Given Movie 1

The band "given"—comprised of Ritsuka Uenoyama, Mafuyu Satou, Haruki Nakayama, and Akihiko Kaji—has advanced to the final screening of the Countdown-fes Amateur Contest, in which they will be judged on their live act. Although enthusiastic, they worry about having only one original song to perform.

Mafuyu embraces the idea of learning more about music in order to create new, emotionally resonant songs. In this regard, he unexpectedly receives help from Ugetsu Murata, Akihiko's on-again, off-again lover. Ugetsu has unsuccessfully tried to let go of Akihiko, who himself is torn between lingering feelings for his past and an uncertain resolve for the future.

As the competition draws near, Haruki uncharacteristically begins to doubt his place in the band and the trust he shares with Akihiko. It is a given that not all attachments last forever, but it remains to be seen what can be salvaged from the ruins of heartbreak—or if only regrets will endure.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Nakayama, Haruki Main

Nakazawa, Masatomo Japanese

Kaji, Akihiko Main

Eguchi, Takuya Japanese

Murata, Ugetsu Main

Asanuma, Shintaro Japanese

Satou, Mafuyu Supporting

Yano, Shougo Japanese

Uenoyama, Ritsuka Supporting

Uchida, Yuuma Japanese

Kashima, Hiiragi Supporting

Imai, Fumiya Japanese

Yagi, Shizusumi Supporting

Ban, Taito Japanese

Yatake, Kouji Supporting

Takeuchi, Ryouta Japanese

Itaya, Shougo Supporting

Takanashi, Kengo Japanese

Ueki, Ryou Supporting

Amano, Hirosato Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Matsumoto, Miho Producer

Herek, Samantha Assistant Producer

Yamaguchi, Hikaru Director

Reviews

Jun 30, 2023

ktulu007

Recommended

It's been quite a while since I looked at Lerche's Given, a romance which had some faults but was still great. We've also seen Lerche's work with Konohana Kitan, Gakkougurashi and the Danganronpa anime. So, they do have a solid record when they aren't working on projects related to Danganronpa which makes me hopeful for this one.

Story:

We open with Satou attending a violin concert with Akihiko. This gives him the epiphany that you can convey strong emotions with music. Remember how in the series proper I talked about him having some ridiculous quirks that break suspension of disbelief? Well, add this to ... the list. In any case, we find out that Akihiko has been in a long running semi-relationship with the brilliant violinist Ugetsu as neither of them quite knows how to quit the other. We also find out that Given is in the running for a spot on the stage of Countdown-fes and Satou gets to work trying to write the perfect song for them to perform at the competition.

The major narrative problem with the film is that the shite between Akihiko and Ugetsu is way too melodramatic. It's a lot of "I want him to be the one who finally ends it" and "We know we're no good for each other but we just can't stop." It's not an unrealistic dynamic it just gets tiresome and kind of annoying pretty quickly.

Melodrama aside, the whole story arc of Akihiko moving away from his past and moving on is pretty well handled. The film uses instruments in an interesting symbolic way to parallel the relationships Akihiko has with both Ugetsu & Haruki. It's also interesting to see Satou's song writing process and how he takes inspiration from the situation.

Characters:

The main characters we focus on for this film are Akihiko & Haruki. Satou & Uenoyama are still around and they're still important but we don't get that much of them and their relationship. The problem is that Akihiko and Haruki just aren't as compelling. They were good as supporting characters but they aren't quite as solid for focus characters. It's also a bit disappointing that the better characters with a much better, more interesting relationship take the sidelines.

Don't get me wrong. The relationship developments between Akihiko and Haruki are fine. It is interesting to see how both the men have to work and make personal changes in order to make a romantic relationship between them viable and avoid the pratfalls of Akihiko's last relationship. It's just not at the same level of quality we saw with Satou and Uenoyama's relationship in the series proper.

Art:

Lerche did an excellent job. The film looks really good. The characters, backgrounds and animation are all excellent. The detail they put into things like performances and instruments is also impressive.

Sound:

Nakazawa Masatomo, Eguchi Takuya, Asanuma Shintarou, Yano Shougo & Uchida Yuuma are all good in this. The music is excellent. The film does a good job of showcasing its big song at varied stages of development and the song is amazing when it's finished. There was a point where I thought they were going to shoot themselves in the foot since they were hyping it so much but then it lived up to all that hype.

Ho-Yay:

All the major guys in this film are into men and the main focus is on a developing romance between men while one of them moves on from a gay relationship that wasn't healthy for either him or the other guy.

Areas of Improvement:

1. The film could have used less melodrama. They could have dealt with Akihiko's relationship drama in a cleaner, more concise way.

2. Satou having a big epiphany that music can be highly emotional is just dumb. It's one thing if seeing a violin concerto inspires him to create something emotional, it's quite another when the concept just never occurred to him.

3. We really needed more scenes with the couple we already know and love.

Final Thoughts:

Given: The Film is pretty solid. It's not at the same level as the series proper but it's still a good film with a solid romance story. My final rating for the film is going to be a 7/10. If you're a fan of Given, you'll likely be happy with the film.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 10, 2024

thirdy00opsk

Mixed Feelings

this anime is very aspiring to me. I'm a type of person that is never sure of what they truly want, and I try to please people and tell them what they want to hear but that's never how I actually feel. Sometimes I get so tired of human interactions and want to ghost and shut myself from the world. I don't usually say this much about myself but. this anime made me want to. And I really loved it. and I say thank you to the person that thought of this anime. And I will forever truly love music. Shi this anime got ... me cryin like, cmon dawg

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jun 11, 2021

TheBlazingBlade

Not Recommended

Kaji is a piece of crap. Sure the story ends well... be he straight up ran from everything in his life and messed up everyone else's. He also raped Haruki. WTF. WHY IS THAT OKAY to people?! Why does Haruki say he consented? He didn't. Kaji... you are trash. If you read through the manga he is an even worse piece of crap. I don't care if someone tries to turn their life around, that doesn't mean it makes everything they did okay.
There are SO many other animes that have better stories, with romance, that is about music.

I liked the original anime so ... much better. This movie ruined it. I originally wanted a season 2 to see what became of the band and the romance, but I don't care anymore. Any future season 2 can go burn.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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