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madison_gleason's review against another edition
5.0
This was such a good end to the series the character development of the main character was so good. The ending had me sobbing. When we find out the reason why Mike came to Japan and seeings his brother guilty over pushing his brother away. And then having to see Kana say goodbye to Mike broke my heart. But it was such a sweet end.
jess_westhafer's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
ihateprozac's review against another edition
5.0
Where Volume 1 tore my soul asunder with its complex themes, My Brother’s Husband: Volume 2 was quieter and more introspective. We follow Yaichi becoming an ally and actively calling out homophobia in his daily life. He also takes steps toward healing and connecting Mike with his family to make up for lost time.
In the first volume we met a closeted young queer Japanese boy, and in this volume we see the other side of the coin, meeting an older actively closeted Japanese man. Through this we get to see how being closeted is not just a painful secret for the queer person, but also for any queer person they interact with.
This book is quieter than the first one but no less emotional (read: absolutely fucking heart wrenching). Mike’s looming departure brings much emotion with it, as Yaichi and Kana realise how much their three weeks with Mike have changed their lives for the better. You’re gonna need tissues, y’all. *cue “For Good” from Wicked the Musical and me crying for four hours straight on the bathroom floor*
Needless to say, I rated this 5 MILLION BAJILLION STARS and my poor heart will never recover from the sweetness and sadness of this duology! ;_____;
In the first volume we met a closeted young queer Japanese boy, and in this volume we see the other side of the coin, meeting an older actively closeted Japanese man. Through this we get to see how being closeted is not just a painful secret for the queer person, but also for any queer person they interact with.
This book is quieter than the first one but no less emotional (read: absolutely fucking heart wrenching). Mike’s looming departure brings much emotion with it, as Yaichi and Kana realise how much their three weeks with Mike have changed their lives for the better. You’re gonna need tissues, y’all. *cue “For Good” from Wicked the Musical and me crying for four hours straight on the bathroom floor*
Needless to say, I rated this 5 MILLION BAJILLION STARS and my poor heart will never recover from the sweetness and sadness of this duology! ;_____;
marcosbedbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first volume of My Brother’s Husband, it wasn’t something that stuck to me. I wasn’t planning on reading the next book but I did because I was bored.
I really enjoyed seeing the character growth from Yaichi, and while it was a fun time, I found myself often wondering why this book was so slow. Most of this book follows the characters as they live their lives, and I was bored for most of it, even if it was a nice read. At the same time I understand this is supposed to be a slice of life read but it got very repetitive. I’m hoping there’s more plot in the next volume.
I really enjoyed seeing the character growth from Yaichi, and while it was a fun time, I found myself often wondering why this book was so slow. Most of this book follows the characters as they live their lives, and I was bored for most of it, even if it was a nice read. At the same time I understand this is supposed to be a slice of life read but it got very repetitive. I’m hoping there’s more plot in the next volume.
indiekay's review against another edition
5.0
I am so glad I finally read this second and final volume in this series. My review for this one would be identical to the review I gave for the first book, as the plot continues in the same way as the first, but I really adored this conclusion to the story. The ending had me sobbing.
thisstoryaintover's review against another edition
just heart eyes for this series cuz it's the most precious thing on the planet <3
mastersal's review against another edition
5.0
I was so excited to read this and I am happy to report that this fulfilled my expectations to the T. Volume 1 ended on an abrupt note but this one has smoother plotting with an ending that made me tear up. I should have expected it but I was surprised that I didn't. I guess I was having such a good time reading this, smiling along that I was expecting that this would continue for longer than it did. For that, I would recommend this volume, especially for those who liked Volume 1.
This is the concluding volume of the story; I thought this was a series but having read the book it makes sense now. Stretching this story out to a manga series would make it lost its impact. The realisation that “being gay is just another way of being human” (from the blurb) is such an beautifully simple concept that adding more drama by needing to make this an ongoing story would be a disservice.
There will be some who will dislike the book for its ‘lack of plot’ but for me that was kind of the point. This is a gentle, normal slice of life where Mike’s orientation is important but not the world-ending cataclysm that it could have been portrayed as. There are no big speeches about gay rights, or the need for Japan to change but a man learning to change and finding his family again.
For those of us lucky to live in a ‘freer’ society this may seems like an obvious concept and some of the “radical” nature of this book is lost for me. Some of the dialogue is heavy handed and made me roll my eyes as Yaichi’s epiphanies felt more than home truths. But then I had to remind myself that if this were me, even 20 years ago, I would have been in a similar situation. I didn't know any better - and that made me sad - and makes this a powerful and very deliberate manga.
What was most interesting for me is that around mid-way through the book this became less about the fact that Mike was gay and Yaichi’s brother’s husband and more about a family coming together to form bonds and mourn loss. There is more a character arc here and resolution which made this more moving for me. Of course, Kana remains super cute and I would have given this 4 stars for her reaction to reading Romeo and Juliet alone.
Ultimately, if the first Volume 1 was about looking at yourself and confronting your prejudices, this volume is about grief and reaching out to find comfort in family, no matter who they are and who they love.
