4 Stars

I’m not an expert in manga by any means, but I can see how this story has hopefully made some strides in breaking some barriers towards acceptance, not only in Japan but everywhere.

Yaichi is confronted with his dead brother Ryoji’s truth in the form of Ryoji’s big Canadian widower Mike, who shows up hoping to go down memory lane and connect with Ryoji’s family whom he’s never met. Though Yaichi never rejected his twin, he wasn’t as accepting either and his natural inclination to ignore or avoid is brought down as he learns and slowly changes his preconceived notions and bigotry through his daughter Kana’s innocence and unwavering acceptance.

The manga’s simplicity points out issues plainly, hitting the mark with precision, both painful and poignant. ( )

Genuinely a very affecting, nuanced examination of someone starting to unlearn homophobia and make room for new kinds of familial relationships. Also, often adorable. I'm excited to read volume 2! ( )

At least in my admittedly limited experience, there's a surfeit of queer literature that is heavy or deep in emotional and political scope. My Brother's Husband, instead, focuses on the small things, the everyday interactions that come with being gay in a heteronormative world. I think it's particular interesting that at least in volume 1, we're mostly seeing Yaichi's perspective; Mike is a less developed character. It's not common that we get the internal monologues and worries and decisions and conflicts from the family member who is beginning to deal with and process having a gay brother-in-law. Tagame's writing and art does brilliantly in making these thoughts both poignant and heartwarming. It also succeeds in injecting some comedy, which made reading Kana's reactions in particular thoroughly enjoyable. In the end, I take the volume as a reminder not to catastrophise about these small interactions; that opening up can hurt but reaps its rewards. ( )

This slice-of-life comic about a single Japanese dad, his elementary-school age daughter, and the widower of his estranged twin brother was super cute. In tone it reminded me of a quieter Yotsuba. Gengoroh Tagame is a damn good artist; his style is elegant and understated, and I enjoyed the running gag of showing what Yaichi wants to say at awkward moments, followed by what he actually says.

I enjoyed a lot here: for instance, the clever parallels between Mike's experience of being an out gay man and Yaichi's experience of being a stay-at-home dad. It was also fun to learn about cultural differences between North American and Japan, and how social norms affect both the experience of LGBTQ stigma and the physicality of everyday life. (Japanese culture: hugging in public, no way, right out. Nudity in an all-ages comic: totally fine, no problem here! Which is pretty reasonable, tbh.)

The somewhat didactic, Diversity 101 content was well-done but obviously aimed at a very specific audience (whom I imagine being middle-aged Japanese ladies, but maybe that's just me). And while the characters are by and large charming, our cheerfully gay Canadian guy, Mike is a bit flat - I'm wondering if this is partly due to his poor command of Japanese getting lost in translation. The scene when he does get some character development, drunkenly tackling Yaichi, made me pretty uncomfortable with its brief visual evocation of assault. His collection of novelty print shirts, though!

All in all an excellent book and a feel-good read. I'm hoping to get my hands on the next volume. ( )

It's not often a graphic novel makes me cry but I'm a sucker when it comes to grief.

This is a sweet story about a Japanese single father who's forced to confront his (and his compatriots') homophobia, when his deceased twin brother's Canadian husband comes for a visit. His young daughter doesn't share his prejudices, and as such helps him reflect on the ingrained attitudes toward gay people that he has so far accepted as just without question. (An interesting sidenote is that the mother of the child is still in the picture, but she works a lot and only visits her child occasionally. To my knowledge, Japan is still quite conservative and traditional not only when it comes to sexual orientation, but also when it comes to gender roles, so a single stay at home father is an oddity in and of itself.)

This is also a heartbreaking story about a Canadian man whose Japanese husband has died, and who comes to Japan to visit his husband's family in order to get to know them as well as the culture better, and to maybe get a handle on his grief as well.

The tone is very light and age appropriate for anyone. It feels like a good book to gift someone who's maybe grappling with similar feelings as the main character, trying to battle the prejudices ingrained in them by society. It's also simply a feel good story on a couple of really heavy topics. Can't wait to read the second part as well. ( )