Ladies, gents, and nons, here is my review of Okura's "I Think Our Son Is Gay", known in Japanese as "Uchi no Musuko wa Tabun Gay" (literally "Our Son is Probably Gay").
I Think Our Son Is Gay is mainly told from the perspective of Tomoko Aoyama, a married mother of two. Her younger son, Yuuri, is a bit of a cool kid who isn't interested in romance, and her older son, Hiroki, wears his heart on his sleeve and is very bad at hiding things. Case in point, one night, he lets it slip that he'd like a boyfriend who could cook, only to frantically backtrack and say he wants a girlfriend instead. This, along with several hints from before and after this particular moment, leads Tomoko to believe that Hiroki might be gay, but she would prefer to wait until he's ready to come out to talk to him about it. In the meanwhile, Tomoko watches over Hiroki as he goes through high school, and in the process, her worldview expands a little more each day.
At the time of this manga's creation, Japan still wasn't too open about same-sex relationships - with same-sex marriages still not being legal in Japan - and that is reflected here. While there are no LGBTQ+ characters being shown physically harassed, there are heterosexual characters who make not-always-accurate assumptions about the community; while people making such assumptions actually happening in real life makes this manga realistic, and while it's made clear that they're not necessarily true, those kinds of moments might not be a fun read for some. With that being said, though, while there isn't a whole lot of LGBTQ+ representation outside of homosexuality (and a little bit of asexuality), the representation that is there is solid. No gay character is shown to be overly campy or stereotypical, and although being gay is an important part of their identity, that's not all there is to them.
To start off talking about this manga's characters, I'd like to talk about the most obvious example of what I just mentioned, Hiroki. Although he's not the manga's viewpoint character, we do get to know about as much about him as we probably would if he was. Although he joins a school club later in the story for the sake of spending time with his crush, he gives club activities his all nonetheless. He also displays feelings of inadequacy and low self-confidence at times, which is painfully relatable. Above all, he's a good kid who cares a lot about his family and friends. He is canonically gay, but instead of a caricature, he's a fully-fleshed character whose mangaka wrote him well.
One could also say that Hiroki's mama raised him well in-universe, and with how good of a person Tomoko is, that'd be easy to believe. She just wants to support her boys and let them live happy lives, and while she does have her own feelings of inadequacy about her parenting abilities at one point, anyone could see how good of a job she's doing with both Hiroki and Yuuri. Speaking of Yuuri, while he isn't the type to show his emotions often, he goes through his own struggles, and chapters focusing on him tend to be interesting. Plus, it's revealed that he also knows of his older brother's sexual orientation, and the little ways he shows support for him are quite sweet. Rounding out the Aoyama family is Akiyoshi, Tomoko's husband and Hiroki and Yuuri's father. While he's not a bad father by any means, he is a little behind on his sons' lives due to his job taking him away from home for lengthy periods of time, and early on in the manga, he expresses some close-minded views toward the LGBTQ+ community, unintentionally hurting Hiroki with his comments. Fortunately, especially with Tomoko's help, he is able to gain a more open mind by the end and also build a good relationship with his son, which is nice.
The members of Aoyama family aren't the only characters in the manga, however. We also get to know about some of the people in each of their lives, such as Daigo (Hiroki's crush), Asumi (Hiroki's childhood friend who has a crush on him), and some of Tomoko's mom friends. One particular character who stands out to me is Touno, Tomoko's co-worker at a bento shop who happens to be gay and living with his partner. Through Touno, Tomoko is able to learn about the experiences of a gay guy who's not her son, which further expands her worldview. I may have lamented the lack of LGBTQ+ representation outside of homosexuality, but it's still nice to have him and a few background characters mentioned throughout the manga around so that it doesn't seem like Hiroki's not the only gay person in its universe!
I spent too much time talking about the characters, so let's move onto the artwork. There isn't really much I can really say about it, though. It's cute, it's simple, and it's a good fit for a slice-of-life story like this one. The character designs are also solid, without a single outlandish design in sight. Yeah, I think that sums up how I feel about the artwork.
Do you know what I think? I Think Our Son Is Gay is a pretty good manga. Those who are in the LGBTQ+ community may enjoy its solid representation (and even relate to Hiroki's awkwardness), and those who aren't may come out of it with a more open mind; either way, it's worth the read. Hopefully, if/when I get married and have kids of my own, I'll be able to follow Tomoko's example, no matter what sexual orientation or gender identity they turn out to have.
