Music dramas can often be uplifting and profound and ‘Given’ attempts to push the boat out completely. Based upon Natsuki Kizu’s shared-title manga, the drama ‘ Given’ focuses upon high schoolers Uenoyama Ritsuka( Suzuki Jin) and Satou Mafuyu ( Sanari)’s gradual love story, as well as learning to overcome their emotional wounds through playing the guitar.

Yet whilst the characters were flawed yet intriguing in their own right, let’s not sugarcoat it by saying that the acting was mediocre at the best of times. This isn’t to attack or spurn hatred towards any of the respected main cast, but regardless of counter-arguments claiming that because it was “ from a manga” and “ it was over-the-top because there was also an anime ”, a respected actor (even in a manga-based drama )can still stand out with their performance by making it beguiling or vivid for the audience . Instead between Sanari’s over-the-top and exaggerated facial expressions ( even in seemingly more serious scenes) and Suzuki Jin’s staid and monotonous line-deliverances, it was hard to really take anything from this drama aside from questionable performances and casting choices.

In terms of screenwriting “ Given” has certain virtues and more evident flaws also. The drama could often be heartfelt at times as Ritsuka attempts to navigate his feelings for Mafuyu, and Mafuyu tries to heal his scarred past through learning to play the guitar and music. On the other hand, the relationship between Ritsuka and Mafuyu felt awkwardly enforced for the “ sake of plot and to create drama” , rather than gradual and natural . Whilst “ Given” is stuck with having to follow certain storyline points from the first manga arc, screenwriting can still have certain liberties to explore points which the original manga author may have missed or skipped over in detail but the drama rarely facilitated this to its full potential.

This is case and point with Ritsuka as one of our main leads. On a strong note there is a lot which can be gathered up for viewers about Ristuka’s personality and a little about his circumstances. Ritsuka fits into the typical cliche as the “ laidback and cool type”. He sleeps during class , plays guitar after school with the band and whilst there’s not a lot of indication about his relationship with his parents , it is shown that he has a typical yet close relationship with his older sister Uenoyama Yayoi( Yagi Arisa). However this is where we hit a rut with Ritsuka’s character arc. He has the outlines as an intriguing character but he is rarely given the opportunity to be sketched out more definitively with sentience. The biggest example of this is his actual infatuation with the guitar. It is arguable that Ristuka may have just played at a guitar store a few times as a kid and piqued the interest of the band who gave him music lessons , or just naturally gifted but this just felt like a wasted opportunity in order to not deepen a more emotional bond between Mafuyu and Ristuka over their reasons for picking up the guitar. Even if there was no emotional cause or backstory behind Ristuka learning to play, even hearing his motives such as “ thinking it was cool” or being inspired by a certain figure would’ve undeniably have made Ristuka less like a plot device in order to keep an enforced pairing moving, and more like an actual individual with his own dreams and feelings.

The relationship between Mafuyu and Ritsuka was awkwardly enforced to say the least. It wasn’t necessarily that these didn’t have a good and heartfelt chemistry potential. However the reasons behind Ristuka suddenly liking him and confessing to him because “he had a guitar and looked lonely” felt sporadic and arbitrary.

Whilst as viewers we are only given mild hints that band mates Haruki Nakayama ( Yanagi Shuntaro) and Akihiko Kaji( Inowaki Kai) may have been aware of Ristuka’s sexuality, the sudden overt revelation in the first episode alone that “ well, he has feelings for Mafuyu now” and his confession to Mafuyu was superficial to say the least. In fact there was little prompt behind Ritsuka’s reasons for falling for Mafuyu besides “ he looked like he was interested in music and he’s mysterious”. This isn’t suggesting that we should’ve seen Ristuka closeted feelings for Mafuyu being dragged out for more than half of the drama, but it seemed odd that Ristuka didn’t even indicate once that he was unsure of Mafuyu’s sexuality (until a later revelation) before such an intrepid confession, or was overcome by his own feelings also. Adding to this there is also the fact that Ristuka lives in Japan. Whilst LGBTQ+ rights and attitudes have certainly improved over the years in Japanese society and amongst young generations , Ritsuka is still in high school which can sometimes be a breeding ground for bullying and homophobia amongst certain groups and individuals.

Adding to the head-scratching and distorted sugarcoated reality of student life, was the lacking sense of prominent messages towards what this series was actually trying to get across. It is arguable to an extent that the drama was trying to show the power of music as a journey of healing and love, but to cover more poignant issues such as suicide and LGBTQ representation without tying in the more harsh issues of these real-life topics was seriously poorly-tackled. Then of course there’s the issue of the drama rarely covering over types of relationships also. There’s the argument that Ritsuka had a strong bond with his band mates, but Mafuyu was rarely given scenes to get to know them more. The band mates also ( unsurprisingly) had their own romantic relationship- sweet, but nonetheless disregarded for a major proportion of the drama.

Overall ‘ Given’ isn’t a bad drama to watch if you’re looking for something to pass the time- it is uplifting , fluffy in parts and easy to binge-watch without a second thought. On the other hand those searching for a more insightful and well-rounded drama with a well-written storyline and dynamic acting may be sadly disappointed.