#metapotato

[magicpotatoobsession]

GIVEN | Hiiragi Mix Thoughts Part 1

So I haven't been super active on this blog not because I don't love Given anymore, but any ounce of brain energy dedicated to Given means I have to feel the agony of waiting for the two movies to release. BUT ALAS the time has come because @aarinfantasy is the GOAT thank you thank you thank you~~~ Spoilers and screenshots below the cut 👇👇👇

GENERAL NOTES:

How can Mafuyu be animated even cuter than before? Like I don't even know how but how can he look even more adorable???!!

I love the intentional placement of sound and music in Hiiragi mix, moments of silence are so effective in highlighting tension, awkwardness, release, nervousness. Like even 1 minute into the movie, you hear the boys breathing as Uenoyama is tuning the guitar and Mafuyu is sitting beside him. It's those little details that show the atmosphere between characters perfectly.

I like the balance of Hiiragi/Shizu's storyline and Mafuyama's storyline, it's following the manga closely and shows the complexity and intertwining of their stories. It's a good way to juxtapose the different struggles between the two couples and what they needed from each other to overcome their miscommunication! I think the team took feedback from the Given Movie 1 2020 and OVA broken up into two parts when it should have worked better as one longer movie.

I saw on reddit I think that Hiiragi's VA is still relatively new to the industry but I saw a HUGE improvement in his voice acting in this movie, the range he gave to Hiiragi is amazing!

SCENE REACTIONS

This scene was so funny I CACKLED Uenoyama and Hiiragi with their catty energy I LOVE THEM

2. I fell off my couch at this scene HHAHAHA

While Uenoyama's face is funnier in the manga, something about the animated rocket launch from earth JUST GETS ME HAHHAHA. Ok serious talk though how did I not notice that when Uenoyama got confessed to and when Haruki told him he's about to debut, his brain turns into astronaut footage? I think it's a very smart way to illustrate that for Ue, music = love and one cannot exist without the other.

3. OMG Uenoyama's face HAHAH awww man I know he's bummed as hell at Mafuyu's "I'll think about it later" (to the debut proposal) but his face, Ueki and Itaya's faces send me straight to heaven

You know how Ue feels? Our munchkin cat feels like he just proposed to his lover and his lover said, hmnnn I'll think about it. 😭 Chemical, emotional, physical, psychological damage right here>>>

4. The voice acting here from Hiiragi's VA Fumiya Imai SLAPS SO HARD

It's definitely giving deja vu, similar energy to Uenoyama panicking about Mafuyu, gosh I love Hiiragi and Uenoyama's baby gay panics it's so cute.

5. Kageyama is that you?!

6. The sound design and use of silence in this entire scene....incredible, showstopping, amazing, impactful yes yes yes

7. This scene animating Shizu's flashback to childhood was really well done.

It's interesting that in the movie they didn't speak too much about Shizu being transferred from foster home to foster home, or what he had to do to get by. But also, in the manga, I'm pretty sure that they didn't have this scene of a child Shizu closing his hands over "precious stone" but I think it absolutely elevated my connection to Shizu as a character. It really shows that he believes he has been selfishly holding Hiiragi back and that he has been trapping Hiiragi all this time. It gives so much more context to what he did next which if it wasn't clear already, he tried to push Hiiragi away in order to free Hiiragi from him. 8. HOLY SHIT wow goddamn I would not want to live where Akihiko is living oh my 💀💀💀

Watching this scene animated with the noise of the highway really highlights how bad Akihiko's living conditions are. I flagged this because in the Given Manga sequel 10th mix [SPOILER AHEAD], there is this whole thing of Akiharu's disparity with their living conditions so....this is interesting....just putting it out there.....

I also don't remember this scene in the manga, but I really appreciate it, it shows the contrast of Akiharu in the first Given movie vs. this one and how their love and care for each other has evolved! Very cute! I'll make a part 2 soon!