This is the concluding volume of the story; I thought this was a series but having read the book it makes sense now. Stretching this story out to a manga series would make it lost its impact. The realisation that “being gay is just another way of being human” (from the blurb) is such an beautifully simple concept that adding more drama by needing to make this an ongoing story would be a disservice.
There will be some who will dislike the book for its ‘lack of plot’ but for me that was kind of the point. This is a gentle, normal slice of life where Mike’s orientation is important but not the world-ending cataclysm that it could have been portrayed as. There are no big speeches about gay rights, or the need for Japan to change but a man learning to change and finding his family again.
For those of us lucky to live in a ‘freer’ society this may seems like an obvious concept and some of the “radical” nature of this book is lost for me. Some of the dialogue is heavy handed and made me roll my eyes as Yaichi’s epiphanies felt more than home truths. But then I had to remind myself that if this were me, even 20 years ago, I would have been in a similar situation. I didn't know any better - and that made me sad - and makes this a powerful and very deliberate manga.
What was most interesting for me is that around mid-way through the book this became less about the fact that Mike was gay and Yaichi’s brother’s husband and more about a family coming together to form bonds and mourn loss.
Spoiler
There is a beautiful scene where Yaichi goes to Mike and asks to see pictures of his brother. It’s such a quiet scene with both large-looking men, sitting side by side, looking at pictures of someone they both loved. Makes me tear up just thinking of it.Ultimately, if the first Volume 1 was about looking at yourself and confronting your prejudices, this volume is about grief and reaching out to find comfort in family, no matter who they are and who they love.
sarahtribble's review against another edition
3.0
This review will cover volumes 1 and 2 of the My Brother's Husband omnibus.
My Brother's Husband, Volume 1 rating: 4/5
My Brother's Husband, Volume 2 rating: 3.5/5
Overall series rating: 3.75/5
My Brother's Husband is a two-volume manga about a single dad named Yaichi and his young daughter Kana, whose lives are pleasantly interrupted by the arrival of Yaichi's brother's widow, Mike. Yes, you read that right: Yaichi's twin brother, Ryuji, was gay and married to a beefy Canadian man named Mike. (He is so beefy.)
I don't know a lot about the gay scene in Japan. According to Amnesty International, at first glance, the treatment of LGBTQ+ people in Japan appears satisfactory. There isn't really any directed national outcry against the LGBTQ+ community, but LGBTQ+ people still face discrimination in their homes, workplaces, centres of education, etc.. The most significant thing I learned from My Brother's Husband, however, is that being gay isn't really talked about in Japan. Yaichi knows that his twin was gay. Ryuji came out to him in high school, and Yaichi certainly didn't disown his brother, but he never brought up his brother's sexuality, either. He ignored it completely, perhaps hoping that if they never talked about it, it would go away. And it does -- or at least, Ryuji does. He moves to Canada, where same sex marriage is legal, and meets and marries Mike Flanagan. After Ryuji's death (which, much to my chagrin, is never explained), Mike comes to visit Yaichi and his daughter in Japan to see where his late husband grew up, and Yaichi is finally forced to confront his brother's sexuality, his subconscious prejudices, and the major socio-cultural issues present in Japan.
My Brother’s Husband challenges Japanese gay culture and critiques the national attitude towards homosexuality, while also commenting on the influence that Western acceptance and celebration of the LGBTQ+ community has had on the Eastern view of homosexuality. (It also challenges the image of what a “typical gay man” looks like. This series really pulls out all the stops.) It does all of these things primarily through the lens of Yaichi, who is the protagonist of this charming little tale. Yaichi was, to me, a unique character because he doesn’t fall one way or the other on the stance of same sex marriage. He’s not for it; he’s not against it. In fact, he doesn’t seem to have given it much thought at all. He has compartmentalised it away into the back of his mind, so it comes as a rather alarming shock when Mike, whom he has never met before, shows up on his doorstep and forces Yaichi to confront his brother’s sexuality with an intimacy that has never before been required of him. Yaichi’s begins pretty clueless, of the opinion that same sex marriage is strange and weird; at the end of the first volume, he awakens from a nightmare about Kana marrying a woman. However, Kana ends up being Yaichi’s guiding light. She’s probably about 8 or 9 years old, and she has never heard of two men getting married before Mike comes to visit, but when she learns that it’s possible, she has no trouble believing it, finds nothing strange about it at all, and her immediate acceptance influences Yaichi’s own eventual acceptance of his brother’s sexuality, and that of his brother’s husband, too.
I think that the most important lessons that this series has to offer is this: just because you aren’t actively discriminating against someone, doesn’t mean that you aren’t prejudiced towards them. Yaichi does not discriminate against his brother, but he does execute unconscious prejudice, prejudice that he isn’t even aware of at the start of the first volume. When he notices this, however, he begins to focus on disentangling and dismantling his preconceptions. There is nothing wrong with same-sex marriage, and indeed, Yaichi isn’t anti-same-sex couples; he just feels kind of weird about them. The main narrative arc of the series follows Yaichi’s realisation that his values are inherited through social osmosis, and his subsequent decisions to unlearn these prejudices and to not just accept his brother’s sexuality, but to speak it with pride. The character development that Yaichi undergoes is easily the strongest element this manga series, and it also provides readers with an invaluable lesson: question your biases, and where they came from.
