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翼を持つ者 [Tsubasa o Motsu Mono] #3-4
Tsubasa: Those with Wings, Omnibus 2
Kotobuki, an ex-thief, and her former commander Raimon, are recruited for their skills by people seeking the Tsubasa, a legendary object that grants wishes.
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
5 people are currently reading
214 people want to read
About the author
Natsuki Takaya
153 books2,700 followersName (in native language) : 高屋奈月
Natsuki Takaya (高屋 奈月 Takaya Natsuki, real name Naka Hatake) is the penname of a Japanese manga artist best-known for creating the series Fruits Basket. She was born on July 7, 1973; (Tanabata). Takaya is left-handed and once revealed that she wanted to be a mangaka since first grade, when her sister started drawing.
She was born in Shizuoka, Japan, but was raised in Tokyo, where she made her debut in 1992. She enjoys video games such as the Final Fantasy series or Sakura Wars, or working on her different manga series, such as Fruits Basket, which is the second best-selling shōjo manga ever in Japan, and the top selling shōjo manga in North America. Fruits Basket has also been adapted into a twenty-six-episode anime series.
In 2001, Takaya received a Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo manga for Fruits Basket.
According to Takaya (in a sidebar of a Fruits Basket manga volume), she enjoys drawing girls (girly ones) more than she does boys. Takaya also enjoys electronics and music, but dislikes talking about herself. Also revealed in a sidebar of Fruits Basket, Takaya broke her drawing arm (left) after Fruits Basket volume six was published. She had to go into surgery, and as a result, had put Fruits Basket on a brief hiatus. Takaya made a full recovery, but complains that her handwriting had gotten uglier, due to the surgery. During her hospital stay, she gained an interest in baseball.
Natsuki Takaya (高屋 奈月 Takaya Natsuki, real name Naka Hatake) is the penname of a Japanese manga artist best-known for creating the series Fruits Basket. She was born on July 7, 1973; (Tanabata). Takaya is left-handed and once revealed that she wanted to be a mangaka since first grade, when her sister started drawing.
She was born in Shizuoka, Japan, but was raised in Tokyo, where she made her debut in 1992. She enjoys video games such as the Final Fantasy series or Sakura Wars, or working on her different manga series, such as Fruits Basket, which is the second best-selling shōjo manga ever in Japan, and the top selling shōjo manga in North America. Fruits Basket has also been adapted into a twenty-six-episode anime series.
In 2001, Takaya received a Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo manga for Fruits Basket.
According to Takaya (in a sidebar of a Fruits Basket manga volume), she enjoys drawing girls (girly ones) more than she does boys. Takaya also enjoys electronics and music, but dislikes talking about herself. Also revealed in a sidebar of Fruits Basket, Takaya broke her drawing arm (left) after Fruits Basket volume six was published. She had to go into surgery, and as a result, had put Fruits Basket on a brief hiatus. Takaya made a full recovery, but complains that her handwriting had gotten uglier, due to the surgery. During her hospital stay, she gained an interest in baseball.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 7, 2021
Kotobuki has finally found a decent job helping out at an orphanage. Since she's an orphan herself, it's even work that she truly cares about. However, Raimon's father and others are trying to get the orphanage shut down, and no one seems to care because orphans are "nameless" and viewed as barely even human by a lot of people.
Kotobuki finally learns more about the hold that the military has on Raimon and becomes determined to help him. However, that will definitely require the power of the Tsubasa, and potential clues to its location are all located in dangerous places, such as a cursed forest and an island that may no longer exist.
One of the first things I noticed when I started reading this was that Kotobuki's speech patterns were completely different - suddenly she was using "wanna" and "gonna" a lot more than she had in the first volume. This appeared to be due to a sudden switch in translators - the first volume was translated by Kinami Watabe, while this one was translated by Adrienne Beck. I guess Tokyopop figured no one would notice and didn't bother to have anyone smooth out the transition.
Okay, moving on to the content. Whereas the first volume barely felt like sci-fi, this one more firmly cemented the series' genre with the addition of robots and indications that the Tsubasa may not be as magical as previous descriptions made it seem. There was definitely forward movement in the story, and yet I found myself liking this series less and less.
