My Brother's Husband, Volume 1 (Pantheon Graphic Library)

Really beautiful, so many touching moments. A lovely story of grief, family and acceptance. It touches on real issues and doesn't sugar coat the main character's reluctance to confront his own biases.

Many people think Japan is sort of a safe haven for homosexuality and while it isn't outwardly hostile for those of the LGBTQ+ community it does have its pitfalls. From the lack of discriminatory protections for their workers to the recent law that requires Trans people to get sterilized many people have become jaded, thanks in part to manga and anime, with this idea of Japan being a gay utopia when I have just listed reasons why it isn't.While this series is made to be more family friendly, "My brother's husband" does a decent job of showing people's discomfort and lack of understanding towards, at least in this series, gay men.Yaichi being a single father and having no real understanding of homosexuality is at first wary of meeting his twin brother's husband Mike after hearing about his brother's death. While willing to share his home with the man, Yaichi is at first reluctant to understand Mike and even calls him a "homo" when the man embraces him upon reflex as Yaichi is the spitting image of recently deceased husband Ryuji.Not only that, but Yaichi is even more defensive about letting Mike anywhere near his daughter thinking that Mike will affect her in some way, thinking that by knowing him, she will turn out gay and in the second volume even has a nightmare about his young daughter one day wanting to marry a woman.However, the two of them slowly over time bond, and gain a better understanding of one another and their cultures and while it's not perfect they begin to slowly become a family in a sense over the theme of a shared loss.Discussions upon how in Japan it's sometimes easier for people to not come out, fears of having a gay child, and Yaichi's revelation that he didn't ever truly try to understand his brother, on top of the themes of divorce and how you can't always fix a marriage are all brought up and dealt with, though at times a little hurriedly, doesn't detract from the story.I highly recommend this to anyone looking to broaden their cultural understandings or who are looking for a good story about understanding, tolerance, acceptance, and the meaning of family.

There's literally nothing bad I can say about this book. If you're into manga and stories with great humor that tackle serious issues in tandem, then this is for you. I've been a fan of Tagame's work for years, mostly his more adult stuff, but this story was so beautifully done if it's your first taste of his work its a great way to start. The artwork is perfect yet playful, i love the humor expressions he makes throughout it, but mostly the writing and the story are what got me. He has an uncanny ability to portray soooooo much depth of emotion in just one page, or even one frame, that i found myself crying before i knew i was crying. the story about these brothers, a foreign husband, and the brutal yet delicate honesty of a young girl make for material that everyone can relate to one some level. being a gay man, but having come out young, the struggles and challenges visualized in this story brought up memories and feelings i hadn't thought about in years. there's nothing bad i can say about this first chapter only that it's worth a buy and read and i'm even more excited now that this is being made into a live-action drama! hopefully they don't screw that up. ^_^

Is a lesson about prejudice. I enjoy reading it.The characters feels quite plain and simple but I think that’s the idea. Homosexuality shouldn’t be that complicated to understand.

(This is a review for both volumes of the story.) I read about this series somewhere online, and immediately came to Amazon to find it. I bought both books at the same time. And when they arrived, I devoured them in short order, to the point of letting my dinner get cold while I read. It's an excellent story that tells us about cultural differences, what makes a family, getting over fears of the unknown/different, how children and adults don't see things the same way, and how adults instill prejudice into children's minds. The art is excellent! Being from the western world, it's still a little strange when I get Asian books that start at the "back" and I have to remind myself to read the righthand pages before the lefthand ones, but that's just an observation, not a problem. Highly recommended.

This is a wonderful story that deals with homophobia and cross-cultural discrimination in Japan. The story is told from the point of view of a straight Japanese man who is dealing with the death of his gay brother. During this process, he thinks back over how he reacted to his brother's sexuality and how their Japanese heritage affected his brother's possible feeling of exclusion during his time in Japan. The main character's grieving process is further complicated by the presence of his brother's widow who has come to Japan to learn more about his deceased husband's childhood.The main character also has a spirited young daughter who lights up every scene that she's in. She's still learning about what homosexuality is and why some people act differently towards people who are gay. The innocent questions she asks as she attempts to make sense of this complicated cultural issue are enlightening and heartwarming.Highly recommended.