The following review contains spoilers for the Given Movie and the anime series.
The Given movie is the 59 minute follow-up to 2019’s smash anime series of the same name. Adapted from an ongoing manga series, Given centres around a band of boys – two highschoolers and two college students – as they fall in love with playing music together, and with each other.
Of course, the anime left off with Mafuyu and Uenoyama getting together after some mutual pining and dealing with some underlying trauma. The focus of this movie shifts to their bandmates Akihiko and Haruki. We discovered in the series that Haruki has been in love with Akihiko for some time, whereas Akihiko seems to be a lot more of a playboy and has a different girl on his arm constantly.
Having read the manga past this story arc, I was a little hesitant to watch the film. There was a lot I didn’t like about the arc portrayed in the film when I read it in the manga. That’s not to say it’s not good, it’s just very raw and a little bit darker but this shouldn’t be a surprise with the content from the first series of the show in mind.
Throughout the movie, it’s very clear that Akihiko has a very toxic relationship with his live-in lover Ugetsu. Neither of them seem to really want to give the other up, but they’re absolutely no good for each other. This is pretty clear throughout the whole movie. Akihiko’s behaviour ends up spiralling as a result and he acts in a truly despicable way. There’s an interesting juxtaposition between Akihiko’s behaviour when he’s influenced by interactions with Ugetsu, and those with Haruki which further cements the toxicity of Akihiko’s relationship.
Throughout the movie there’s a multitude of levels to the characterisation. At first glance, Akihiko and Ugetsu seem like thoroughly despicable characters, both only looking out for themselves, and whilst there certainly seems to remain an element of this, there’s also a lot of depth to their relationship which becomes uncovered and you can begin to kind of see why they act the way they do. There’s also a undertone of not being able to let your first love go, which I think a lot of people can relate to.
With Ugetsu in mind, I’m really pleased at how he has been portrayed. I think it would have been really easy for him to be vilified as the mean man who is keeping Akihiko and Haruki apart, but there’s actually a really soft side to him and he is characterised really well. His interactions with Mafuyu are especially touching, as we see him helping Mafuyu to write a new song and eventually learning to trust him enough to talk about his feelings with him.
As you’d expect from a film centred around the lives of musicians, the music in Given is impeccable. From Ugetsu’s classical violin playing, to the rock stylings of the band, the music throughout is evocative and emotional. The music always really adds to the emotion of any scene, and perfectly encapsulates the feeling of the moment.
A lot is packed into the Given movie’s short run-time, which can kind of leave your head reeling, but there are some really sweet and tender moments in amongst all of the angst. The Given movie is a near perfect continuation of a series which was so beloved, and won’t disappoint fans.
We’ll kick off with my new anime additions. If you remember back to the 
I started the year by playing a lot of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, and it reignited an interest in mythology within me. I wanted to read more about Norse mythology so my knowledge wasn’t just formed from Valhalla and Marvel movies. I also bought a book on Japanese folk tales, which was on my Christmas list but actually became really difficult to buy around that time for some reason, but I managed to get my copy on eBay for pretty cheap!
And finally (I know!) rounding off the post with some manga. I bought the latest volume of My Dress Up Darling despite still not having read the previous volume. I wrote a quick review of the 
An anime about a boys high school volleyball team? It’ll never work… It’s so difficult to watch 2.43 without comparing it to Haikyuu!!, but once the initial weirdness wore off, I actually really enjoyed the first episode. The tone of 2.43 is totally different to that of Haikyuu!!, it’s still serious and feels fun, but seems to have a slightly more adult tone, with some quite heavy story being introduced straight away. The main characters, Chika and Yuni, both seem interesting at first meeting and I’m intruiged to see how they can develop.
I don’t have super strong feelings about this anime, but it seems pleasant enough and has made me laugh a few times! I like the characters, and I’m interested to see if it goes where I think it’s going or if it’s going to take not quite such a predictable route.
Horimiya feels like a really cute love story from the first episode. It seems like both of the main characters, Hori and Miyamura, both have feelings for each other, so I’m interested to see where that goes as more outside influences are introduced. The animation in the show is impeccable, such high quality it almost seems like it belongs in a movie. Both Hori and Miyamura are really interesting and likeable characters, and there seems to be a pretty large supporting cast waiting to be introduced if the promo image and first episode are anything to go by. I’m looking forward to this one!