A big part of the issue was Raimon. There's always been a power imbalance between Raimon and Kotobuki - he's better at literally everything, more comfortable with their budding relationship, and better able to financially support them both. In this omnibus volume, however, that power imbalance grew. There were multiple indications that Raimon knew things about the Tsubasa and his own situation that he wasn't telling Kotobuki - I don't know if she was stupid and genuinely didn't notice his omissions or if she just wanted him to have his privacy, but she never called him on any of it.
As far as their relationship went, although Raimon previously stated that he didn't want to rush Kotobuki and that "having a relationship is not all about sex," in this volume he tried to rush her and completely freaked her out. Then everyone around her wouldn't shut up about sex, how it's definitely a part of close romantic relationships, and how, if she kept avoiding it, Raimon would probably lose interest in her. I hated the amount of pressure she was under, and although she seemed fine when they eventually did have sex, it was more like something she felt they needed to do than something she was 100% sure she wanted. It didn't particularly help that, since the series started, Kotobuki has always been presented as much younger than Raimon (emotionally, but probably also in terms of years based on the number of times people talked about her like she was a child).
Kotobuki and Raimon's journeying was interesting enough, as long as you didn't think about the details too hard (and I'm going to be mad if it turns out that most of their traveling would have been unnecessary if Raimon had just told Kotobuki what he knew). The whole thing with the tree was a very simplistic and not very believable attempt to work more ecological aspects into the story. The robots were probably supposed to be heartbreaking, and yet I just thought they were so-so.
Art-wise, I had a few moments when I got confused because some of the character designs were so similar - for example, I mixed up Kaede and Raimon at least once. Also, there was one moment where
This leaves me with one more omnibus volume, plenty of time, I think, to resolve all the remaining issues. I have a feeling that Raimon and the Colonel's past history will probably annoy me. I'm hoping for Kotobuki's sake that the ending isn't too tragic, and I'm looking forward to finding out who or what Rikuro is and what his connection to Tsubasa happens to be.
Extras:
A few bonus manga pages created by Natsuki Takaya for this new release - no real content, just the characters talking to each other and messing around.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
Kotobuki finally learns more about the hold that the military has on Raimon and becomes determined to help him. However, that will definitely require the power of the Tsubasa, and potential clues to its location are all located in dangerous places, such as a cursed forest and an island that may no longer exist.
One of the first things I noticed when I started reading this was that Kotobuki's speech patterns were completely different - suddenly she was using "wanna" and "gonna" a lot more than she had in the first volume. This appeared to be due to a sudden switch in translators - the first volume was translated by Kinami Watabe, while this one was translated by Adrienne Beck. I guess Tokyopop figured no one would notice and didn't bother to have anyone smooth out the transition.
Okay, moving on to the content. Whereas the first volume barely felt like sci-fi, this one more firmly cemented the series' genre with the addition of robots and indications that the Tsubasa may not be as magical as previous descriptions made it seem. There was definitely forward movement in the story, and yet I found myself liking this series less and less.
A big part of the issue was Raimon. There's always been a power imbalance between Raimon and Kotobuki - he's better at literally everything, more comfortable with their budding relationship, and better able to financially support them both. In this omnibus volume, however, that power imbalance grew. There were multiple indications that Raimon knew things about the Tsubasa and his own situation that he wasn't telling Kotobuki - I don't know if she was stupid and genuinely didn't notice his omissions or if she just wanted him to have his privacy, but she never called him on any of it.
As far as their relationship went, although Raimon previously stated that he didn't want to rush Kotobuki and that "having a relationship is not all about sex," in this volume he tried to rush her and completely freaked her out. Then everyone around her wouldn't shut up about sex, how it's definitely a part of close romantic relationships, and how, if she kept avoiding it, Raimon would probably lose interest in her. I hated the amount of pressure she was under, and although she seemed fine when they eventually did have sex, it was more like something she felt they needed to do than something she was 100% sure she wanted. It didn't particularly help that, since the series started, Kotobuki has always been presented as much younger than Raimon (emotionally, but probably also in terms of years based on the number of times people talked about her like she was a child).
Kotobuki and Raimon's journeying was interesting enough, as long as you didn't think about the details too hard (and I'm going to be mad if it turns out that most of their traveling would have been unnecessary if Raimon had just told Kotobuki what he knew). The whole thing with the tree was a very simplistic and not very believable attempt to work more ecological aspects into the story. The robots were probably supposed to be heartbreaking, and yet I just thought they were so-so.
