#given metas

A quick rundown of the names and nicknames

To anyone wondering why—this is double meaning to Akihiko and Haruki and not to Mafuyu and Ritsuka is because of their nicknames. Mafuyu is just called Mafuyu (真冬, which by the way means midwinter, and could be used in the text this way but is not); and Uenoyama's nicknames all come from his last name and not from his first name, much less the 夏 which is pronounced with the "on 音" reading rather than the "kun 訓" reading that we would typically use to refer to the season.

Meanwhile, we have seen Akihiko and Haruki both referred to by nicknames that are just the season parts of their names—Aki for Akihiko, and Haru for Haruki. In the currently published volumes, it's Ugetsu whom we see calling Akihiko Aki, and we only see Akihiko call Haruki Haru once—though as Hanaoka's hair model, Haruki is also referred to as Haru-chan. Actually, in the May edition of Cherie+, the magazine where Given is serialized, we do in fact see Haruki call Akihiko "Aki".

A note on alphabets: It is worth noting that Japanese has several alphabets, and when they use these nicknames, the names are not denoted in kanji. The names are usually written in kanji as 秋彦 (Akihiko) and 春樹 (Haruki), but when they use these nicknames they are in katakana, i.e. アキ (Aki) and ハル (Haru). This is the way nicknames are usually notated in Japanese, though they are as likely to be in hiragana as katakana. But the pronunciation is the same as the seasons.

WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY....

Double Meanings

As with Mafuyu talking about his story of a winter, Haruki talks about a love he had in autumn.

The above panel will probably most often be translated as something like, "One day in autumn, I fell in love."

But the thing is....you could also reasonably translate it as something like, "Once upon a time, I fell in love with Aki."

Because ある日の秋に can mean ON a day in autumn, or TO a day in autumn. The kanji instead of the kana means the surface meaning is not supposed to be a name—we are supposed to read it first as "one day in autumn, I fell in love". But the double meaning is very much there.

秋に恋をした would be written this exact same way whether you wanted it to mean "I fell in love in autumn" or "I fell in love with Aki"....or, indeed, "I fell in love with autumn."

The fact that it is phrased as ある日の秋に instead of 秋のある日に is what allows this double meaning. Either way works, and even without the double meaning, the first is definitely the version I prefer. But the second would prohibit the double meaning, because the "one day" is now phrased in such a way that 秋 is clearly the season. But ある日の秋 could be a day in autumn, but it could also just mean Aki as he was one day.

(To anybody wondering, yes this does mean that you could phrase it 秋にアキに恋をした, "Aki ni aki ni koi o shita", "I fell in love with Aki in autumn" but the double "aki ni" does make it a bit of a funny sentence, especially if you were listening rather than reading. You could rephrase a bit to not make it sound so repetitive. 秋のある日に、アキに恋をした or ある日の秋、アキに恋をした are two way to do this with minimal edits. It's still not great, and if I wrote something like this, I would probably just cut the object or the season depending on which I wanted to emphasize. Anyway, this is just to show that yes, "Aki ni" is how this is phrased in both instances, even in combination.)

The final lines of narration of chapter 28 go thus: とあるありふれた春のありふれた恋の話

Once again, this would probably be translated as something like, "Just the story of an unremarkable love, in an unremarkable spring."

BUT!!! Once again, though the kanji mean that that is definitely the surface meaning, "haru" can be read as a name as well.

"Just the story of unremarkable Haru's unremarkable love."

Which is also exactly how Haruki thinks of himself, it is so perfect.

Right from the get-go, I refuse to translate the title.

When I translate lyrics, I do tend to try to make them fit to the music, to an extent. And that is what I've done here. In a world where this is actually sung, though, I wouldn't translate the crucial Yoru ga Akeru portion at all, at least in certain parts. (It's repeated enough throughout the song that it could be bilingual in a lot of cases, once in English and once in Japanese or vice versa.)

Anyway, on to the horribly inadequate translation.

Yoru ga Akeru

Even sleepless nights end with the dawn The darkness turns to light that holds my gaze

The stubborn, unchanging white wall of my room Is dyed in morning light; the clock ticks time onward Step by step, I’m being carried away from that dear season That I shared with you; and I can’t tell which of us is left behind

I’d much rather stay drifting right here In darkness

Even sleepless nights end with the dawn The darkness turns to light that holds my gaze There are things that change There are things that end There are things beginning I can live on, even though you’re gone And listen, that’s the saddest part to me But see, night’s about to end in dawn Dawn’s about to break

The blooming of the spring; The withering of autumn; Yet there will always be new seeds ready to sprout and grow again

Don’t focus on what was, focus on what will be I know, I do

Even sleepless nights end with the dawn Every hand we hold we must eventually let go I can lose my way; can cry my soul to bits; But one day the tears will end I can live on, even though you’re gone but I Am desperate to see you, even though your love is gone Look at the sky, the dawn will end the night, Dawn is almost here

Wishes we carry that no one can say yet whether they will come true— These are what we have named “Hope”.

Even though you’re gone, the night will end in dawn Our hands have let go, but there will be another to hold It’s at the end of a long night that we come to know the light That keeps me living through this terrible fear The sun will rise, and I’ll walk on from here. Look at the sky, the dawn will end the night, And it’ll be okay

No translation because the words aren't what are important.

We go from a scene of Akihiko taking Haruki's hair—which he has just accidentally burned while lighting a cigarette—between his fingers, commenting on how he is growing it out so long. Haruki pulls away with such ferocity that it shocks Akihiko (who knows about Haruki's feelings for him but not the emotion that he has put into his hair). Haruki contemplates that he has to cut his hair later...

AND WE CUT, to Yayoi chopping off her hair because Akihiko has—subtextually—rejected her.

It is so perfect.

This transition was different in the anime because they consolidated so many of the Akiharu scenes into ep 5, and I lament the loss of this foreshadowing.