My Brothers Husband, Volume 2 (Otouto no Otto, #3-4) By Gengoroh Tagame

Wish 👏 there 👏 was 👏 another 👏 one. Gengoroh Tagame Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: The concluding volume in the story of Yaichi, his daughter Kana, and how their meeting Mike Flanagan--Yaichi's brother-in-law--changes their lives and perceptions of acceptance of homosexuality in their contemporary Japanese culture.

As Mike continues his journey of discovery concerning Ryoji's past, Yaichi gradually comes to understand that being gay is just another way of being human. And that, in many ways, remains a radical concept in Japan even today. In the meantime, the bond between Mike and young Kana grows ever stronger, and yet he is going to have to return to Canada soon--a fact that fills them both with impending heartbreak. But not before more than a few revelations come to light.


SECOND VOLUME IN SERIES BEGUN IN MY BROTHER'S HUSBAND vol. 1

My Review: Yaichi's gay twin, Ryuji, married Canadian bear Mike after emigrating to escape his repressive, hidebound culture. He promised, swore!, he would have his twin—his only remaining family—know Mike as his husband. Then, as is the way with sworn promises, Ryuji died. Mike, to make his dearly beloved husband's promise come true, visits Yaichi and his daughter Kana in their home.

We pick up the story in medias res, this being a two-volume omnibus edition of the manga. Yaichi, a lovely man (for legal purposes), has his most acute attack of the collywobbles yet. Mike mentions that it's possible Kana will be a lesbian. These two pages made me laugh so hard I almost choked:

Poor Yaichi! What's a traditional Japanese father to think? My daughter with a woman?! HEEELLLP!!!!

The rest of the story is Yaichi coming to value and care for Mike, whose love for his brother is strong. They've lost so much, they've got to come to peace with each other. Mike has no problem with this, since he's been out a long time; Yaichi finds himself saddened that he didn't try harder to connect with Ryuji while he was alive because now he can't. All while being a divorced custodial dad to a little girl. Who has fallen utterly in love with her big Canadian bear-uncle.

A very telling scene comes when Mike goes to Kana's school, to be met with hostility and suspicion. It's really amusing at first because Mike doesn't see it, but it becomes a major Thing between Yaichi and his inner demons. It provides Yaichi with a chance to work through what he thinks about Mike's gayness and what Japan as a whole thinks about gayness. The men resolve their desire to be close to each other over a look at Mike's photo album, including wedding pictures. Yaichi realizes how much he will miss Mike as he's about to leave, and Kana asks for a sworn promise that Mike will visit again, or she gets to come to Canada to visit Mike.

And now I venture into personal territory. My Young Gentleman Caller, Rob, is 34 (thirty-four) years younger than I am. We might as well be Canadian and Japanese, since I understand his culture about as well as he does mine. The Moon landing was 50 years ago. I remember it vividly. I had to YouTube footage for Rob, who had sort-of heard about it. His FATHER was born two years after it happened. So we both relate to the ...say what now? moments between Yaichi and Mike.

We talked at some length about the way it feels to be so different from someone you care very much about, and how that puts strains on one's inner sense of peace and quiet. We both worry about the other's feelings being hurt when we're being our separate selves...we both worry about the way our beloved handles the need we have to be understood. Am I trying hard enough, too hard, do I even know what he means? And it was this manga that called that conversation into being.

If you don't read the series for any other reason, read it for that one. It is good enough to start a life-altering conversation between people too different to know where or how to begin to do that for themselves.

THAT's good storytelling!

Also! Extra! May the US be blessed with the live-action TV series! Here's a promo photo of the amazing casting:

Gengoroh Tagame The second volume of this Manga was much more restrained than the first installment that felt too didactic, yet delved deeper into the difficulties and discomfort with which homosexuals are being faced and the awkward self-consciousness they feel due to the constant social and moral shunning by their straight fellow man.
A book with a heart and a voice. Gengoroh Tagame It took a while for me to get into the second and final volume of Gengoroh Tagame’s superb series, My Brother’s Husband, because not a whole lot initially happens (the whole onsen episode). And, really, not much happens afterwards either - in that regard, this feels like a superfluous book. Yaichi has accepted his dead brother Ryoji’s homosexuality and he and his daughter Kana have become friends with his brother-in-law, burly Canadian bear Mike - that’s the arc and it was done by the end of Volume 1.

