The Importance of a Story Like “My Brother’s Husband”

Author: Gengoroh Tagame

Gengoroh Tagame is a name that will forever go down in history as a greatly influential gay manga artist in Japan. Having written mostly yaoi (boy’s love) manga since high school, Gengoroh has been contributing to the gay scene for decades. As a creative, he has created a diverse range of work from erotic manga to prose fiction and has worked as a graphic designer for queer media. He is the co-founder of the G-men magazine and despite all of his great achievements and the large variety of works he has created, the focal point today is his award-winning manga series, “My Brother’s Husband”, and just how important it is.

The setting of the manga series is in Japan where single father, Yaichi, is raising his happy go lucky daughter Kana. It begins with Yaichi preparing for the day that his recently deceased twin brother’s husband would be coming to visit them. After Ryoji, Yaichi’s twin brother, migrated to Canada long ago and got married, Yaichi lost touch with him and found it difficult to talk to his gay brother. Mike, Ryoji’s husband, and his presence bring up forgotten memories of Ryoji and Yaichi’s childhood together and Yaichi is forced to face his internalized homophobia, the societal pressures of Japan, and how it all affected his relationship with his twin brother. Mike, a bear of a man with the heart of an angel, attempts to connect with his husband’s past. While still actively grieving his husband’s passing, Mike struggles to create a relationship with his late husband’s family.

While it is a story of growth, acceptance, grief, and family, Gengoroh’s clever use of Yaichi’s daughter Kana is how a majority of the story’s problems are discussed. As a Japanese citizen with little exposure to other homosexuals other than Ryoji, Yaichi was ignorant and a bit resistant to understand their lifestyle. However, it’s Kana’s optimism, blind acceptance, and curiosity that forces her father to answer awkward questions and deal with his suppressed thoughts (that the readers get much insight into). While Yaichi actively struggles to hold back from shouting what he really feels, as the story progresses, we see a more honest and kinder Yaichi appear as he learns about his brother’s past and deals with his regret regarding their falling out.

Gengoroh is shining a light onto the homophobic side of Japan in a way that makes one think, “Well why do I even find a problem with gay people anyway?” We can see first hand the microaggressions that LGBT+ people face while in Japan, from a crusty side eye, outright avoidance, and passive-aggressive comments. This treatment toward the gay community is compounded by the darker treatment they may feel in other places of the world, where a gay person may be bullied, kicked out of their homes, or worse. However, Japan’s discrimination is not down played and actively battled against in this story as Yaichi learns to accept Mike as his brother-in-law while he finds a way to be brave toward those who challenge his family.

Although the story covers a variety of difficult topics regarding homosexual relationships and even a few issues that foreigners face in Japan, it’s a very easy read. In fact, I think it’s possible for children as young as middle school to be able to read this book and understand its concepts. However, there may be ideas they don’t understand or may not be appropriate as there are a few discussions about sex. This book can easily stand as a bridge for families facing problems with acceptance of gay family members in a gentle but direct way. It’s the sweetest and most perfect opportunity for education, internal reflection, and growth as we must challenge the way we think and learn to live leading with love first and foremost.

Article edited by Lindsey Huddleston and Rochele King.