![]() ![]() ![]() It would be remiss not to praise Tagame’s art as well as his storytelling. Is this book… gay?! (Art by Gengoroh Tagame, cover from Pantheon Books) Tagame being extra subtle here, with both a pink triangle and a rainbow. A nice but subtle touch that may be lost in translation is that Mike’s dialogue is usually very simple – a way of showing that he’s speaking faltering, imperfect Japanese. At times, he’s sort of a “Gayness 101” primer, but that feels important for any audiences who need that basic education. Ultimately, Mike is Tagame’s lens to shine a light on Japan’s conservatism, not only in regards to LGBTQ+ rights but also subtler ways, such as hugging people – even family members – generally being culturally unusual. The growing relationship between the brothers-in-law is one of the key pillars of the book. He often struggles being around Yaichi, a man identical to his husband, and at one point breaks down crying, drunkenly mistaking Yaichi for Ryoji. However, his kindness tends to win people over – effectively telling Japanese readers “hey, gays aren’t scary!” Although a self-described otaku himself, he’s also a tall, bearded, hairy white man – the kind of “bear” that Tagame frequently drew in his explicit work – whose sheer physicality is a shock to most of the Japanese characters he meets. Mike, meanwhile, is fascinating, especially as a depiction of someone from a western country.
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