Given by Natsuki Kizu
Do not let this cover fool you into thinking this is a light-hearted and typical story about a band. This devastatingly romantic manga and its detailed scenes draw (literally) a much deeper narrative.
Mafuyu Sato and his classmate Ritsuka Uenoyama begin a friendship based on sharing music, which soon becomes a burgeoning romance. When Uenoyama invites Mafuyu to join his band without asking the other members, the relationships between the four band members become central to the conflict. The deep reflection on Mafuyu’s character and tragic past is evocative and is what I personally enjoyed most about this story. As Mafuyu struggles to express his emotions, the band cannot help but support and love him, which mirrors my own experience of loving this character more and more as details of his past are painfully revealed.
This series has also been adapted into an incredible anime with a soundtrack that does justice to the imagined band that Kizu has created. However, I did like that the novel gives you pages to pause and imagine what kind of music you think they would be playing. In that way, the experience of reading the graphic novel, even though it has pictures, still relies on your own imagination to a greater extent than other novels in this genre.
Volumes 1-7 are available as books.
Blake
![Given. Volume 1 by Natsuki Kizu.](/sites/default/files/styles/max_480/public/2024-07/given-vol-1-9781974711826_hr.jpg)