Given

Given is a tender Japanese live-action BL that follows the slow-burn romance between Ritsuka Uenoyama, a gifted but emotionally detached high school guitarist, and Mafuyu Satou, a quiet, grief-stricken boy clutching a broken Gibson guitar. After a chance encounter on a staircase, Ritsuka fixes Mafuyu’s guitar and reluctantly agrees to teach him how to play. As they spend more time together—rehearsing with Ritsuka’s band, eating lunch on the roof, and navigating unspoken feelings—Mafuyu’s past begins to surface through the music he writes. What makes Given special is how it uses music as a vehicle for healing: every strummed chord carries the weight of unresolved trauma, and every song becomes a confession that words can’t deliver. The series is a quiet, melancholic exploration of grief, first love, and the courage it takes to let someone new into your heart. Anchored by breathtaking cinematography and a hauntingly emotional climax, Given proves that sometimes the most profound connections start with a broken string.