Tsubasa: Those With Wings Volume 3 by Natsuki Takaya

The concluding volume of Natsuki Takaya’s post-apocalyptic saga has plenty of action and some genuinely unnerving imagery. Kotobuki leaves behind her lover Raimon in her quest to find the angelic being called the Tsubasa, who is rumored to grant any wish. She finds out that the Tsubasa is entirely earthbound. When she meets the professor who worked on the Tsubasa project, she learns that the Tsubasa are actually a pair of male and female artificial life forms created by humans in an attempt to harness the human brain’s full potential. The two beings need each other to become the Tsubasa. Kotobuki had previously encountered the boy Rikuro. The girl Kayo has been missing for years. The professor is impressed that Rikuro revealed himself to Kotobuki and agrees to help her save Raimon from the bomb in his head. Kotobuki joyfully prepares to return to Raimon’s side, but he’s been captured by the army. The Colonel plans to use Raimon’s magnificent brain to form Kayo’s other half and resurrect the Tsubasa project for his own purposes.

What follows is a whirlwind of a sci-fi story. Rikuro is able to make Kotobuki appreciate the depth of Raimon’s feelings for her, and she finally learns about his mysterious past. When the Tsubasa appear, their behavior is anything but angelic. I could finally see major hints of Fruits Basket in this work, as the characters grapple with the nature of love and their own selfishness. While this isn’t a perfect work by any means, the art gets better with each volume and some of the images exploring the intersection of man and machine were incredibly creepy. There were some awkward moments when too much exposition was crammed into too few panels. I was happy to see that the other characters’ somewhat annoying habit of talking about how awesome Kotobuki had faded away by the third volume. I think Takaya’s storytelling skills grew more refined as the series progressed.

Review copy provided by the publisher.