____

My Given Metas

[kaihavertz5]

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[daamselkat]

Metapotato of linguistics

[sleeepwalker-mfr]

Metapotato of linguistics

[magicpotatoobsession]

NEW OFFICIAL ART ALERT

I’d like to think that they all planned to be in neutrals for a photoshoot then ritsuka just about had it with Hiiragi because he came in pastel blue (the calico cat wants to stand out) only for him to then give Hiiragi a free pass seeing that he is just wearing both of the bands’ merch for extra promo 😂😂😂 Ritsu is absolutely thinking “Hiiragi don’t ruin the fucking photo” and there is our cat boi being cheeky with a little RAWR 🐯 Shizu’s and Mafuyu’s little smile like “ah yes we’ve had to deal with years of this behaviour”

It’s canon in my head that Take-chan is just relieved that they are all acting natural and not pissing themselves laughing like their first shoot

This is the design of the shirt Hiiragi is wearing from a previous Kizu official art release

Masterlist of my Given Metas

[magicpotatoobsession]

My favourite panel in chapter 50/Mix_20 of Given is actually this 😂😂😂

I LOVE how Kizu drew the smokey miasma of emotions behind Mafuyu. This is after the FIRST time that Mafuyu has full blown bawled in front of Hiiragi, Shizu and Uenoyama, potentially the first time he’s cried so much in front of anyone. Previously, we’ve only ever seen him cry (fuyunohanashi) after Uenoyama returned to the stage. Mafuyu is always on the verge of tears but he actually never allows himself, consciously or subconsciously, to feel his emotions fully, to even go there. This panel is so so precious to me because he’s feeling the COMPLEX AFTERMATH that encompasses not only

the catharsis of finally being able to meet Yuki again

the catharsis from coming out of an extended period of emotional shutdown and bottled fear

his love for music and Uenoyama BUT ALSO

the discomfort of showing his vulnerable, and most probably uncontrollable outburst of tears in a public setting (I mean the gucci eyebags with the mildly annoyed expression really screams “how dare you make me feel my emotions but also I love you”).

That’s sooo many inexplicable feelings for our poor little Pomeranian! He must be exhausted! 😭😭❤️ I bet my money that Mafuyu is taking another sick day off school after SYH’s live from crying so much. But that’s also why Uenoyama is so good for him, he encourages Mafuyu to be vulnerable with him, to “not be on the verge of tears holding these emotions in all by himself” when Ue is around. Uenoyama means Mafuyu should give himself the space to cry, to laugh when they are together.

Masterlist of my Given Metas

[magicpotatoobsession]

@sillyfanturtle, sorry for the delay but I finally got around to answering the second question you had in your ask!

THE "TRIGGER" TO EVOLVE:

Kizu I think specifically kept in ambiguous so that the reader can read it in many different ways so here I am just presenting my interpretation. Let's talk about Ugetsu for a hot second. In retrospect, every jab like "show me music that's worth listening to" is actually Ugetsu's own way of trying to trigger Akihiko to love music and MAKE music wholeheartedly again. Ugetsu puts himself on a pedestal to hopefully ignite the fire within Akihiko. But it's actually been causing the opposite effect on Akihiko, the hurtful words and actions chipping away at his self-esteem and confidence in music. But Ugetsu doesn't seem to realise that...

Then, it was at that first performance that Ugetsu saw how Mafuyu and himself are similar, he strongly believed that they were musical genius-types who use music as a form of emotional outlet.

So in Ch 13, Ugetsu thought that he can also be the trigger for Mafuyu to not only use music as an emotional outlet, but to truly love and create music.

The "he" Ugetsu is referring to here is I believe Mafuyu. He is thinking, I, a successful musician, can be both Akihiko and Mafuyu's triggers to fall in love with music and create music wholeheartedly. Ugetsu at this point in the story means well but his approach is quite ego-centric; which is to have people be consistently in awe of you or put yourself on a pedestal.

Now i want to defend Ugetsu for a tangent, Ugetsu has been conditioned to think that loneliness and genius is tied. He grew up lonely, then when he found music, other people only ever saw him as a genius including Akihiko, which further alienated him from people. Society has attributed his self-worth akin to that of a musical genius, so that's all he has ever known, that's the only language he knows to show others that he cares.

Hence Ugetsu invites Mafuyu to his concert. And it works! (to a degree) Mafuyu, in awe of Ugetsu, says, "Akihiko, I want to make music".

---

Then we come to Ch 26. Where Akihiko has a huge fight with Ugetsu when he mentions he wants to move out, then the moment Akihiko sees Haruki, he says, "it's good to be home". Now this is very important. While Haruki doesn't actively do anything like Ugetsu to trigger Akihiko, Haruki was the one was founded the band and indirectly created a HOME for all the members of Given, including Akihiko.

