My Brother's Husband is a manga series written and illustrated by Gengoroh Tagame. It is set in Tokyo and it follows the story of Yaichi who is surprised when his estranged brother's widower, Mike, shows up at their doorstep. Mike arrives in hopes of being able to explore his late husband's past. The story takes off from there and explores a lot of misconceptions and prejudice that people have about the LGBTQ+ community. It also gives us a look at Japanese gay culture and shows how plenty of people are closeted.
I think one of the things that I liked most about this manga is that it shows how Yaichi battles with the homophobic thoughts he has due, in part, to Japanese culture. He knows that his thoughts are inaccurate and are wrong but it is hard for him to let go of some of the negative thoughts he has since they were ingrained in him. I suppose the reason I liked this is it showed that while it is possible for a person to change their hateful thoughts it isn't an easy process. It also shows that a person has to be open to changing these thoughts which a lot of people are unwilling to do.
I also really liked the relationship that Mike ended up forming with both Yaichi and Yaichi's daughter, Kana. Yaichi was very hesitant to accept Mike into his home but by the time I reached volume two of the series it was evident that he wanted to be friends with Mike, at least to an extent. Kana and Mike hit it off right away and I found her immediate acceptance of him quite heartwarming. I also thought it showed how accepting children truly are unless they are taught to be otherwise. Kana was unaware that she had an uncle and she didn't understand what it meant for him to have a husband but she slowly started to learn about it. There were also scenes where Kana had to face the bigotry and hatred that exist in the world pertaining to the LGBTQ+ community.
The author of this series did a really good job of showing the differences that exist in how the Japanese feel about the the LGBTQ+ community and how western cultures feel about it. Overall, I thought this manga was really adorable and sweet while also dealing with some complex and important topics.
There are currently only two volumes available for this series that have been translated into English. I believe that there are only three volumes available so it might be a while before volume three becomes available in English. I think that it is still worth reading and, in my opinion, volume 2 didn't end with a huge cliffhanger which makes waiting for the next volumes a bit easier.
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