Given Manga Review (Not for the whole series)

TW: Mentioning of suicide and toxic relationships

Pictured above are just the first 6 volumes! As of writing this I have not yet found and read volumes 7 and 8 (there are 8 volumes total), but I will eventually!

Fun fact: I watched the anime for Given back in 2018 when it came out, but the anime does not cover the whole story. I decided to read the manga to get the rest of the story, but since it was a while since I watched the anime, I started to read the manga from volume 1. So far me revisiting Given has been wonderful!

Given by Natsuki Kizu is a manga series about a teenage boy named Uenoyama who is part of a new and upcoming band with two college students named Akihiko and Haruki. One day while at school he finds another student named Mafuyu hanging out at his secret location on the stairs, holding a guitar. Mafuyu asks Uenoyama to fix his guitar and teach him how to play. Uenoyama initally finds Mafuyu to be odd and frustrating, but after hearing him sing a song he wrote in a very powerful manner, he asks him to join his band. After that the group tries to write and perform more songs and grow their fanbase in real life and online. With this comes a lot of getting to know each other better, a lot of drama with old friends and new friends, but also a lot of healing and romance. 

It's a great story. That's all I can say. Go read it if you want a story featuring gay relationships and music.

I gave the majority of the volumes I read 5 stars for overall enjoyment but I did give volume 4 and 6 4.5 stars just for some triggering content. I should warn you for more triggering content that the story does mention suicide of one character (so the suicide not shown). Additionally two sets of characters have toxic relationships but they are not romanticized and ultimately condemned. Overall, please be careful going into this series if you do choose to read it, but I think the heavy subject matter is handled well. 

Have you read any stories about LGBT relationships and music? I imagine there's a lot--I'd like some recommendations.