49: Given Volume 1-5

There, there's-- So while Given is, um, like, isn't as sexually focused, like there's sex in it, but, like, isn't as sexually focused as some of the works that we've read, it is definitely, like, I think a more emotionally focused than some of the, the works that we've read.

Um, the core, I guess, event that precipitates everything in this is Mafuyu's, um, boyfriend commits suicide, uh, before the series starts, and, uh, Mafuyu is gifted this guitar that he has broken.

[chuckles] And this in- the, uh, initial like sec- section of the series is, like, sort of Ritsuka and, and Mafuyu's, like, relationship and how do they understand each other, and also Mafuyu, like, finding his voice again, like literally in, like, the singing voice, but also, like, how to share his feelings and emotions and, like, what he, how, uh, his, like, boyfriend Yuki's death, like, played into his development and as a artist, but also as a human being.

Yeah.

And I, I think it's also, like, the, the way that...

I, I think that this is probably one of the best, like, handlings of suicide or, like, the impact it leaves on people-

Mm

... that I think I've read in, in, like, any other media becauseHow do I explain it? Like, the ripples of U- and Yuki was Mafuyu's boyfriend's name.

The rickles, the ripples of Yuki's death are constant, and even when, like, Mafuyu thinks that he's, like, over it or he's fine, it just pops up, and it's so inherently linked to music that, like, the main conflict-

Yeah

... of the story is Mafuyu deciding what his, like...

He's, like, decided that his life must exist without music because he feels responsible for Yuki's death in that way because of how much he pushed back against Yuki's dedication to the craft.

And I think that there's, like, especially I think more highlighted in the manga, w- Mafuyu's battle with himself of, like, what he thinks he deserves because of the death and what everybody around him wants him to feel, and, like-

Yeah

... know that it's okay.

But, like, that is something only Mafuyu can do for himself, and I don't think that there's been, like, a more touching exploration of grief than what we get here.

Yeah, no.

Because, like, it's not...

Like, there are, like, big, grand moments, but, like, it is really just, like, Mafuyu hearing a song or Mafuyu feeling guilty that he's singing with, uh, Unoyama, um, and, like, singing with him and, like, what that kind of raises up.

And it, it's interesting 'cause, like, how do you move forward with somebody who's kinda, like, locked in, like, time? And yeah, it, it's, it's just, it's really good.

[chuckles]

Yeah, and I think the music and the anime, uh, and, and the movies, but, like, that, that first, like, anime season really captured me.

Um, the w- the, the way it's described in the manga is, like, this, like, siren shriek that, like, sort of pulls, like, at your heartstrings and you want to both run away but, like, run to it at the same time.

Like, it, it, it's this sound that is, like, terrifying.

And in the anime, like, when you see it and, like, uh, I think the, the, the group that does the music for Given, it's, it's a J-pop band, and, like, they w- a very good job, I think, of capturing that feeling and the way the, the shots are edited where they flash back between, like, the different moments, um, of Mafuyu's relationship with Yuki and, like, how in life he keeps on seeing the places and the things and, like, the memories of Yuki in everything.