Given

Hello

안녕하세요

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

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Given is an anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Natsuki Kizu, with the anime adaptation being written by Yuniko Ayana and directed by Hikaru Yamaguchi.

The series started airing on the 11th of July 2019, and concluded on the 19th of September 2019.

The first season contains 11 episodes.

Main Characters:

Ritsuka Uenoyama is voiced by Yuuma Uchida

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Mafuyu Sato is voiced by Shogo Yano

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Haruki Nakayama is voiced by Masatomo Nakazawa

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Akihiko Kaji is voiced by Takuya Eguchi

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Supporting Characters:

Yuki Yoshida is voiced by Yuuki Shin

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Yayoi Uenoyama is voiced by Yuu Shimamura

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Ugetsu Murata is voiced by Shintaro Asanuma

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Hiiragi Kashima is voiced by Fumiya Imai

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Shizusumi Yagi is voiced by Taito Ban

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Kasai is voiced by Ayaka Asai

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Yatake Koji is voiced by Ryouta Takeuchi

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The anime adaptation is produced by Lerche and was announced during a Fuji TV press conference, on the 14th of March 2019.

The series aired on Noitamina, making Given the first BL series to air on Noitamina.

The series was also syndicated by Crunchyroll, which simulcast the series worldwide outside of Asia. In Southeast Asia, the series was released on WeTV on the 18th of May 2021.

Mafuyu voice actor Shogo Yano sang on the original songs "Marutsuke" and "Fuyu no hanashi (A Winter Story)" for the show.

Kizuato - Centimillimental

Wooby

Marutsuke - Given

iwee

Session - Given

Crunchyroll Collection

Fuyu no hanashi (A Winter Story)

iwee

Fuyu no hanashi (A Winter Story)

Crunchyroll Collection

Tightly clutching his Gibson guitar, Mafuyu Sato steps out of his dark apartment to begin another day og his high school life. While taking a nap in a quiet spot on the gymnasium staircase, he has a chance encounter with fellow student Ritsuka Uenoyama, who berates him for letting his guitar's strings rust and break. Noticing Uenoyama's knowledge of the instrument, Sato pleads for him to fix it and to tach him how to play. Uenoyama eventually agrees and invites him to sit in on a jam session with his two bandmates: bassist Haruki Nakayama and drummer Akihiko Kaji.

Sato's voice is strikingly beautiful, filling Uenoyama with the determination to make Sato the lead singer of the band. Though reticent at first, Sato takes the offer after an emotional meeting with an old friend. With the support of his new friends, Sato must not only learn how to play guitar, but also come to terms with the mysterious circumstances that led him to be it's owner.

crown of elm

How I've never come across this anime being a lover of BL anime, manga and drama's. I'll never know, I only came across it because I was looking at popular BL manga's online and Given came up in a lot of articles. The I had a nosey on Crunchyroll to see if the anime was available for me to watch and it's now the reason that I am now back to being a premium member, it brought back my love for anime.

I had already seen some clips online but seeing more into the backstory of the characters, especially Mafuyu, made this series more heartbreaking to watch, especially when he finally sung the lyrics he'd written. You can tell he blames himself for what happened in his past and you can tell he really struggles with letting others in because he's afraid he'll be left alone again. Even now when I listen to the song he sings, I get a little tearful.

I love that Given touches on subjects that people try to ignore like suicide, mental health and sexuality, especially when it comes to the male population.

I love how different the characters are and I especially love the Given members, each of them have their own struggles, but are all willing to help one another and I loved seeing how each character developed and grew, especially when it came to Mafuyu and his friends from his past.

I highly recommend this anime and it's definitely a series that I want to collect both the anime series and the manga volumes and for me it's right up there as one of my favourite series' not only as a BL but overall. I could easily and happily watch it on repeat everyday, it's a show that you would never get bored of.

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Have you watched the Given anime series?

Were you a fan of the anime?

Have you read the manga?

Do you have any favourite characters?

Let me know in the comments below.

See you soon!