I love me a supernatural type folklore anime, I think it’s so interesting to see folklore tales from other countries. I really enjoyed the first episode of Kemono Jihen, I thought it was really mysterious and exciting, and I hope it explores more of a detective side of things in future episodes.
This show had so much exposition in the first episode, it felt really busy and chaotic. I think this also has a lot of potential, but I really hope they don’t cram too much in and slow down a bit from the first episode, as I know it’s only a 13 episode arc. I’m hoping that the first episode was just a lot of set-up and that going forward it might be a lot clearer, so we shall see!
I really loved the first episode of SK8 the Infinity! I felt like it did a really good job of establishing the world, and the characters, and it was really energetic and fun. It was so colourful and vibrant too, it had me hooked on the first episode!
Any anime wanting to focus on figure skating has a hard job ahead of it after the success of Yuri on Ice!, but I think Skate-Leading Stars does a good job of stepping away from the traditional figure skating perceptions but introducing a new concept in skate leading. I love sports anime anyway, and I’m definitely spoiled for it this season. Skate-Leading Stars worries me somewhat because I think it’s quite hard to create a convincing concept for a sport you’re inventing for the purposes of a show, but hopefully the characterisation and the concept is strong enough to pull through! It certainly seems like it so far, but whether they can maintain that through the season remains to be seen!
I haven’t watched that many isekai anime, I think really only Rising of the Shield Hero in fact, and Sword Art Online if that counts. It’s just not a genre that overly appeals to me, but the promo picture for this looked cool and the concept was interesting; a 34 year old recluse is killed and reincarnated in another world as a baby named Rudy, who then grows up and learns magic and decides to live the life he always wanted in his previous life. If I’m honest, I’m not sure how long I’ll stick with this. For the most part it is pretty cool, I really like the concept and seeing Rudy learning magic and it’s kind of fun to see his inner thoughts which have retained the memories of his previous life and the actions of him as a child. My issue is it’s so crude. I’m not a prude by any means, I’ve watched my fair share of ecchi, but this just rubbed me up the wrong way. One of the first things Rudy does is internally comment on how big his mothers boobs are and makes an remark about looking forward to breastfeeding. There’s also a comment later Rudy’s internal voice makes later on about wondering if another character has reached puberty yet in a really crude manner. I’m uncertain how long I can stick this one for, but I’ll see how I go!
As I stated in my IDOLiSH7 review, I’ve got really into idol music and IDOLiSH7 has opened the way for me for idol anime. I-Chu seems pretty generic so far, it was enjoyable enough but nothing really stood out to me in the show in terms of characters or concept.
Let’s get it out of the way – first up in the mystery box was King’s Game. This is the only one of the five that I’ve actually seen (technically I haven’t watched Roar of Awakening, but I have watched season 2 of Attack on Titan). I actually started it when it was airing, and stopped watching because I didn’t like it much. I then got fed up of it being incomplete on my AniList, so I finished it off earlier this year for Anime August. I still didn’t like it much (I gave it a 5/10 when I rated it), but against my judgements I will keep the bluray as I might give it a second chance later down the line – perhaps the disjointed way I watched it didn’t help with my overall dislike of the show.
Next up, as mentioned above, was Attack on Titan: Roar of Awakening. For those who don’t know, this is a recap movie retelling the ‘Clash of the Titans’ story arc in season 2. I’ve seen season 2 of Attack on Titan, albeit a long time ago when it aired, and I don’t have any of the other seasons or recap movies in my collection. If there’s anything I hate, it’s an incomplete collection, so I kind of feel obliged to fill in the rest of the collection if I end up selling Roar of Awakening on.
Speaking of preorders, my copy of Ride Your Wave also arrived. I first saw Ride Your Wave when it was showed at Scotland Loves Anime last year, and it was my favourite film of the whole festival. I’m so excited to watch it over and over again, it’s definitely up there in my favourite anime movies list.
Culture Shack 