happens past the anime’s stop point, but when I saw this on the seasonal chart I approached with the same level of wary excitement that I do any seasonal BL show. And it really delivered, was absolutely not expecting Given to be a 10/10 but here we are. And my reasons for liking this show as much as I do aren’t super cerebral or have anything to do with like realism in its portrayal of gay romance like Bloom Into You, it just does what it does as well as can be done. Given’s not only a very good BL-romance show, but more importantly an extremely good music and teen drama anime that really excels in handling its characters and melodrama that not many anime do, gay or not.

At its core, despite it’s more dramatic elements, Given is a slice of life anime about a band coming into its own and how Mafuyu becomes a part of that narrative. It’s very lowkey, especially for a “gay show”. Right off the bat Given exercises a great amount of subtlety that carries through element of the show. It is very slow paced and mellow, and feels good to watch. The 4 main characters have great chemistry and all their interactions are a joy to watch. The show has this dry wit about it as well as an above average realism in the way it presents the characters and their relationships, and that’s really what carries the top half of this show before it gets into the more serious stuff.

It’s the story of some kinda dumb guys fumbling around with guitars while living their own lives outside of that, and that’s nice to see, especially with this presentation. As I mentioned before, this is a very subtle and patient show for the most part, the soundtrack is very atmospheric, the visual direction is strong. And even though the visuals themselves aren’t incredibly high gloss and the animation is nothing really exceptional, there’s this very soft warm color palette that makes this a very nice show to look at. I feel like brown or kind of red outlines are used a lot on the characters that give it this really unique, pleasant appearance that I can’t compare to anything else. Also, all the characters are super expressive, I do love shows that really nail characters’ facial expressions, and they really have it down in this one, so many screenshot worthy moments.

But of course this is a BL show, so it does evolve past this point of being just slice of life band stuff, and it does this in a way that feels very natural. The main focus of Given’s narrative is Mafuyu coming to terms with his past while moving on to a new chapter in his life. And just in general, this show does feel very transitional just in general. The anime is only 11 episodes, the manga is much longer and I’m sure goes more into the Akihiko-Haruki-Ugetsu romance, goes more into Mafuyu’s past with his father, etc., but one of the things about this adaptation that I like the most is what parts of this bigger story it chooses to show. It stays away from hard drama and presents a snapshot of all these guys’ life where they seem...happy.

There are definitely elements that could come across as “oh this is just an anime adaptation, they brought up so and so plot thread without any resolution, that’s lame”, etc. but the biggest appeal of this show to me is its restraint in melodrama, and if it were to be longer and go more in detail into these more dramatic elements it would undercut what makes the show so unique in the BL landscape in the first place. The 11 episode run time feels kind of smart in a way, it presents these characters living their lives just as it is. And if the story stopped here, I’d be content with that, there’s a very real world element to it that I like, just showing what these characters are like in this small window of their lives. Yes there may be more to see, but that’s not to diminish the fact that I’m sure any of these guys would look back at this very specific time period and say “oh yeah remember those old days when we first met Mafuyu” or whatever. I like it.

Well anyhow, yes, there is a core narrative here about Mafuyu reconciling with his past and Uenoyama getting a crush on him. It’s pretty standard I think, without going into spoilers. If anything, the actual drama in Mafuyu’s past is the least interesting part of this show. I wouldn’t say it’s bad or overblown or anything, just kinda...blehh expected, unexceptional, etc. However, my feelings on the events themselves do not diminish my admiration for how the script handles their aftereffects.

By all means, this show has every right to reach its climax in some heated argument between the band mates with screaming and characters running off, things being awkward afterwards until they confess their love, you’ve watched anime. But instead of using the Mafuyu melodrama to manufacture tension in the cast it uses it to progress the band’s development. While I was enjoying this show for the first 8 episodes a lot, it wasn’t until episode 9-11 that it became a 10 for me. The concert scene in episode 9 is brilliant and powerful. This is really the climax of the show, it sees the b+and finding an identity in itself, as well as giving Mafuyu a platform to not only find his own identity within the band but to finally have closure with his past that kind of recontextualized all the events leading up to this point, and all over the tune of a genuinely great song.

This is a music anime obviously, and with any music anime I’d expect the music itself to be exactly as good to my ears as it is to the world around the characters. And fuckin, they really do a great job here. I wouldn’t say that any of the instrumental performances by the original 3 members or even the great song with Mafuyu on vocals is amazing or even extremely notable in the broader landscape of anime music, but...that’s kind of the point isn’t it? None of these guys are prodigies, they’re all just young kids doing it for fun, and that’s exactly how these performances sound. I wasn’t a huge fan of Mafuyu’s singing voice in the ED or when he sings without the backing instrumental, but he kills it in this performance. There’s this amateur rawness to his voice that just really works, so impressed by this voice actor’s singing here. And lyrically the song is kind of what you’d expect from an anime song but in the context of the show and the place Mafuyu is coming from when he writes and sings it, it really hits hard.

So maybe things were simmering a bit leading up to the extremely cathartic episode 9, but everything after this is so...sweet and good. The plot really starts moving along in the last 3 episodes, make of that what you will. The band has made a name for themselves at this point, Uenoyama and Mafuyu’s feelings for each other have become more clear, and the last two episodes are about the characters coming off the high of that performance as well as some genuinely adorable BL fluff to go along with it. This show is never super gay, and I like it a lot for that, I definitely value the more restrained presentation versus epic thug seme wall pushes.

And well, Uenoyama and Mafuyu really are the core of this show, Akihiko and Haruki definitely feel a bit more...accessory. I do find both of these guys super likable and their lives aren’t uninteresting, but I definitely appreciate them more as side characters showing up every now and again. As marriageable as I find Ugetsu to be, I did find the episode about his backstory with Akihiko the weakest of the whole show.

So this was just a really good, organic BL show with a sense of realism you don’t usually see in the genre (calling this a part of the BL “genre” might be a bit unfair, as it definitely transcends the trope you would see in something that would rightfully wear such a tag though). Given just really knocked everything out of the park for me and was a joy to watch weekly. Nothing is in excess, the developments and characters feel natural, and the high points really soar. Very impressed by this one, don’t let the shounen-ai tag scare you away. If you have any interest in teen dramas or music anime give it a shot, it’s good stuff.