Then Ch 27, Akihiko was just about to spiral when Haruki bonked him on the head to snap him out of it.

REMEMBER, Ugetsu is there, Ugetsu sees all this.

Later, Akihiko says, "When did I start hating music? Even though I once loved it so much, even though I once remember shivering in awe like I am right now, the first time I heard Ugetsu play...That's right...I love music".

Same chapter, a realisation dawns on Ugetsu.

He himself is not the trigger. Haruki is. He doesn't know quite what Haruki has done, but he could see over the past few months that Akihiko isn't latched onto him anymore, Akihiko is finding the confidence to leave him, to evolve, because Akihiko has finally recognised Haruki as a place to come home to.

Given implicitly demonstrates that the trigger to get someone to commit to music wholeheartedly isn't to create distance between yourself and them but putting yourself above them, but to create a HOME, a safe space with love and support. Loneliness and genius isn't inherently tied, but love and music is.

(this is all implied) Mafuyu was able to accurately capture his own emotions as well as Akihiko and Ugetsu's emotions in Yoru Ga Akeru because he had Haruki, as the bass, the foundation of the band supporting him to do so (and Uenoyama guiding him). Mafuyu becomes more daring and confident on stage because of his new found family of the Given band.

The fact that Akihiko realises he love music is because Haruki and Given is a home he can go to.

I hope I answered your question!

My Given Metas

[magicpotatoobsession]

I was so happy to see you grace my tl again - if only for a few posts. I miss your given metas and would LOVE to hear your take on syh's Straight and Parade and any predictions you might have for Umi e!

Thanks for the ask! It has been a while! I was going to do a proper analysis of the songs once I've seen the mix movie but I thought I might share some initial observations for Straight!

EASTER EGGS in SYH's STRAIGHT

Mafuyu's key in C minor, the relative minor key. The song is in Eb major, the relative major key. It's also what I call the sunshine key (Uenoyama's key) ☀️ which is the same key as all the songs on the Given mini-album release.

Chorus 0:22 has the same chord progression as the first part of Fuyunohanashi, which can indicate that Hiiragi and Shizu are also trying their best to heal from Yuki. Seriously, try singing the chorus of Fuyunohanashi on top of Straight's first chorus, they literally layer perfectly on top of each other!!!

CHORDS ARE SO INTERESTING HERE

Chord progression diverges from Fuyunohanashi in the second part of the chorus 0:41 to go from VI -> VII -> I, which is the same tiers di picardie chordal progression as Kizuato's (Given OP) ending as well as Yorugaakeru!!! This chord progression finishes in major to show that the boys are healing from Yuki and trauma.

Lyrics in that chord progression are super meaningful here

Kizuato "Whatever you left behind has now become my life".

Also Yoorugaakeru lyrics are "Look this Dawn is about to break that's why it'll be ok"

Straight: "I will keep singing until it reaches you"

Doesn't that sound like Hiiragi/Yuki/Uenoyama talking directly to Mafuyu???!! 🥹😭❤️🙏

Guitar Solo by Uenoyama has a delicious easter egg

1:01 same as the lyrics "Time and Time again" in Given's mini album track stagekara kiminisasagu. Meaning that time and time again he'll be here for Mafuyu ❤️😭

I am almost 100% certain that every other part of that solo is a reference to lyrics in Given songs because all the other bits are so I'll have to have another proper listen.

That's it! Hope this made sense coming from a music nerd's ramblings! ____

My Given Metas

[magicpotatoobsession]

Hi! You convey your thoughts so well that I wanted to ask you: what do you think about (chapter 48 summary spoilers because I don’t know if you’ve read it from Keru!!!) Ugetsu trying to help Mafuyu reconnect with Ue/music at syh’s show? At first Ugetsu’s energetic mission to get him there felt out of character for me, but I think it’s going to read differently seeing Ugetsu having moved on and moved forward with his life in growing outside of his own codependent relationship with Kaji.

Hello! Thank you for being patient, I am back! I personally think that mix_18/chapter 48 was done ✨~SUPERBLY~✨. @morievna captures it pretty perfectly in her meta on Mix 18. I believe that Ugetsu was very much in character and he is, as you said, displaying some differences due to his growth as a character.

