Oh! My Brother

“Oh! My Brother”, a title that struck fear in my heart when I first opened the box from CMX. It conjured in my mind images of horrible series about those uncomfortable and rather creepy romances between a brother and sister, who in the majority of cases are underage. So you can expect that it was with some trepidation that I started to read it, luckily however, “Oh! My Brother” does disappoint in regards to creepy incest. Sort of.

“Oh! My Brother” is a shojo title by Ken Saito which is being released by CMX in America and the UK. It tells the story of Masago a perfectly average high schooler who is constantly being overshadowed by her brother Shiro. Shiro is the student council president and is pretty much the school’s idol with a huge popularity, however not only this but also as it happens he is one of the smartest in the school and is awknowledged by the majority as being a genius. That is until he gives up his life to save Masago from being knocked down by an oncoming truck after a run in with an old friend of his, Kuga, who is now a bully at another school, this leaves Masago and the entire student body devestated. However somehow Shiro doesn’t go away yet and his soul ends up sharing Masago’s body with them alternating who is in control.

The real reason why he was given a “second chance” as it is described in the manga remains unknown. Though, the two people who know his secret, Masago and his best friend and fellow member of the school council Kurouma, who Masago has a crush on, believe that it was because of “unfinished business” and so they set out to help Shiro move on, whilst keeping it a secret from everybody else.

I found that “Oh! My Brother” starts off weakly, the plot tends to jump about a bit and at times is confusing as it sometimes is difficult to tell what’s a flashback and what is actually happening in the present. However after the first chapter it begins to pick up and the narrative solidifies. The play between Masago and Shiro has a feeling of realism to it as they share her body, with Shiro being extremely protective of her when she talks to Kurouma resulting in some quite amusing moments.

A sub plot arises in the form of the rivalry between Kuga and Shiro, however this isn’t really fleshed out that much in the first volume. Though there are suggestions that there might be something more than just feelings of friendship between the two which is a bit awkward and I had to check the cover that I wasn’t indeed reading a boys love title.

A positive of the series is that it takes a somewhat unique look at the gender switching genre and manages to avoid the tropes that you would see in series such as Ranma 1/2 such as the male character when he becomes the female marvelling at his chest, which is in a way refreshing. Saito also does characterisation very well, leaving you with a good feeling of who all her characters are despite the fact that you might have actually seen very little of them and they may not have said much.

In addition one thing that the average manga reader wouldn’t normally consider when reading a manga is the localisation,however the localisation of “Oh! My Brother” is excellent and really deserves mentioning. The translator has managed to work around the levels of Japanese politeness by using unusual speech which makes it far more accessible to those not as familiar with this aspect of Japanese whilst still conveying the same message.

However, I was a bit annoyed at times when a piece of clothing was just autofilled in with a single unaltering pattern, which is not something I am a fan of at all. Otherwise, though the artstyle is a bit typical of shojo manga, it is very nicely done with the characters being drawn very expressively.

A bonus unrelated story is included called “The Magic Of Kirishima-Tei” at the end of volume 1, along with an extra chapter of “Oh! My Brother” which flashes back to Masago deciding to go to her brother’s school. “The Magic Of Kirishima-Tei” also suffers from a slow start but ends up becoming quite a charming little tale, which is a nice addition and fits in well with the main story.

In conclusion I would recommend that you check this out if you are a fan of shojo and possibly a bit of boys love, Saito really does make the most of quite a clichéd premise resulting in a series that does enough to make it stand out from the crowd despite such a rocky start.

“Oh! My Brother” is being released in the US and UK by CMX Manga