Reading: MY BROTHER'S HUSBAND VOLUME 1 - Gengoroh Tagame (writer), Anne Ishii (translator)

This award-winning, breakthrough manga with a seemingly simple storyline is set in suburban Tokyo, where divorced, work-from-home dad Yaichi has built a strong relationship raising his outspoken grade school-aged daughter Kana. Yaichi's orderly world changes one day, however, when a guest arrives: Mike, a gentle giant of a man from Canada with a big smile and full beard, who happens to be the widow of Yaichi's gay twin brother Ryoji, recently passed away. The death of Ryoji, who was estranged from Yaichi and had been living in Canada for awhile, is something Yaichi is also trying to deal with, but the last thing he expected is his brother's husband come to visit - though custom and Kana's instant love for her uncle make it a done deal that Yaichi must invite Mike to stay with them while in town. To say that Yaichi is uncomfortable - with Mike's relationship to his brother, his brother's death, his own feelings toward his brother's lifestyle - is an understatement, but the longer Mike stays and the more Kana grows to adore him, the more Yaichi starts seeing Mike and all he represents through Kana's unfiltered gaze; the more Yaichi comes to realize his own shortcomings and the traditional prejudices that reside in him. My Brother's Husband Volume 1 shines a light on a Japan that, today, still holds very traditional, closed-minded views on the subject of homosexuality and gay marriage - but more importantly, narrows the perspective down to one man slowly coming to the realization, through his daughter's eyes, that even with all his outward showing of acceptance, deep down he still has so much to learn.  4.5/5 stars