Boys-Love Anime “given” Gets Stage Play Adaptation, Stage Actors to Actually Play Instruments On-Stage

Musical boys-love anime given is getting a lot of love this year: besides an anime film, the series is also confirmed to be getting a stage play adaptation! The main cast members were chosen via auditions and are also required to play the instruments and sing the rock tunes themselves on stage. The confirmed cast are:

·        Mafuyu Sato: Sayato Arima

·        Ritsuka Uenoyama: Ryo Sibuki

·        Haruki Nakayama: Fuuta Sunaga

·        Akihiko Kaji: Shota Kawakami

·        Ugetsu Murata: Shogo Yamazaki

Check out their first official group visual below!

The stage play is set to be performed in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka during the following dates:

·        August 15-18, 2020: Theater 1010 (Tokyo)

·        August 22-23, 2020: Kyoto Theater (Kyoto)

·        August 29-30, 2020: COOL JAPAN PARK OSAKA WW Hall (Osaka)

·        September 4-6, 2020: Tokyo Shinagawa Prince Hotel Stellar Ball (Tokyo)

The stage play will be directed by Fumiya Matsuzaki (Children of the Whales stage play). Script will be written by Yuniko Ayana, who also provided the scripts for the TV anime series.

Given’s movie adaptation, set for a May 16 premiere, will be produced by Fuji TV’s newly-launched boys-love anime label Blue Lynx. The label also produced the now-released yakuza boys-love film Twittering Birds Never Fly, the label’s first movie project which premiered in Japan last Saturday. Another boys-love movie, Umibe no Étranger, will also be released under the Blue Lynx label. 

Given started as a manga series written Natsuki Kizu. Studio Lerche adapted the manga into an anime series and aired it on July 11 on Fuji TV’s Noitamina block. Given was the first-ever BL anime to air in the said block.

The series’ story centers on Ritsuka, a once-avid guitarist who has lost interest in the instrument. He then meets Mafuyu, who is holding on to a broken guitar. Perplexed by this, Ritsuka offers to fix his guitar and teaches him to play it as well. When he hears Mafuyu singing, however, Ritsuka starts to feel something different.

Source: Crunchyroll News