Music is a powerful tool. That’s a fact that we may not realize at first, but once it hits you in the face, you can never forget it. Singing allows you to convey any feeling you may feel in your heart, even when it feels like your heart has shattered into pieces by a life-changing event. Who knew that a yaoi (or shounen-ai, whichever way you want to refer to it) anime would make such a thought occur to me? I haven’t read the manga that the anime in question was based off of; I just saw the PV when it came out before the actual anime aired and saw that it had a large amount of potential. Originally, I would have blown an anime like this off in spite of that potential due to it being BL; despite it being years since I removed that restriction from myself, this anime is making me seriously regret that I did it at all!

Lads, ladies, and non-binaries, my review of “Given” is about to be given to you! (Yeah, yeah, throw your tomatoes at me and get it over with.)

Given starts off with high schooler Ritsuka Uenoyama reluctantly teaching schoolmate Mafuyu Satou how to play the guitar. You see, Ritsuka is the guitarist for a band, and upon seeing Mafuyu with a broken guitar at his usual napping spot one day, he fixes it for him; as it turns out, Mafuyu doesn’t actually know how to play said guitar, so he enlists Ritsuka to teach him how to play. One thing leads to another - which includes Mafuyu being introduced to Ritsuka’s bandmates, bassist Haruki Nakayama and drummer Akihiko Kaji - and one day, Ritsuka discovers that Mafuyu has an exceptional singing voice. What else could Ritsuka do except invite Mafuyu into his band? As time goes on and the band prepares for a concert, however, Ritsuka begins to learn about Mafuyu’s past.

I’m just going to start off by saying that the story for Given is the best story I’ve seen for a yaoi anime. Yes, it’s even better than that of Doukyuusei. Not only does it have lighthearted moments, but it also displays a darker side, which includes an accurate depiction of how one may feel when they lose a loved one; there are many who will be able to relate to the story and its characters. If there is one problem I have with the story, however, it is that it feels like it ended too early. Of course, the anime ends on a positive note, but I just feel like there is more that could be explored; maybe it’s just me wanting more than just these 11 episodes and nothing else, though.

Not only does Given have an excellent story, it also has a strong cast of characters. In fact, I feel like the characters are one of the anime’s greatest strengths, if not its greatest strength, period. None of these characters are perfect, which is exactly what makes them interesting; it’s interesting to see them grow. Out of the entire cast, Mafuyu is most certainly the one who grew the most; he went from someone who couldn’t express his emotions that well to someone who could express himself through the power of music. Ritsuka is also an enjoyable character who went through a good amount of growth; his relationship with Mafuyu was also perfect, with their chemistry appearing from episode one and their relationship being developed at a reasonable pace. Two more interesting characters are Haruki and Akihiko; being the adult members of the band, they give the two younger members sound advice, yet at the same time, these two can be complete messes, especially Haruki.

Now, I’m just going to remind you that while this is a yaoi anime, it is also a music anime; thus, it is important that this anime has good music. Fortunately, I can say that Given delivers in the music department tenfold. The opening and ending themes - which are respectively “Kizuato” by Centimilimental and “Marutsuke” by Shougo Yano (the voice of Mafuyu) - are amazing and memorable songs that are worth replaying over and over again; the songs’ lyrics - especially that for the opening theme - also fit this anime’s story so well that it’s almost scary, which is something I realized as the anime was still going on. The soundtrack is also really good, and it adds to the atmosphere of the anime. (There is one insert song that stood out to me, but I’ll talk about that later.) The voice actors gave exceptional performances, too; their emotions are conveyed the way they are supposed to.

The animation.... What can I really say about the animation? It’s not my favorite part about the anime, but there’s no denying that it’s really good. There are some pretty good character designs, with the proportions of every character looking great. (Eat your heart out, Houkago no Shokuinshitsu!) Given also makes good use of its colors; there are bright colors used for the more lighthearted moments, and there are darker colors for the sadder moments. Overall, Given just has great animation.

However, everything that is great about Given really comes together in one particular scene in episode 9. This scene is the concert scene where the band performs “Fuyu no Hanashi”, and....wow. The animation, the sound of this song, the way the song connects to the overall story and Mafuyu’s character.... Everything about that scene was perfect. When it hits for the first time, it’s hard not to feel emotional.

Overall, Given was an excellent anime. I recommend this anime to anyone looking for an amazing love story with amazing music. If you refuse to watch it because it’s gay, I won’t force you, but I will say that you’re missing out!