GIVEN | Ugetsu 1.0 and 2.0 similarities and differences

Remember, Ugetsu and Mafuyu are 🎶MUSICAL MIRRORS 🎶  because they both use music as an outlet to express, understand their own AND other people's emotions. Ugetsu therefore knows that Mafuyu NEEDS to attend the SYH concert in order to know how he is feeling.

Ugetsu and Mafuyu's mentorship is mostly Ugetsu taking the lead to drive Mafuyu to confront music. So Ugetsu has always been quite energetic when it comes to talking to Mafuyu.

Code_16 Ugetsu 1.0

Mix_17/Chapter 47 Ugetsu 2.0 👇

However, the energetic attitude back then was laced with criticism and a bitter pain. His liveliness was lined with a sense of falsehood. We see that in Code_16/Chapter 16, Ugetsu 1.0 who organised the Tchaikovsky tickets for Mafuyu and Akihiko. However Ugetsu liked inspiring by showing Mafuyu how cool he was at the violin concert, he was hoping for Mafuyu to also join the "lonely genius bubble" club, to become like himself, to rely solely on music to process trauma and communicate with others to avoid difficult conversations.

Mafuyu doesn't want to turn out like Ugetsu 1.0. And just like you said, having moved on and moved forward with his life in growing outside of his own codependent relationship with Kaji, Ugetsu 2.0 here realises that this

1. stagnation of feeling he has to choose between Akihiko and music 2. never properly communicated with Akihiko on how the other party was feeling

that led to their toxic relationship. Ugetsu smiles knowing that Mafuyu doesn't quite understand that yet. Then Ugetsu says,

"Either way, there is no going back for me."

and later on

"Didn't you pretty much neglect factoring what the other party thinks about this?

Ugetsu is hoping that Mafuyu will learn in his own time that being in shutdown and avoid the other party will ultimately make Mafuyu end up like him. So it's not too late for Mafuyu and Uenoyama!

What Ugetsu 2.0 does differently is rather than showing off or critiquing, he tells Mafuyu:

how he is not great and still working on building his human relationships and taking care of himself

how he has no idea what the future holds, maybe he'll be in NY longterm, he doesn't know

shows vulnerability but is being a realist that he can't go back in time to change things with Akihiko.

What he demonstrates here is the imperfect humanness of being a professional musician. Professional musicians don't have certainty and don't have it all together. He is telling Mafuyu that uncertainty about life is perfectly normal. Ugetsu also knows that Mafuyu, just like himself, connect with others best through music. So if Mafuyu wants to figure his feelings and connect with Ue, he NEEDS to go to the concert. But Mafuyu is putting too much pressure on this event to give him complete clarity. Pre-debut and post-debut is still full on uncertainty. So why not just "learn more about it?" Why not just listen?

I find it so funny that Mafuyu says "did you even hear me" because Ugetsu has been the best listener and actively doing something to help him. Ugetsu is still musically driving Mafuyu to confront music like before. However, he doesn't place himself on a pedestal for Mafuyu, or let Mafuyu process music on his own (like in CODE 17)

or feed into the unhealthy mindset of the "lonely genius".

He holds Mafuyu's hand to face the music together.

Just a sidenote but I LOVE that even though Ugetsu is running and leading Mafuyu, look at how gently he holds Mafuyu's wrist. 🥺 It's like he is holding a new violin bow, understanding how delicate Mafuyu's temperament is right now 😭😭😭

Also observe how tenderly and genuinely Ugetsu smiles now compared to before. It's now grounded in wisdom and self-reflection. Kudos Ugetsu 2.0 also being able to listen to Mafuyu talk about his issues while before, he tended to emotionally dump on Mafuyu about his own issues.

Of course what I love is that the crowd then separates the two and and Mafuyu is pushed further to the front. Ugetsu reassures Mafuyu that he is strong enough as an individual to face Uenoyama, paralleling the "It's okay" in Code_27 where Mafuyu first said to him that he is strong enough as an individual to face a life without Akihiko.

To summarise, Ugetsu in my opinion was very much in character and displayed tremendous growth. We can all learn from Ugetsu:

Face changes in life with vigour and keep facing it despite feeling scared, uncertain and unclear. Change is just a fact of life. Avoidance, rumination and stagnation makes things worse.

---

If you like what you read, all I post is basically Given analysis content!

