On the realistic depictions of “Given the Movie”, which portray a “beautiful yet easily breakable sensibility”.
“Given the Movie” (directed by Yamaguchi Hikaru), the theatrical adaptation of the TV anime “Given”, originally a popular BL (Boys Love) comic, was released on August 22. Asanuma Shintarou-san is the one who voices Ugetsu, the genius violinist who lives with the band’s drummer, Kaji Akihiko. Asanuma-san describes “Given the Movie” as “a work that, albeit beautiful, is composed of delicate things that feel like they will break unless handled with much care”, and looks back to the fact that he “was conscious of not putting in too much detail and not being too theatrical”. We have asked him about the appeal of this work and his fixations when performing.
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◇ The adult group is “still young, inept and somewhat prone to danger”.
“Given” is a comic by Kizu Natsuki, currently being serialized in the manga magazine Chéri+ (Shinshokan). It portrays the drama of young bandmates coming into their own. The TV series started on 09/07/2019 in the late-night anime section of Noitamina, broadcasted on Fuji Television and other channels, depicting a romance between the band members and high schoolers Satou Mafuyu and Uenoyama Ritsuka. “Given the Movie” is about the bitter and passionate love between Akihiko and Ugetsu, who live together despite being ex-boyfriends and maintain a half-hearted relatioship with each other, as well as Haruki, who has been in love with Akihiko for a long time.
Ugetsu is not a member of the band Given, hence he is having regular appearances for the first time in this work. Haruki, Akihiko and Ugetsu are part of the so-called adult group comparison to the high school students, Mafuyu and Ritsuka, but Asanuma-san says that “from the point of view of our generation, they, too, are still young, inexperienced and somewhat prone to danger”.
“Be it Haruki, Akihiko or Ugetsu, I’m sure there’s a lot that they learn from the high schoolers, Mafuyu and Ritsuka. It’s very realistic how you can feel from their actions and lines that they’re not yet mature. In the real world, we’re also grown-ups who get scolded with, ‘You’re an adult already’ and are told that we’re ‘being immature’, but no sooner than that, we also get praised with, ‘You’re so youthful’.”
◇ Wanting to “deliver even the things that don’t come out aloud”, without putting too much detail into the role of Ugetsu
This work has a scene where Mafuyu is having trouble making a new song, to which Asanuma-san, who also writes the script for the acting, gives more than just a passing thought: “I have also experienced no small amount of moments of frustration from not being able to write lyrics or loneliness from the fact that the people who should have been making it together with me were right there, so it was very thought-provoking when I watched it.”
Regarding Ugetsu, the one he plays, he states, “Sometimes, the monologues that come out of his mouth are either contradictions or not enough of what he wants to say. Mafuyu is a prodigy like him, but since he speaks his mind straightforwardly, they are complete opposites.”
“I thought I had to make sure not to be too theatrical when playing Ugetsu. This series has extremely sensible lines, art and music, and everything is like a thin glass... It’s uniqueness comes to light just from it being something beautiful yet so delicate that it can break unless treated with much care, so ever since the TV series, I’ve been conscious of not being too theatrical and accidentally making into ‘something special’. I tend to concern myself with the tone and quality of the characters’ way of talking in other works, so I put detail into them, but I always had in the back of my head that I should use a natural voice for this one and not put too much detail into it or be too theatrical.”
He says he also thought about “also putting the things that do not come out aloud into the mic”.
“Physically speaking, something so unrealistic is impossible, but it’d be great if people could see the mood from Ugetsu even in times when there are no lines. In ‘Given the Movie’ in particular, I felt like more importance was granted to the in-between a than in the TV series, so while performing, I kept thinking that it would make me really happy if people could perceive the existence of the characters all the more, even in the scenes where no lines are spoken.”
◇ The “bold sensibility” portrayed in “Given the Movie”
Asanuma-san says that the adult group’s romance depicted in this work is “realistic”.
“There’s no mistaking that everyone is awkward, but when I consider that the minimal discrepancies in the timing and situations that happen to each of those three influence the circumstances of the love between them, it makes me think that this, too, is realistic. I believe that most fans want to see them finding happiness, but what’s sad is that, in real life, there are people who are crying on the other side of a love life that seems to be going well. I think that the fact we can depict such things in this story without turning our eyes away from it, exactly because it’s fiction and made-up, is one of the appeals of this work.”
He also says that being able to feel the worldview of “Given” without breaking off from it is part of its appeal as well.
“I think that, in a movie theatre, even things that have been drawn extremely delicately are at a size that jumps straight into your eyes, and the sounds jump straight into your ears. So, if I were to explain it in a bit of a strange way, it has a bold sensibility to it. I would be happy if everyone could take it in to their hearts’ contentment.”
“Given the Movie” portrays the love between Ugetsu, Akihiko and Haruki with care and realism. We would like to fully see the outcome of this love through.
