In a controversial decision, the Brevard County School Board has banned the popular Japanese manga Sasaki & Miyano, Vol. 1 from its district libraries, despite the book’s content not violating state statutes.

The decision came after a brief discussion at the board’s meeting on Aug 27, 2024, where the relationship depicted in the manga and its unconventional format were cited as reasons for its removal.

During the board meeting, Chair Megan Wright stated that while Sasaki & Miyano did not explicitly violate House Bill 1069, which restricts certain graphic depictions and other content in school materials, she still found the content inappropriate for students.

Wright specifically highlighted the manga’s focus on a romantic relationship between two male characters as inappropriate, although she insisted that the relationship itself was not the reason for the book’s removal.

She also questioned the way the book was read ‘backwards’ when kids should be reading books from left to right,...