My Brother's Husband, Volume 1

A graphic novel which is charming, thoughtful, touching, and perhaps challenging - especially for the Japanese culture in which/for which it was apparently written. Although I've read manga my teenage son likes (and therefore I know how to read it from right to left), I've not previously read a manga which so forthrightly addresses a social reality - in this case the reality of same-sex marriage. The art is simple, but expressive enough to get a strong sense of the characters and the internal and external struggles they face. After the relationship between the brother's husband of the title and the brother and his daughter is solidified, I like how the husband has a chance to support a young man who is struggling to come out within a traditional Japanese society. I am glad to see that the manga art form is being used not just to entertain but to teach and challenge in various ways.