Review of given
Watching Given reminded me of the good ol' days when shows took great lengths to curate their productions. A lot of care went into creating Given. - Story. The events that unfold are delivered effectively in a short span of 11 episodes. I liked the way it juggled between a music-centric plot, budding romances, and coming out. The story builds up in intensity to episode 9, drops in 10, then crawls up in 11 before plateauing. I wasn't a fan of the pacing with episode 10, although I think it may have been a necessary relief to transition the show to an end. - Characters. Dueto the overall serious aesthetic of the show, the characters may seem hollow at first. They eventually open up and show their silly sides too. The show includes small details that demonstrate personality and bonding. For example, Mafuyu says something that his band mates approve of, so they all silently slide one piece of cooked meat onto his plate at BBQ. Too cute!
Another thing I really liked was the depiction of relationships. The older characters are positive role models to the younger characters. Ritsuka and his big sister are very close and act naturally around each other.
It's also nice to see characters who have their own internal struggles, but they can admit what they're feeling without acting like an anime trope. Character development isn't too drastic in this show, but I think that's okay because we only have 11 episodes. The studio knew this and did a good job working with what they got in terms of pacing, because they chose to reveal Mafuyu's past incrementally. They successfully captured the feeling of "new beginnings" by the end.
- Art. The linework is simple, yet pretty. I am digging these newer animes that color the eyelashes the same as the character's hair color! Furthermore, the overall art direction is strong with a specific color story and cinematic shots.
- Animation. I didn't like the 3D CGI for the music scenes, and they used slightly too many montages of stills to indicate the passage of time. However, I understand there was probably not a lot of budget anticipated with the short episode allotment and genre (BL). I think they chose to animate some small things, such as sunlight/shadows while walking and blinking traffic lights, in order to bring subtle richness to show.
- Music. There is a bit of laughably bad acapella, but it lasts briefly. I still cringe when I think about it. However, the actual soundtrack for the show and the songs written and performed specifically for the show are great.
- Sound design. I noticed the extremely impactful sound direction within the first 30 seconds of episode one.
- Writing. The good: symbolism, foreshadowing, and sentences with double meanings. In fact, they drop a huge clue within the first 1.5 minutes of episode one that I didn't realize until I finished the series!
The bad: some instances of cringy dialogue and random omniscient narrator. For the dialogue, it could have been a bad translation from Japanese to English. However, there was one important argument that happened and I wish we didn't hear what was said. I think the line was stupid and detracted from the events that followed after. I was disappointed in the reliance on an omniscient narrator because the show was clearly able to show, not tell. Precious time was wasted on narration when they could have gotten the same point across with dialogue.
Episode 10 opened weakly with its extensive internal monologue acted out in chibified edited scenes, but it got better and finished on a positive open ending.
- Emotional impact. The buildup to episode 9 was incredible. I thought about that episode a lot the next day. Not only that, but I kept having revelations about what a character said or did and going back to examine it. Mafuyu's literal and symbolic journey of finding his voice again also resonated with me.