Masterlist of my Given Metas

[magicpotatoobsession]

THE NEW CHAPTER DROPPED. I JUST SAY THE SPOILERS KERU POSTED ON TWITTER AND I CAN'T ADJKASFHSKGDLHDKFZIDYK 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭!!!!

IM GOING TO MISS THEN SO MUCH WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Did you see them yet?

I was at rehearsals all day so when it was actually happening 😭😭😭 and I couldn't take the risk of breaking down at work so XD

Chapter 51/Mix_21 Initial Thoughts

Spoilers below the cut, my thoughts, not in order:

I AM FULL BLOWN CRYING 😭😭😭 my Given boys, they've graduated and debuted!

I love that Mafuyu and Kasai formed some sort of a friendship, Kasai grew to be bigger than her jealousy of Mafuyu and that's wholesome AF

I LOVE that Kizu still had Mafuyu not loving that Uenoyama is playing support for SYH (just like Akihiko a few chapters back LOL) but they are all learning to put their ego aside a bit and their partner's happiness first

Haruki apartment hunting 😳😳😳

Mafuyu posting Given's CD to Ugetsu is literally my fav. Ok if Uegstu received Mafuyu's CD and he's only been in Paris for like a day, that means Ugetsu probably received the CD in NY and had time to listen to it for a while and think about what he was going to say before calling Mafuyu. So him "calling on a whim" is actually him calling after much thought as to what he was to say to Mafuyu. But I LOVE THAT SO MUCH because Ugetsu 2.0 has grown so much where he's not just emotionally dumping on Mafuyu, he's really thinking through how his words affect other people (MY BABY 😭❤️)

I love that Mafuyu offered Uenoyama icecream, one of Mafuyu's love language is definitely sharing food, we see that in one of the initial chapters with him offering meat to Haruki when Aki and Ue but dug in without much thought at the grill.

AND I LOVE THAT Uenoyama is learning to reciprocate by giving Mafuyu coffee. (another cute thing he probably also picked up from Papa Aki when he was trying to live up to be a man worthy of Haruki by getting coffee for him)

MAFUYAMA KSS WHERE UE INITIATES: *CHEFS KISS* Our munchkin cat boi comfortable enough to PDA in public YESSSS

Uenoyama falling asleep all the time still kind of concerns me. Musician burnout is real and he's so young still so I hope he's looking after himself 🥲

I don't think this chapter necessarily means that Mafuyu is "FULLY OVER" Yuki, I think Mafuyama going to the beach means that Mafuyu feels comfortable to TALK ABOUT himself and his past openingly with Uenoyama. The journey of healing from grief is not a linear one, but it is about open communication and letting loved ones in. And because Mafuyu finally is about to show his vulnerable self fully to Uenoyama,

OUR BOY FINALLY GRADUATED, BOTH FROM HIGHSCHOOL AND FROM BEING A VIRGIN HELLL YEAHHH

So much of the manga is angsty so I kind of loved that it was a really fun end without completely sexualising minors. Also this doesn't really feel like a gag to me because it's both Uenoyama overcoming internalised homophobia and being able to openly display his love to Mafuyu in public and Mafuyu able to open himself up to Ue. I think the timing is great.

My Given Metas Masterlist

[magicpotatoobsession]

I’m not sure if there is already an answer to this. But do you think Uenoyama has like a hero complex or something? Why does he feel responsible for Mafuyu’s moods? I get that we don’t want to see our loved ones be sad but to feel like we are somewhat responsible is kinda a bit much

Hello! I'm back! Short answer, not really. Hero's complex is saving someone or a situation because it is a self-ego boost, where the individual does something "good" in order to receive some recognition or validation. Uenoyama isn't like that at all, especially in the first arc, he fixes strings for Mafuyu not because he desperately needs Mafuyu to be happy or to sing, but he wanted to connect with Mafuyu, to understand truly where he is coming from, and to apologise properly. When Mafuyu was eventually able to sing, he is SOOO SURPRISED and PROUD OF Mafuyu. Even when afterwards he visits Mafuyu and then gets asked out by Mafuyu, he doesn't expects it or demands it from Mafuyu, he just genuinely cares for him.

