manga: Tsubasa: Those With Wings Vol 1

[meganbmoore]

Which is actually volumes 1 and 2 of the original Japanese releases.

Near the end of the post-apocalyptic 22nd century, Kotobuki is a thief who is looking for a legendary item known as Tsubasa, which can supposedly grant any wish. She’s accompanied by Raimon, a mysterious former military captain who quit so he could be with her.

As fond as I am of Fruits Basket, I had to give up on Takaya’s Phantom Dream due to my not being able to understand what was going on most of the time. Thankfully, that isn’t a problem here. Kotobuki is what seems to be Takaya’s typical heroine-that is, very energetic and determined, not very bright, wanting to help everyone she meets, and hard not to like. However, while this works well when the heroine is dealing with an incredibly messed up family, it makes me want to lug Basara or Gentlemen’s Alliance or Wallflower or Skip-Beat at the mangaka when it’s an adventuring thief. Especially when it’s stressed that Kotobuki isn’t a very good thief, and Raimon is incredibly skilled at virtually anything.

This, thankfully, is emphasized much less after the first couple of chapters. Raimon, incidentally, is seriously unbalanced. Like, I’m not sure how to describe it. I think various Fruits Basket characters studied under him. And, while he’s a perfect (if somewhat sexually ambitious) angel/attack dog with Kotobuki, he’s a bit to willing to let everyone else die if she isn’t going to be dying with them. And I admit with mild shame that pairings (romantic, platonic, familial, whatever) where one person can only be bothered to be heroic because of the other (and then goes to great lengths at that) is something of a kink, but that doesn’t really make it admirable!

There are characters and designs that seem to be precursors to Fruits Basket (3 briefly-appearing characters seem to be early versions of the design that eventually becomes Ayame) , but it’s not a direct predecessor in the way that Phantom Dream seems to be. There’s also sucking poison out of a wound conveniently located near the neck, stopping your significant other from causing a rampage by making out with them, a seemingly-stoic, whip-wielding female military officer who has a history with Raimon, and a female thief with flunkies. Not to mention some spiffy costuming. Combine that with my fondness for post-apocalyptic (and barely-pre-apocalyptic and “OMG IT’S THE APOCALYPSE!”) fiction, and I’m interested enough to continue despite “not a good thief but he’s good at everything except maybe being human.”