The lead character in the manga is 16-year-old Sora Itoda, who lives in the suburbs and dreams of being a painter; he has synesthesia, so he experiences the world in shades of red and blue. Itoda is not yet ready to come out, but his views start to change when he meets Mr. Amamiya, an older, openly gay man who runs a coffee shop. Mr. Amamiya befriends Sora and becomes a mentor, but both of them still face difficult choices and circumstances.
Tagame first became known in the U.S. as a creator of erotic gay manga (see “Fantagraphics Plans ‘Massive’”), but his breakout title was My Brother’s Husband, a YA manga about a man who comes to accept that his dead brother was gay after meeting his husband. The story was published as two hardcover volumes, the first of which won a 2018 Eisner Award; both volumes were named to YALSA’s Top Ten Graphic Novels for Teens lists. Later Pantheon published an omnibus paperback edition (see “‘My Brother’s Husband’ to Be Omnibized”). The title sold over 42,000 copies in all formats, according to the publisher.