If Uenoyama has a hero's complex, Uenoyama would have been feeling like he must heal Mafuyu in order to give his band a chance at performing well at the live. Or in the most recent chapters, the manga would literally have Ue say something like "Mafuyu is stunting the band's success and I need to get him back on track so that he can thank me for making him happy." Uenoyama is none of that, he just wants to connect with Mafuyu through music, the result is something he hopes for but not that something he feels entitled to gain for doing something good.

However I will say that he has some codependency issues. He internalises Mafuyu's sadness as his own. You're definitely right that it's a bit too much but hero's complex is different from codependency in that one is doing "morally good deeds" for a selfish reason while the latter is an unhealthy selflessness by compromising one's own needs and feelings (i.e. staying up all night to write the demo, neglecting sleep, some obsessive thought patterns etc.)

[magicpotatoobsession]

Hello! I hope your having a nice day. I was thinking abt this and I thought that you could give me some insight. What do you think Yuki's and Shizu's relationship was like? We know that him and Hiragi got along very well. As Hiragi admired him. But it seems to me that in that chapter (I don't remember the # sorry!) Were Mafuyu asks Shizu advice for music and his relationship abt Ritsuka. That when Shizu gets WAY of topic and says that the group was super Yuki-centered and how that was irritating. It seems to me that maybe he didn't like how much everyone revolved around him and admired him? As if it irritates him? Idk we don't really have much insight from him what his relationship with Yuki was like. So we might not be ae to tell for sure.

Hello friend! Thank you! Hope you are having a good one too! I'd like to point you towards this meta of mine, Discovering the true intention behind Shizu’s actions in Mix_8 completely changed how I saw the Shizuragi ship! This meta, although it doesn't address your question directly, I think it clears a lot of things up so PLEASE READ before proceeding.

Shizu and Yuki's relationship explained

In my opinion, Kizu never fully goes into the details of the dynamics between Shizu and Yuki but out of everyone, Shizu felt least close to Yuki compared to Mafuyu and Hiiragi. Shizu feels like

Yuki adopted the abandoned Pomeranian and calico cat and he's just tagging along. But Shizu feels like he doesn't belong to the squad/isn't as close to Yuki is his own doing due to:

his own abandonment issues resultant from being a LITERAL foster child

him joining the childhood squad later than the rest of the three

thinking that his three friends as being better than him from birth.

In mix_9, Kizu's placement of Yuki, Mafuyu and Hiiragi on stage is literally so telling of how Shizu felt. Of course he could choose to be on that stage as well, but he needs help to make he feel like he is worthy of being on stage.

Hiiragi is amazing, because Hiiragi noticed that Shizu needed help, Hiiragi had always been leading Shizu ever since he was a little kid. Hiiragi is absolutely that kid who is annoying but makes everyone feel included. And Shizu, is so happy and appreciative of that

to the point of feeling possessive over Hiiragi.

Sometimes, people with abandonment wounds feel possessive and jealous easily. This is because they are always scared that everything good can disappear at any moment. It may result in a person feeling super clingy emotionally. In Shizu's case, he is outwardly nonchalant but inwardly super clingy. Shizu, at some point in his childhood started to romantically idolise Hiiragi.

SO, Shizu's felt irritated towards Yuki because Hiiragi idolised Yuki.

BUT, Shizu's own abandonment wounds clouded his judgement because he mistook Hiiragi's idolisation of Yuki as a romantic one instead of a paternal one. Shizu mistook Hiiragi as being in love with Yuki when Hiiragi actually put Yuki on a pedestal like a child admiring a fatherly figure.

Yuki I think for the most part didn't do anything objectively irritating to make Shizu dislike him. Neither did the squad, they were always hanging out together. Shizu's inferiority complex and attachment towards Hiiragi made him look for someone contrasting his own circumstances to blame, which was Yuki.

Yuki - most panels depict him as the popular kid

Shizu - the literal foster child

Yuki - has both Mafuyu and Hiiragi's attention

Shizu - feels like he has none, but in truth Hiiragi is quite observant of Shizu's hesitation in participating fun things to make an effort to include him.

It's basically like the song Heather by Conan Gray.

