Given (ギヴン; Givun) is a Yaoi Genre manga written and illustrated by Natsuki Kizu, which was serialized in the Josei BL magazine Cheri+ from April 30, 2013 to March 30, 2023 and compiled into eight volumes.
High schooler Ritsuka Uenoyama is the electric guitarist for a band composed of himself, bassist Haruki Nakayama, and drummer Akihiko Kaji. He becomes a reluctant guitar teacher to Mafuyu Sato, a shy classmate, after repairing the broken strings on Mafuyu's Gibson ES-330. While Ritsuka is initially baffled by why Mafuyu always carries the guitar around despite having absolutely no idea how to play it, he soon discovers that Mafuyu is an exceptionally talented singer, and invites him to join the band.
A Drama CD based on the first volume was released on February 25, 2016. Second, third, and fourth drama CDs based on the corresponding volumes were released on January 25, 2017; January 26, 2018; and November 22, 2018, respectively.
An anime adaptation by Lerche aired in the Summer 2019 season, with a different voice cast from the Drama CDs. The anime is syndicated by Crunchyroll, which simulcasts the series outside of Asia.
Tropes present in Given include:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The anime tends to use CGI when the characters are playing music, but only with their hands as they play their instruments; the rest of their bodies are still traditionally animated.
- Adaptation Expansion: The anime adds some extra scenes that weren't in the manga.
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Akihiko seems to have a thing for fiddling with Haruki's hair.
- All Drummers Are Animals: Subverted with Akihiko, who looks scary but is a really nice guy. And also plays the violin.
- All Take and No Give: Shown to be what caused the fallout of Akihiko and Ugetsu’s relationship. Ugetsu was constantly receiving praise and attention from a well meaning Akihiko, but felt both smothered by the affection and guilty for not giving anything back. He tried to communicate this, but failed to do so properly, and things went downhill from there.
- Armor-Piercing Question: "Would you die for me, then?"
- Birds of a Feather: Uenoyama and Hiiragi, surprisingly.
- Also Mafuyu and Ugetsu.
- Bland-Name Product: The anime adaptation does this with several real-life bands; a young Ritsuka is seen listening to an Artistic Monkeys CD, and a pair of BIONANA posters feature prominently on the wall of the rehearsal studio.
- Broken Bird: Let's see: abusive and consequently jailbound father, childhood friend turned boyfriend who committed suicide after they had an argument... yep, Mafuyu.
- Cast Full of Gay: All the important male characters seem to be into other men. As this is a boys love manga, it’s sort of expected.
- Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Unsurprisingly for the genre, most of the guys are pretty good-looking.
- Childhood Friends: Mafuyu, Hiiragi, Shizusumi, and Yuuki were four friends who bonded in childhood and have stayed friends for as long as they've been alive.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Mafuyu with Yuuki were childhood friends before dating and the latter's death, and Hiiragi with Shizusumi are a happier version of the same.
- Close on Title: The episodic title cards appear before the end credits.
- Coitus Uninterruptus: At one point Akihiko casually answers a phone call from Haruki... while receiving oral sex from an unnamed girl.
- Designated Parents: Haruki and Akihiko, as the two eldest in the band, take turns wrangling the little ones.
- Destructive Romance: Yuuki and Mafuyu. They loved each other deeply, but it’s implied that their relationship was unhealthily codependent, which might have been a factor in their falling out and Yuuki’s suicide.
- Did Not Get The Guy: Yayoi. Kasai, though she seems to be taking it very well. Akihiko, not so much.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: "Marutsuke", the ED, is sung by Shougo Yano, Mafuyu's voice actor.
- Driven to Suicide: Yuuki, Mafuyu's childhood friend and boyfriend, committed suicide before the story starts. This greatly affected Mafuyu and is largely the reason why he's so withdrawn.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Uenoyama's classmate Kasai has a crush on him, and though she still hasn't admitted to it as of yet, she's very clearly annoyed about him spending all of his free time with Mafuyu. Her friend Kurihara, who went to middle school with Mafuyu, tells her about Yuuki's suicide, which Kasai then slips into a conversation with Uenoyama in the hopes that it might distance him from Mafuyu. Putting a fresh twist on a clichéd situation, Kasai immediately realizes that she shouldn't have said anything, and she meekly apologizes to Uenoyama.
