I’ll just say it, I’m digging Given right now. I told Karandi why. I tried to at least. She also gave her thoughts on the subject which is why you should really go read our discussion post HERE.
But before you do that, how about you jog your memory of the episode by looking at all these great screencaps! It’s…uhm… educational!
There’s nothing subtle or refined about how colour is used to set up the mood in the first act but you gotta admit it works well. Mfuyu’s grim and desaturated world view, betrayes a grief we had not yet seen and that has not been talked about at all in the show. Kaji and Haruki’s bright green world is comforting and happy. And Haruki’s over expressive face visually sets him up as the comic relief even if he isn’t saying or doing anything very funny because he’s just a little funny to watch.
The blue is used to show Ueno’s comedic dread but It’s also a colour that’s associated with the character. He’s the blue oni to Mayu’s orange oni. Generally speaking though, Ueno’s scenes tend to be a bit cooler tones than anyone else’s. This is a fun clash with the dorky side of his character.
Karandi was not as charmed by this sequence as I was. Crazy right? Aside from it being just lovely fun, look at how pretty it was. Ueno is almost as expressive as Haruki while Mayu and Kaji are both poker faced.
I also like that you can kind of tell when a scene is taking place in natural light versus indoor lighting. The shadows are a bit harsher and outdoor light is more white while the light bulbs seem to have a yellow tint to them. For me this adds to dimension, making the outdoor scenes seem to be taking place in a wide open space while the indoor ones look more cozy with that warmer palette which makes it fee quaint and contained. i.e. taking place in a smaller space.
So far this is the coldest real time sequence we’ve seen in the show. Very little light pouring out of windows and when there is some, it’s not as orange as usual. I don’t know, this scheme doubled with how rigid the character models remained even after the emotional climax makes me thing Mafuyu is far from feeling better.
And there’s something oddly menacing about how his friend Hiragi is shown. His face is often obstructed and the blocking is unusual. If this was a different type of show, I would assume that he was a villain but he seems to be a friend that is genuinely concerned for Mafuyu although he probably brings painful memories with him.
This is the second time we get that close up of Mafuyu and Ueno’s mouths. That’s a bit on the nose