Because Shizu also saw Yuki as being better than him in the literal sense, this actually didn't allow Shizu to really understand Yuki as a multi-faceted person. I think Shizu for the most part just accepted Yuki as someone with better circumstances than him, even beyond death. BUT AGAIN, that doesn't make Shizu a bad person. It makes him a human one. On top of that, Shizu's abandonment wounds were exacerbated when Hiiragi continued to emotionally dump on him whenever he wanted to but look towards Yuki for motivation and inspiration. And those are pretty VALID feelings which needed to be communicated and addressed for healthy healing, which they were in mix_4 to Mafuyu and mix_8 to Hiiragi. As you pointed out, Shizu gets off topic with Mafuyu, this is a great thing because for once, he is acknowledging his own feelings outwardly rather than keeping them inside. This then led him to realise that he needed to clarify things with Hiiragi rather than let these feelings of abandonment brew longer.

Currently, I personally think he is no longer irritated at Yuki. Please remember that Shizu also lost Yuki. Grief for him could have also manifested as irritation. It’s all very complicated when you lose someone right? I think Shizu’s probably found the new song “To the Sea” just as healing as Hiiragi and Mafuyu, he’s just not really the outwardly expressive type. But Kizu Natsuki did put in some tender faces in the recent chapters.

Again, please read Discovering the true intention behind Shizu’s actions in Mix_8 completely changed how I saw the Shizuragi ship! (sorry for pasting again, it's just so important, I go into Shizu's insight so much more here).

As for Yuki, we never really get to have an insight into how Yuki feels about anyone, because he's passed away. We are only ever receiving second hand accounts of Yuki. But Kizu wrote it that way to highlight the fact that life is precious and if you're alive,

there is hope for you to tell your story and communicate clearly.

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If you like what you read, all I post is basically Given analysis content!

Masterlist of my Given Metas

[magicpotatoobsession]

Hello!! I recently, very recently, fell into the Given fandom - what started as a laze watch of the Given anime, ended up with me reading the fan translations, getting all 😱, reading posts and comments on official translations, reading the official Eng version, followed by devouring almost all of your Given meta posts and of those others on tumblr (they were ALL fantastic and I cannot stress how much I appreciate the nuances that were explained for all three couples in the manga by all of you meta writers).

However, I still have a couple of questions and was wondering if you could kindly clarify? Firstly, what's the deal with Masashi - Haruki's "stand"?

Second: Who is the "he" Uegetsu was referring to in V03, C13 and V05, C27? I initially thought he was referring to Mafuyu (and official English translations seem to support this); however, fan translations seem to leave it as "he" and it is assumed to be Akihiko as the next shots show Haruki with Uegetsu thinking, "so he (Haruki) was the trigger for the evolution." I honestly thought maybe Mafuyu was referring to some extent to Akihiko and Uegetsu and not so much Haruki (I get the feeling Mafuyu already understood that while Haruki was badly hurt, he was going to be okay) but maybe both Uegetsu and Akihiko needed that "letting go" push? I'd like to hear your thoughts on why Uegetsu thought it was Haruki instead - if I understood that correctly from the panels.

Thanks once again for all the meta - they have been fuelling my Given obsession and I can't wait for the sequel to be out soon!

hi @sillyfanturtle, thank you for your questions!

Haruki's stand "Mathathi"

Honestly, this was something I am super baffled with as well! And short answer is, I honestly don't know! I've done a bit of digging and one theory is that he is Martin Mathathi, a Kenya long distance runner, which matches the name but not the aesthetic because Martin Mathathi is this super thin guy.

but what is sort of interesting is that he did win bronze in the 10,000 metres at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, and many other medals in Fukuoka Cross Country races. If Kizu referred to him, then it could mean that Haruki is the "patient" type, happy to endure the long-game in order to see through people's growth.

Another theory is something I saw on reddit, according to this reddit post,

@jefcat and a few other Given fans were wondering if Haruki's stand is Inoue Takehiko, who is the Vagabond and Slam Dunk mangaka. Aesthetically, he does resemble the Kizu's drawing a bit more but I would not be able to guess for the life of me why Kizu would reference him as Haruki's stand????? Maybe Haruki or Kizu herself are big fans of him? I mean it's already a bit baffling and jarring as to why other Given characters are all animals but Haruki's a creepy kind of looking man 😆😆🫠🫠 Kizu's very mysterious LOL so your guess is as good as mine 😂

I will answer your other question in a separate post, thank you for your patience!

Masterlist of my Given Metas

[magicpotatoobsession]

Given will end next month and I'm so sad 😭😭😭😭😭

Don't remind me I'M IN FULL BLOWN DENIAL, but hey, lowkey not gonna lie, I kind of had a feeling.....

