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Tagame tells this story with humour and also with proper reverence for the loss of the man with whom Mike had expected to spend the rest of his life. That Mike is in mourning as well as on a journey celebrating the life of his deceased husband is never far from the surface. The mangaka sensitively portrays the realities of growing up gay in Japan and shows what it means to be in a same sex relationships when confronted with family members’ reactions. Mike's brother-in-law, Yaichi, the titular brother, is outwardly polite, inwardly repulsed by Mike’s appearance. That’s where the story begins - with his conflicting initial reaction and the resulting inner monologues. As social interactions unfold we spend a lot of time in the head of the Japanese brother-in-law. Throughout the series Tagame sustains a lot of the initial subtlety when the scope broadens to beyond immediate family.
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