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye

My Christmas Gift Haul 2020

Hello

안녕하세요

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

Well we definitely had a very different Christmas last year, and I'm sure none of us at the start of 2020 envisioned that there would be rules and bans in place as Christmas day approached, while it may have been different this year, I definitely tried to make it special for myself and Skye, we put the tree up earlier than normal, I restarted my musical Christmas Countdown on my blog, and myself and Skye watched 1 Christmas film a day in the run up to the big day.

The year flew by so fast and a majority of it many of us spent stuck at home, which for me makes this years Christmas Gift Haul all the more special and thankful.

Today's post will be short and sweet, as I share with you my gifts from 2020.

Starting off with my presents from my lovely friend Nichola, her other have David and their kiddies Grace & Olivia.

They got me some awesome Beanies coffee goodies, the mug is really big and I love it, I never finish off my coffee but that's just normal for me. When Nichola asked me what Beanies Coffee flavours I liked, all I could say was the Coconut Delight but I've never found it in stores.

She surprised me with 6 flavours that really do represent me, I'd been wanting to try the Birthday Cake coffee for so long, so I was so happy to see it as one of the 6, Gingerbread and Pumpkin Spice are my go to drinks in the autumn and winter months.

So far I've only opened the Birthday Cake, Pumpkin Spice and White Chocolate & Raspberry jars, and they're all gorgeous, especially the Pumpkin Spice so far.

Next up from my dad and his wife, both me and Skye got a hamper to share between us with also some goodies for us alone.

Above is what I chose for myself for the duplicate gifts, as well as a gift voucher for us to us and McFly's new album, that i hadn't actually gotten round to buying myself, so it was a nice surprise.

From my very talented friend Clare, I got a candle and some personalised slippers that she's personalised herself for me.

The slippers are so comfortable and cosy I absolutely love them, and the candle smells absolutely gorgeous.

From my sister and her husband, I got a bottle of strawberry gin and a big box of Maltesers.

I've not tried the gin yet, but the Maltesers didn't last very long till I'd eaten them all. This is the biggest box I've ever seen Maltesers come in.

Lastly as a gift for myself I pre-ordered Enhypen's debut mini album Border: Day One.

I will be posting about this album soon, so I will reveal all the goodies from the album through that post.

I also got money from my mum and her partner, but I'm still to spend it and I'm thinking I'll treat myself to a trip to HMV to see if there is any K-pop that I'm wanting in store.

Well that's the end of my Christmas haul for 2020, I love all of my gifts, I'm always grateful that my friends and family take the time to pick out gifts for me that they know I will love and enjoy.

Did you get some amazing presents from your friends & family?

Let me know in the comments below.

See you soon!

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye

Red Velvet: The First Mini Album - Ice Cream Cake

Hello

An nyeoung

Konnichiwa

Ni hao

It's Monday which means it's time for another K-pop post and this weeks K-pop post was a post I was going to do the other week but never got round to getting it wrote and posted so I thought I'd do it this week instead. This week I want to introduce you to a girl group that are still pretty new to the K-pop scene and this year will be celebrating their 2nd year anniversary.

Red Velvet are a 5 member girl group containing members Wendy, Irene, Seulgi, Joy and Yeri.

On July 27th 2014 SM Entertainment released a Music Video teaser revealing that they were to release a new girl group named Red Velvet and their debut track would be called Happiness and introduced 4 members of the group. The teaser didn't give too much of the song away but kept SM fans intrigued and on the edge of their seats.

Owned by SM Entertainment.

On the 1st of August 2014 the new 4 member group(Wendy, Seulgi, Joy & Irene) made their stage debut on Music Bank performing their debut song for the first time to the public and revealing the entire song, each member also had a different colour in the ends of their hair so viewers could assign the colour to the member.

Debut Stage

KBS World

On August 3rd SM released the full MV to Happiness, with the track being released as a digital single on the 4th.

Owned by SM Entertainment.

On the 9th of October 2014 SM released a new MV from the group showing a different sound and image from the group. Their 2nd track Be Natural was a cover of another of SM Entertainment's girl groups called S.E.S. The track also features rapper Taeyong from SR14B (SM Rookies 2014 boys).