Zoom closer

Given Manga came out in:

March 30th 2023 will be about 10 years exactly.

fucking called it

[magicpotatoobsession]

GIVEN | Uenoyama Ritsuka's face-rubs must be protected at all costs

Ue holds his face in his hands as

1. a way to make himself come to terms with something.

(here he realises that he forgot that he kissed Mafuyu BAHA)

2. as a self-soothing technique whenever he's feeling vulnerable.

(This is where Akihiko asks him whether something happened between him and Mafuyu and he turns beetroot red BAHAHAHA)

AND GUESS WHAT?! THIS IS SO FREAKING CUTE LOL

He does the same to Mafuyu!

1. when he wants Mafuyu to come to terms with something.

(This is the scene where Ue's trying to get Mafuyu to write lyrics)

2. When he uses his own self-soothing technique to sooth and comfort Mafuyu when Mafuyu is in a vulnerable state.

(This is the scene where Mafuyu is sick and Ue asks Mafuyu if the song he sang last night was about heartbreak)

Which makes this scene below just THAT MUCH MORE TENDER 😭❤️🙏

Ue is trying to comfort Mafuyu while trying to say just how proud and how much he loves Mafuyu

🥺THIS SHIT IS TOO CUTE MY HEART IS ABOUT TO BURST🥺

EDIT: There is an important follow-up post!!!

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If you like what you read, all I post is basically Given analysis content! Give my blog a follow to be notified of future posts! #metapotato

Masterlist of my Given Metas

[magicpotatoobsession]

GIVEN | How head-pats in Given headcanons can predict Ue's CAREER in music

So Ue gives Mafuyu these really cute ass head-pats right?

Guess who he learnt that from?

AKIHIKO 😍 😍 😍

He learnt that from seeing Daddy Akihiko giving head-pats to Mama Haruki during band practices from time to time.

Akihiko does this to reset Haruki whenever Haruki's feeling insecure or sad. Yes Ue isn't present in this scene below but Akihiko often teases Haruki during rehearsal so it's not a far-stretch to assume that Ue saw this at some point and internalised this as an act of comfort since he really looks up to Akihiko.

Basically it's learned behaviour for Ue and therefore he does the same thing to Mafuyu 🥺🥺🥺

Also I completely forgot but in Ch 8, Akihiko also head-pats Mafuyu! OMG! I wonder if Mafuyu noticed that Akihiko and Ue both head-pats him to comfort him HAHAH! I wonder if Mafuyu is like "oh wow Akihiko and Ue share one braincell" LMAOOOOOO

But... head-pats in Given are apparently a

🥁drummer 🥁 thing??!!

Because our dark-prince baby-sitter SHIZU, also does this to Hiiragi!!!!

Given anime/Chapter 6 Shizu ruffles and head-pats Hiiragi to comfort him after Hiiragi shows that he is worried about Mafuyu doing music for the wrong reasons.

Also Chapter 32, Shizu does this again to sort of reassure Hiiragi that Uenoyama will come through with the Yuki song and this also makes Hiiragi flustered it's so fucking adorable I can't I-

WAIT HOLD ON HOLD ON HOLD ON.....

Is this Kizu-sensei hinting at us that Ue might learn the drums or Ue might already know how to play the drums? 😂🧐🥁Hahah, surely this is just silly speculatio-

🥁 Uecchi can actually play the drums holy shit!!! 🥁

In the Akihiko's birthday post on Given's twitter a while back on @given_ssn, it could be assumed that the band is pretending to do an instrument swap for social media, but I DON'T THINK SO! I THINK UE CAN ACTUALLY PLAY DRUMS!!! 😍😍😍I mean just look at Ue's face of total concentration!!!!

Think about it, Akihiko is lately getting really busy with violin practice (Chapter 37), he might even become a professional violinist who needs to go on tour! Since Ue looks up to Akihiko so much, Akihiko could potentially be Ue's drum teacher! Ue will definitely be a great understudy drummer for Given the band since he has the most musical training out of the other three members.

THEORY....

Ue mostly likely plays the drums or will eventually play some drums as second instrument later in the manga 😏😏😏

Trust me.

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If you like what you read, all I post is basically Given analysis content! Give my blog a follow to be notified of future posts! #metapotato

Masterlist of my Given Metas