My Brother's Husband, Volume 2

When I finished Volume 1, it was in the middle of lunchtime the other day. I loved the book so much, but most of the time when I'm reading over lunch, I just want to be left alone. But I carried My Brother's Husband over to a coworker, who is Japanese, and said, “I'm reading manga!” He said he was surprised at how much manga has been translated into English, and asked what it was about.

It's about Yaichi, a single dad living in Japan, and his young daughter, Kana. One day, a big Canadian man named Mike shows up at their front door, announcing that he was the husband of Yaichi's recently deceased twin brother, Ryoji. Yaichi accepts Mike into their home, but struggles a lot with the cultural differences between Japan and other parts of the world, what is acceptable here vs. there. He struggles with what it means that his brother was gay and built a life that Yaichi doesn't know, that Yaichi and Ryoji drifted apart after Ryoji came out, what it would feel like if Kana grew up and decided she wanted to marry a woman.

Anyway, as her new Canadian uncle, Kana LOOOOOOOVES Mike, and the three of them spend a lot of time touristing and eating yummy-looking things over his three-week visit to Japan, and it was a really delightful world to be in, even amongst the moments of sadness and growth and frustration. Kana sees the world through her child lens, and Yaichi sees how it must have been for Ryoji, and Mike sees the homeland of his husband, whom he never got to come home with.

The second volume is basically a direct continuation from the first. Both are gorgeous and lovely and hopeful.