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Given Anime Film Adds Bonus 'Talk & Band' Video For Opening Week Only

The official website for the anime film of Natsuki Kizu's Given manga announced on Saturday that select screenings during the film's opening week (August 22-28) will add a special limited-time video.

The first half of the video will feature the five main cast members offering their impressions and favorite scenes from the film, as well as behind-the-scenes memories from the dialogue recording sessions. The second half of the video is footage of Shōgo Yano performing the "Fuyu no Hanashi" song live with guitar and vocals at the music venue Machida The Play House, the real-life locale for the ninth episode of the television anime. (Yano's character Mafuyu also does guitar and vocals for the in-story titular band.)

The film will open this Saturday, August 22, after a delay. The film was previously scheduled to open in Japan on May 16, but was delayed due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19 in Japan.

Fuji TV's new Blue Lynx boys-love anime label is producing the film. The television anime focuses on high school students Ritsuka and Mafuyu, but the film focuses on the adults Haruki, Akihiko, and Ugetsu.

The television anime's cast members are reprising their roles for the film. Hikaru Yamaguchi (director for Escha Chron, episode director for Mr. Osomatsu, Battle Spirits Double Drive) is returning to direct the film at Lerche. Yuniko Ayana (BanG Dream! both seasons, Girls Beyond the Wasteland) is again writing the script, and Mina Ōsawa is returning to design the characters. Hiromi Kikuta and MICHIRU are again handling sound direction and music composition, respectively. Solo rock project centimillimental is returning to perform the theme song "Bokura dake no Shudaika" (Only Our Theme Song).

The television anime premiered on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block last July. The anime is the "first anime based on a boys-love manga" to air on Noitamina. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired, and it describes the story:

Somehow, the guitar that he used to love to play and the basketball games that he found so fun just lost their appeal...

That was until Ritsuka Uenoyama randomly met Mafuyu Sato. Ritsuka had started losing his passion for music in his everyday life, but then he hears Mafuyu sing for the first time. The song resonates with his heart and the distance between them starts to change.

Centimillimental performed the opening theme song "Kizuato" for the television anime. The in-anime group "Given" performed the ending theme song "Marutsuke," with centimillimental producing.

The manga runs in Shinshokan's Cheri+ magazine. Viz Media's SuBLime imprint for boys-love manga is releasing the series.

Sources: Given anime's website, Comic Natalie