Still, there’s so many feels later on in this book that, even if it does seem a little unnecessary, it’s impossible not to like. Seeing Yaichi, Kana and Mike’s relationship blossom further is heart-warming and Yaichi continues to grow as a person. From someone who turned his back on his brother for being gay, he’s now sticking up for Mike after a schoolteacher is alarmed that Kana’s uncle is living, what is still in Japan, a taboo lifestyle. And Yaichi seeing the photos of his brother’s wedding and how his bigotry led him to miss out on such an important occasion - *bawls*!

That whole final half is one long sob-fest so fair warning, guys. Mike listening to the closeted gay kid and giving him advice, Yaichi taking Mike to his parents’ graves, Mike saying his goodbyes to both Kana and Yaichi individually - this manga is all heart.

My Brother’s Husband, Volume 2 is a bit overlong with a slow beginning but Gengoroh Tagame’s crafted a modern masterpiece with this series. Here’s hoping the real audience for this title - close-minded Japanese - learn to become more accepting and loving like Yaichi. Nothing good ever came from prejudice. Gengoroh Tagame 4 Stars

Again, this continues to shed light on the lack of acceptance that’s still prevalent but also delivers the message that there is an opportunity for change and the ability to heal through love.
Gengoroh Tagame

Read & Download My Brothers Husband, Volume 2 (Otouto no Otto, #3-4)

The concluding volume in the story of Yaichi, his daughter Kana, and how their meeting Mike Flanagan--Yaichi's brother-in-law--changes their lives and perceptions of acceptance of homosexuality in their contemporary Japanese culture.

As Mike continues his journey of discovery concerning Ryoji's past, Yaichi gradually comes to understand that being gay is just another way of being human. And that, in many ways, remains a radical concept in Japan even today. In the meantime, the bond between Mike and young Kana grows ever stronger, and yet he is going to have to return to Canada soon--a fact that fills them both with impending heartbreak. But not before more than a few revelations come to light. My Brothers Husband, Volume 2 (Otouto no Otto, #3-4)

SO GOOD IM CRYING. Gonna buy this for my collection and I rarely buy graphic novels because they’re just so damn expensive but omg it’s amazing. Gengoroh Tagame 1.) My Brother's Husband Volume 1 ★★★★★
2.) My Brother's Husband Volume 2 ★★★★★

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I AM CRYING IN THE CLUB RIGHT NOW Gengoroh Tagame Just sobbed my way through the last 50 pages and now I’ll never be the same. I miss Mike, Kana and Yaichi already 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 Gengoroh Tagame Love starting my morning off with a good cry this is fine I'm fine 😭😭😭😭😭😭 Gengoroh Tagame The second of two volumes essentially about a family in grief. Yaichi loses his identical brother, Ryoji, and he also becomes divorced, in a relatively short period. The death and grieving are complicated by the fact that he and his brother were estranged, for reasons that begin to be clear in the first volume: Yaichi has never fully understood or accepted anything about his brother being gay. Yaichi also has a little daughter, Kana. One day his brother’s husband, Mike, a big bearish Canadian, shows up at his door to visit.

In the first volume there are uncomfortable moments in the first volume as we see that Yaichi, while not exactly shunning his brother, had been (quietly) bigoted. Mike is great, very likeable and always positive, and Kana also his very accepting and loving. The two of them form a bond that makes Yaichi consider his own actions.

In the concluding volume Kana is the same irrepressible kid we love, and Mike remains who is, but Yaichi changes, as a kind of model for us of acceptance. This is a quietly and not unexpectedly positive, but still moving, volume where small, good things happen (I mean there is not a lot of drama); for instance, Yaichi confronts Kana’s homeroom teacher about protecting her from bullying because she has a gay uncle. In the process it is Yaichi who educates the teacher. In another scene, Yaichi’s ex points out that they have become a family—a divorced couple who love their daughter together, including now the husband of their lost brother and uncle. Okay, so what if I’m crying, shut up.

Gengoroh Tagame's Goodreads biography tells us “he is a Japanese manga artist who specializes in gay BDSM erotic manga, many of which depict graphic violence. The men he depicts are hypermasculine, and tend to be on the bearish side.” Mike fits this category, but in no other sense would this sweet tale appear (I haven't read any of the rest of it) to be typical of Tagame’s work, which was meant for a particular gay audience. As I see it, this may be primarily written for a straight or cis-gendered audience, who are essentially Yaichi, learning to appreciate what it might mean to be gay in Japanese—or any other—society. Mike has lost his husband, the love of his life. Ryoji has lost his brother. Part of his grieving involves learning to accept and love the man his brother loved, and to accept him as loving and losing as he has loved and lost his brother (and wife, to some extent). My Brother’s Husband is about grief, but it’s also about love, which knows no boundaries. Gengoroh Tagame