Review of given

Shounen ai isn't something that most anime fans find comfortable watching. Not that it makes these viewers necessarily homophobic, but considering the genre's abysmal record of featuring BL containing romanticized sexual assault (I'm looking at you Junjou Romantica) to portray romance between men—on top of subpar writing and cringe-worthy dialogues, it's understandable that viewers would rather avoid it. With regards to Given though, please don't. It made me grateful that I gave shounen ai another chance. I would have to chuckle at the next person who complains that it panders too much to fujoshis considering that Given is a lot more subtle and tamer compared tomost series in this genre; and that all characters are gay... Yeah well, duh? It's shounen-ai, expect that most of the characters are gay just as how harem anime has so many girls falling for the main boy. That's how the genre is. It's understandable if it's not up to anyone's liking, but criticizing a show for using its own genre's trope is not only silly, but also invalid. Otherwise, you'll also have to grumble about why shounen has tournament arcs.

With all that said:

Given is a breath of fresh air amidst the monotonous, oversexualized depiction of male romance and quite frankly puts almost every shounen ai title to shame. I guess there's an incredibly low bar set in this genre to begin with, but Given is one of the few that attempted to do so anyway, succeeded, and even exceeded expectations. It is not only one of the best in the shounen ai category, but also in the romance genre.

What separates this particular title from its predecessors is the organic development of the protagonists' relationship. The interactions within the story are authentic and purposeful with effective and appropriately-timed humor. Uenoyama and Akihiko's conversation when the former realizes that he may be in love with Mafuyu: "Is there something wrong with me?" "No." "What's wrong about it?" "That you're only supposed to be into girls or something?" - to me, cemented this show's narrative appeal. In those dialogues alone, it addressed the protagonist's inner conflict and confusion with regards to his sexuality in a surprisingly straightforward manner, without any overemphasis in it and without glossing over it either.

The cast might be polarizing, especially Mafuyu. He is incredibly socially awkward and preoccupied that some people think he may actually be autistic. His characterization appears be dull as he gets eclipsed by the more dominating and charismatic personalities like Uenoyama's or that he isn't as well-rounded as protagonists are expected to be. That being said, I couldn't bring myself to dislike him despite me being critical of other similar characters. His personality flaws, while they can be annoying to watch, were convincingly established. For an abused child who grew to be a queer and later found both his best friend and first love hanging dead in front (and because) of him, he is unapologetically honest, straightforward, and gutsy for all that he's been through with an effort to overcome his past and willingness to give romance another chance. How can I not root for him?

But what made Mafuyu particularly striking for me is his chemistry with other characters. As I've mentioned previously, there is a smooth progression of his relationship with Uenoyama with just the right amount of conflict that didn't (thankfully) devolve into a roundabout mess. There were no excessive indecisiveness and back and forth squabble "do you like me or not?" type of way that can be frustrating to watch. The rest of the cast may not have been as fleshed-out either, but considering how much story and characterization are allowed for 11 episodes, they have actually fulfilled their roles and purposes well with decent backstories that gave enough intrigue—leaving many of us wanting to see more.

Of course, Given isn't without any flaws and even I had several gripes with it. We all loved the concert scene and we couldn't have asked for a better pay-off. However, I'd argue that there was a bit of an underwhelming build-up for it. Despite several hints of Mafuyu's hidden talent earlier on, I still sort of found it quite not-so-convincing how he was able to suddenly belt out his song despite not being shown practicing or even coming close to finishing the lyrics. The overdramatic fret over him not being able to sing/not being able to finish the song until the literal last-second was also a bit unnecessary obviously made for a shock factor. Not to say that it wasn't effective, but again, unnecessary. The CGI inserts during the concert scene was also quite awkward albeit doesn't detract much from its entertainment value.

One last thing that I actually found a quite irksome was Yuuki's reason for suicide. I'm certain that the circumstances involving it are plausible in real life especially with people who have mental illness and preexisting suicidal tendencies, but the problem is none of those were established nor explored in his character that makes his reason for killing himself (Mafuyu telling him to do so during their fight and getting drunk) seem irritatingly trivial. Again plausible, but from a narrative point of view, I thought it was a weak point. I have not read the manga, so I'm not sure if there were more to it than what was presented.

That being said, Given resonated with me on a personal level, hence my appreciation for it. As someone who loves music and even attempted to learn the guitar myself (when I was a sophomore year in high school), watching a scene as simple as Uenoyama helping Mafuyu replace his guitar's strings and fine tune them was genuinely touching. How the band gravitated towards each other through mutual interest in music and especially how the two protagonists discover and reignite their passion for it was simply a beautiful and inspiring thing to see. All of which were successfully conveyed through an effective story-telling. There wasn't anything that bored me and every episode felt like five minutes long.

Overall, I enjoyed almost everything about Given. It may not be a completely solid story, but it was still such an emotionally satisfying watch for a mere 11-episode show. Its authenticity and expressiveness tugged my heartstrings, which I didn't think was possible.