I felt that the first volume was stronger than the second, but on the whole, I really liked this manga. It is so wholesome and heart-warming, a cheerful, carefree slice of life, and yet it also touches on major socio-cultural issues in Japan with a lot of tact and care. It's poignant, and deals with some serious subject matter, but it is never sad or distressing. On the contrary, it is remarkably optimistic and cheery. I don’t think that the second volume in the omnibus is as strong as the first, but regardless, I think this is a great story and a good manga for someone like me, who is only beginning to dip their toes into the world of manga and needs somewhere to start.
My Brother's Husband, Volume 1 rating: 4/5
My Brother's Husband, Volume 2 rating: 3.5/5
Overall series rating: 3.75/5
My Brother's Husband is a two-volume manga about a single dad named Yaichi and his young daughter Kana, whose lives are pleasantly interrupted by the arrival of Yaichi's brother's widow, Mike. Yes, you read that right: Yaichi's twin brother, Ryuji, was gay and married to a beefy Canadian man named Mike. (He is so beefy.)
I don't know a lot about the gay scene in Japan. According to Amnesty International, at first glance, the treatment of LGBTQ+ people in Japan appears satisfactory. There isn't really any directed national outcry against the LGBTQ+ community, but LGBTQ+ people still face discrimination in their homes, workplaces, centres of education, etc.. The most significant thing I learned from My Brother's Husband, however, is that being gay isn't really talked about in Japan. Yaichi knows that his twin was gay. Ryuji came out to him in high school, and Yaichi certainly didn't disown his brother, but he never brought up his brother's sexuality, either. He ignored it completely, perhaps hoping that if they never talked about it, it would go away. And it does -- or at least, Ryuji does. He moves to Canada, where same sex marriage is legal, and meets and marries Mike Flanagan. After Ryuji's death (which, much to my chagrin, is never explained), Mike comes to visit Yaichi and his daughter in Japan to see where his late husband grew up, and Yaichi is finally forced to confront his brother's sexuality, his subconscious prejudices, and the major socio-cultural issues present in Japan.
My Brother’s Husband challenges Japanese gay culture and critiques the national attitude towards homosexuality, while also commenting on the influence that Western acceptance and celebration of the LGBTQ+ community has had on the Eastern view of homosexuality. (It also challenges the image of what a “typical gay man” looks like. This series really pulls out all the stops.) It does all of these things primarily through the lens of Yaichi, who is the protagonist of this charming little tale. Yaichi was, to me, a unique character because he doesn’t fall one way or the other on the stance of same sex marriage. He’s not for it; he’s not against it. In fact, he doesn’t seem to have given it much thought at all. He has compartmentalised it away into the back of his mind, so it comes as a rather alarming shock when Mike, whom he has never met before, shows up on his doorstep and forces Yaichi to confront his brother’s sexuality with an intimacy that has never before been required of him. Yaichi’s begins pretty clueless, of the opinion that same sex marriage is strange and weird; at the end of the first volume, he awakens from a nightmare about Kana marrying a woman. However, Kana ends up being Yaichi’s guiding light. She’s probably about 8 or 9 years old, and she has never heard of two men getting married before Mike comes to visit, but when she learns that it’s possible, she has no trouble believing it, finds nothing strange about it at all, and her immediate acceptance influences Yaichi’s own eventual acceptance of his brother’s sexuality, and that of his brother’s husband, too.
I think that the most important lessons that this series has to offer is this: just because you aren’t actively discriminating against someone, doesn’t mean that you aren’t prejudiced towards them. Yaichi does not discriminate against his brother, but he does execute unconscious prejudice, prejudice that he isn’t even aware of at the start of the first volume. When he notices this, however, he begins to focus on disentangling and dismantling his preconceptions. There is nothing wrong with same-sex marriage, and indeed, Yaichi isn’t anti-same-sex couples; he just feels kind of weird about them. The main narrative arc of the series follows Yaichi’s realisation that his values are inherited through social osmosis, and his subsequent decisions to unlearn these prejudices and to not just accept his brother’s sexuality, but to speak it with pride. The character development that Yaichi undergoes is easily the strongest element this manga series, and it also provides readers with an invaluable lesson: question your biases, and where they came from.
I felt that the first volume was stronger than the second, but on the whole, I really liked this manga. It is so wholesome and heart-warming, a cheerful, carefree slice of life, and yet it also touches on major socio-cultural issues in Japan with a lot of tact and care. It's poignant, and deals with some serious subject matter, but it is never sad or distressing. On the contrary, it is remarkably optimistic and cheery. I don’t think that the second volume in the omnibus is as strong as the first, but regardless, I think this is a great story and a good manga for someone like me, who is only beginning to dip their toes into the world of manga and needs somewhere to start.