- Hanging Around: The first page of the manga discreetly shows Mafuyu discovering Yuki's suicide by hanging.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: With the exception of episode 9 (which is named after the original song performed in that episode), each episode of the anime is named after a real world song, primarily from Alternative Rock groups. In order, they are:
- Living Emotional Crutch: Yuuki and Mafuyu were pretty damn co-dependent as friends, and even more so as a couple.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Haruki.
- Love at First Note: Technically? Uenoyama is immediately enthralled when he hears Mafuyu's singing voice.
- Love at First Sight: Pretty much for Haruki when he meets Akihiko for the first time.
- Love Martyr: Haruki is this to Akihiko, who in turn is this to Ugetsu.
- The Masochism Tango: Akihiko's relationship with Ugetsu is interesting, to say the least.
- Mentor in Queerness: Akihiko quickly figures out that Uenoyama has a crush on Mafuyu, and gives him some advice.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Mafuyu and Yuuki's last conversation was an argument, which culminated in Mafuyu asking Yuuki whether he'd die for him. He later found the body.
- Oblivious to Love: Uenoyama has absolutely no clue that Kasai has a crush on him.
- Open-Minded Parent: Both Yoshida-san and Sato-san were clearly completely chill with the relationship between their sons, and are revealed to still be very close friends in the present.
- Opposites Attract: Uenoyama, brash and a bit cocky, with Mafuyu, who's quiet and somewhat spacey, and still love each other.
- Outliving One's Offspring: You've got to feel bad for Yoshida-san, Yuuki's mother, after her son's death.
- Pair the Spares: Haruki's best friend Take somehow winds up dating Yayoi, despite there being no evidence of the two of them interacting before that.
- Parental Abandonment: Akihiko's unseen parents, who had no clue how to parent and basically left him to fend for himself. At least they filled up his bank account first.
- Posthumous Character: Yuuki.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: More like puppydog everything, Mafuyu's specialty, and Uenoyama's weakness.
- Rape as Drama: Akihiko forces himself on Haruki, who he knows is in love with him, after getting kicked out by Ugetsu one time too many. Haruki takes this about as well as you might expect and gets his hair cropped off (as a means of giving up on his feelings for Akihiko) .
- Real-Place Background: Much of the series is set in and around Machida in western Tokyo; Mafuyu lives there, and it is also the location of The Play House
where he performs his first live show. Other recreated locations include Kamakura Yugihama Beach (where Mafuyu and Yuuki had their beach date), Shimo-Kitazawa (where their local Rinky Dink Studio for practice sessions is located, along with the Little By Tech store that Ritsuka takes Mafuyu to) and Shibuya (where Ritsuka takes Mafuyu shopping for music supplies, including a visit to Grandley & Jungle). - Ridiculously Cute Critter: Mafuyu's pet Pomeranian. There's a reason its name is Kedama (which means "furball").
- Second Love:
- Mafuyu's First Love was Yuuki, his childhood friend and first boyfriend, but Uenoyama ends up with him and helping him heal from the tragedy of Yuuki's death.
- Akihiko was originally in a toxic relationship with Ugetsu before he finally managed to cut it off and ends up falling for Haruki.
- Shout-Out: With the exception of episode 9 (which is named after the original song performed in that episode), each episode of the anime is named after a real world song, primarily from Alternative Rock groups. In order, they are:
- Sick Episode: Downplayed. Mafuyu gets sick for a part of episode 10, but recovers soon enough. It also gives Uenoyama the chance to play nurse.
- Silent Snarker: Mafuyu, especially towards Hiiragi.
- Starts with a Suicide: The first page of the manga opens with Mafuyu discovering Yuki's body after his suicide.
- Temporal Theme Naming: Each of the four band members' given names contain kanji related to one of the four seasons.
- Mafuyu's name (真冬) has the kanji for "winter" (冬).
- Ritsuka's name (立夏) has the kanji for "summer" (夏).
- Haruki's name (春樹) has the kanji for "spring" (春).
- Akihiko's name (秋彦) has the kanji for "fall" (秋).
- Title Drop: In episode 10, the band decides to rename themselves into "Given" as a tribute to the guitar given to Mafuyu by Yuuki.
- Tragic Keepsake: Yuuki's guitar, which now belongs to Mafuyu after Yuuki's death.
- Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Haruki tries to get over Akihiko only for Akihiko to go and fall for him instead.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Mafuyu and Hiiragi are childhood friends who adore each other, and also give each other more shit than anyone else in the series.