Be Natural

SMTOWN

SMTOWN

Be Natural was another digital single being released the 13th of October.

On March 10th 2015 SM made things interesting for Red Velvet fans when they released a video titled Welcome Red Velvet New Member Yeri, revealing that Red Velvet was now a 5 member girl group.

Owned by SM Entertainment.

On March 11th SM announced Red Velvet were to release their first mini album on the 15th of March the title track as Ice Cream Cake, they also released another video welcoming new member Yeri on their set of their new MV.

Owned by SM Entertainment.

On the 13th of March (my birthday eek) SM released the teaser for the Ice Cream Cake MV.

Owned by SM Entertainment.

On The 14th of March SM released the first MV with new member Yeri for Automatic which holds a familiar feel to Be Natural.

Owned by SM Entertainment.

On the 15th of March SM released the MV for Ice Cream Cake and revealed that both Automatic and Ice Cream Cake would be promoted as double lead singles.

Owned by SM Entertainment.

Either something was missed in translation or the mini album was delayed a few days as (according to Wikipedia) Ice Cream Cake was released digitally the 17th of March and then released physically in 2 versions the 18th of March. Both versions of the mini album have different photo books and different coloured covers and CD designs.

Their mini album debuted at No.1 on Gaon's weekly and monthly album charts, it came in at No.2 on Billboards World Albums Chart and No.25 on Billboards Top Heetsekers Chart.

Ice Cream Cake became the most viewed K-pop MV in the world for the month of March while Automatic was the 6th. Ice Cream Cake went on to become the best selling album by a girl group in South Korea on the Hanteo Chart for the first half of 2015.

Billboards Jeff Benjamin called the album "an impressive effort for such a young group" and praised it's ability to personify the group's dual sided musical identity through the singles Ice Cream Cake and Automatic.

Ice Cream cake received 6 music show awards, their first awards since their debut. The physical sales of their mini album stands at:

Gaon sales 48,815+

Oricon sales 2,706+

The group name Red Velvet represents the group concept itself, where it defines the two different images portrayed in the group's music and performance, with Red being their vivid and bold image(Happiness and Ice Cream Cake), while Velvet reflects their classy, sultry and toned down side(Be Natural and Automatic).

When I bought their album the version was selected at random and I got the Automatic version which has a simple black and white cover, CD and photo book, while the Ice Cream Cake has a colourful cover, CD and photo book. Looking at unboxing video's for the Ice Cream Cake version the photo book contains stills and shots from the Ice Cream Cake MV and is something I would love in my collection even though the track list is the same on both. The photo book for the Automatic version contains stunning shots from the Automatic MV definitely calling to the Velvet side of the group with even the lyric sections of the booklet looking really pretty and breath taking, just check out the images below to see for yourself.

Track List:

Ice Cream Cake

Automatic

Somethin' Kinda Crazy

Stupid Cupid

Take It Slow

Candy

With this only being a mini album I thought I'd share all the tracks with you, especially any live performances I can find which shows of not just their dancing but their vocal skills.

Ice Cream Cake Live

KBS World

Automatic Live

MBCkpop

MBCkpop

Somethin' Kinda Crazy Live

By 96mile

Stupid Cupid Lyrics

By sassy maknae

Take It Slow Lyrics

By Jenirus

Candy Live

By 96mile

These are one of the two groups I've been into since their debut the other being GFriend(which I can now officially say I'm a Buddy-GFriend's fan base name), Red Velvet are yet reveal their fandom name and colour, which was announced last year that it would be revealed soon to the annoyance of another SM girl group F(x) who has been waiting for a fandom name for YEARS (they recently revealed it as MeU during their first tour). I can't wait to see how Red Velvet will continue to develop and grow within the K-pop world.

Next week

Owned by SM Entertainment.

Are you a Red Velvet fan?

Do you have a favourite song from this post?

Let me know in the comments below.

See you soon!

An nyeoung

Sayonara

Zai Jian

Bye