BLog: Given Vol. 3
BLog reviews recent boys love, yaoi and LGBTQ+ English translation manga.
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Given Vol. 3
Story and art: Natsuki Kizu
Translation: Sheldon Drzka
Publisher: SuBLime Manga
Release Date: Aug. 11 202
(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞ Spoilers for Given Vol. 1 & 2 ☜(ﾟヮﾟ☜)
Immediately following their first concert together, surrogate band mom and dad, bassist Akihiko Kaji and drummer Haruki Nakayama, respectively, listen to fans raving over the performance, especially mysterious high school frontman Mafuyu Sato’s singing. Friend of the band Koji Yatake encourages them to get serious about the band on social media, and to start doing other concerts and events.
Back at home Ritsuka Uenoyama, lead guitar and high school classmate of Mafuyu watches his sister have a mini-breakdown over a breakup and realize… with dawning existential horror…
… he kissed Mafuyu backstage after the show. And he has no idea what Mafuyu thinks about that.
If volume 1 focused on Uenoyama’s discovery of Mafuyu and introducing the band, and volume 2 on Mafuyu’s story, along with Uenoyama’s developing feelings, then volume 3 is an orchestral composition and we see variations on the overarching theme from each of the sections throughout.
Akihiko and Haruki make up the woodwind and percussions, as light and airy as they are forceful and sparring. Akihiko reminisces on his meeting bad boy, playboy Haruki. He remembers how it took all his courage to invite Haruki to jam with Akihiko and Uenoyama when he realized the intimidating musician was a drummer as well as a violinist. Akihiko’s grown his hair out ever since, a sort of symbol of his unrequited love for mostly straight Haruki. He plans to cut it off some day, but it’s never seemed like the right time. He also considers how much better Haruki’s behaviour has gotten since they met… but is that really the case, band mom?!
After days of avoidance, when Mafuyu and Uenoyama finally talk about their feelings it becomes a variation of the ponderous, regal brass section with the mournful, divine and sometimes dramatic sound of strings–Mafuyu’s contribution, for sure.
The most mysterious variation, perhaps we could say led by a violin soloist of exceptional talent, comes from the introduction of Haruki’s roommate–a prodigy concert violinist, see what I did there? After seeing a video of Mafuyu’s raw first public performance, Haruki–whose relationship with his roommate is… complicated–invites the singer to his performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 35. Mafuyu thanks Haruki for the tickets, who responds, “Well, it’s not really from me. We have them because… he likes you. He thinks you’re interesting.”
Variations on a theme is actually a very helpful way to think about volume 3. For the first time we get to see each of the characters in equal light, instead of a focus on either Uenoyama or Mafuyu. Akihiko and Haruki get just as much stage time, and it’s an absolute delight. I would read an entire spinoff series about those two dumb, beautiful bisexuals. Interestingly there’s a darker, hidden side to their friendship that subtly threatens to tear the group apart, even if none of the boys realize it yet.
Meanwhile, as Mafuyu and Uenoyama’s relationship develops we get the just bubblegum sweet painfully cute adorableness of two boys in love, with a dark sliver between them to keep us on the edge of our seats. Unlike the earlier volumes that are much closer to a single character, volume 3 wanders in an out of the boys lives, oftentimes montaging through time periods, a fantastic device to depict a band as they grow in talent and popularity. We also finally get to find out why they end up calling themselves Given, a scene delightfully underplayed in its meaningfulness. Mafuyu offers the suggestion, and then when the band accepts and moves on he’s adorably miffed. There’s a lot of wide-eyed, Pomeranian-Mafuyu in volume 3, if that sweetens the pot.
At the risk of repeating myself, Given may be one of my favourite series, cemented by Natsuki Kizu’s third volume. This is peak BL to me, an exquisite orchestral theme of rapture and melancholy without feeling overwrought, where interpersonal relationships play out in turns of darkness and light. Cute boys with lots of feelings and maybe not always making the best choices, and then occasionally kissing. Encore!
Level of Problematic: Violin soloist; there’s actually not much to say here, aside from the potentially evil gay that has emerged. We shall see!
Level of Adorable: Secret gay band relationships; I mean, we get the requisite sickbed crush visit, we get gay obsession over long hair and boys complimented on their braids, we get messy haired violinists. I just don’t know what more it will take to convince you!!
Level of Spiciness: Naked solo violinist; there’s a sexy edge to volume 3 that wasn’t in the other two, especially around a certain relationship, and a pinup style image of the aforementioned violinist that is sexy, vulnerable and a little menacing. So you can imagine the appeal.
