Given (Japanese: ギヴン Hepburn: Givun) is an ongoing Japanese BL manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Kizu and published by Shinsokan. The manga has been serialized in the bi-monthly manga magazine Cheri+ since April 2013 and was adapted into an audio drama in 2016. An anime television series adaptation produced by Lerche aired on July 12, 2019, on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block. The manga ran from 2013 to 2023.
Volumes & Chapters[]
Covers of the manga[]
Plot[]
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.
Ritsuka quickly realizes that Mafuyu is an exceptionally talented singer and invites him to join the band. Ritsuka learns that Mafuyu's guitar was previously owned by Yuuki, Mafuyu's childhood friend and boyfriend who died in an apparent suicide. The band begins composing music in advance of a live performance, but Mafuyu is unable to write lyrics for the song.
On the day of the performance, Mafuyu has a breakthrough and sings a powerful song about his feelings of loss over Yuuki. The song prompts Ritsuka to realize his romantic feelings for Mafuyu; he kisses him backstage, and they begin dating shortly thereafter.
The band names itself – "Given", in tribute to the guitar given to Mafuyu by Yuuki – and begin to develop a following after posting a video of their live performance online. Given qualifies for a major amateur music festival and begin preparing new material. Their efforts are complicated when Akihiko, who Haruki secretly has romantic feelings for, becomes involved with his roommate and ex-boyfriend Ugetsu.
Characters[]
Reception[]
The second collected volume of Given reached number 39 on Oricon, selling 17,484 copies in its second week for a total of 30,308 copies as of February 2016. The third collected volume reached number 37 on Oricon and sold 24,345 copies in its first week.