Art-wise, I had a few moments when I got confused because some of the character designs were so similar - for example, I mixed up Kaede and Raimon at least once. Also, there was one moment where
This leaves me with one more omnibus volume, plenty of time, I think, to resolve all the remaining issues. I have a feeling that Raimon and the Colonel's past history will probably annoy me. I'm hoping for Kotobuki's sake that the ending isn't too tragic, and I'm looking forward to finding out who or what Rikuro is and what his connection to Tsubasa happens to be.
Extras:
A few bonus manga pages created by Natsuki Takaya for this new release - no real content, just the characters talking to each other and messing around.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
Read
July 28, 2021I love Takaya’s books so much. This is the fourth series I’ve read from her. The plot is kinda confusing but I loveee these characters so much. I really like seeing at the end of each volume, the extra clips of the characters in her most recent artwork.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 18, 2020
Such an interesting story!! Love the illustrations and characters!
Nudity in this volume, totally unnecessary.
Nudity in this volume, totally unnecessary.
July 25, 2021
3.5 stars.
February 2, 2022
There are too many characters! And the story is too fast paced… Yet I’m still interested enough to read till the end… so here we go!
December 2, 2025
Still loving the series and excited to move onto the last installment and see how it ends!
July 22, 2016
I have to say the obsession with sex in this series so far is really distasteful, especially since the main character is often referred to as a child, innocent, and immature. I do like that there are representations of female friendships. I wasnt sure what I was getting into with checking out Takaya's other work, I started with fruits basket. There seems to be a pattern of innocents, self sacrificing female protagonists, that aren't particularly strong or intelligent. That isnt bad in itself, I actually enjoy the fact the her characters are not over powered , and most importantly are loved and adored for what they do bring to the table and their resilience. I also like that, though in this series and fruits basket, the main characters are called cute and adorable it is used based on their personalities and not how they actually appear. I mean who else is tired of "the beautiful ones" why even go there with a character, that isnt a characteristic or a personality trait. In my mind it's a cop out. If shes beautiful on the outside my work is done..shes good enough and therefore loved because of her beauty. However these first two mangas left me frustrated, honestly Shoka and the little rich brat seem to be put into these just for binding. I can't imagine having to read about the lovebirds all the time it is painful and also a little creepy. I will continue but my hopes are low. I feel like the mysteries are put into place to keep me reading the series because the author knows there is so little substance to the rest of it. I also have a feeling who the mysterious woman is. Sorry not a very good review, I may just be burned up about the ending of FRUBA..why so clingy and awkward. Plus to me, there are a lot of red flags of abuse within a lot of the writing. Ladies do not stick around for the jerk with a golden heart, and expend all of your energy to "serve" others needs. Now I just sound annoying ahah..but really don't. And having sex with someone is not leaving behind a gift for them or something special for you to remember. Virginity is no big deal but seriously if they seem to want it that bad maybe they are creepers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 29, 2010
While the first volume of this series seemed to have a big fantasy kick to it, the second collection seems to take on more of a sci-fi bent. The characters were great & the action is nice (what little of it there is), but as characters come closer to unraveling the legend of the Tsubasa the series shifts from fantasy to a more science fiction tone as the Tsubasa becomes just a little bit more real to each character.
The plot still follows Kotobuki & Raimon as they search for Tsubasa as well as a way to end all of the fighting & injustice going on. (Or at least a place where they can be free.) Unfortunately Raimon's last brush with his old military "friends" has left him with a bomb in his skull and as a result, a signifigantly shorter life span if he was to jump the border. Now Kotobuki has to find the Tsubasa even more than ever so she can beg it to save her love from certain death.
It'd been a while since I read the last volume & I do have to say that if you haven't read the previous volume in a while, read it. There was quite a bit of story in this volume & the tale moves rather quickly, so if you aren't caught up on everything it is easy to get left behind. The most interesting part of the manga (for me anyway) was to see the development of the characters. It was very easy to see which characters would later influence plots & characters in Takaya's later series Fruits Basket. The artwork is somewhat different of course & is a little rough in some patches, but it is still beautifully done. I'll be a little sad to see the last volume come out, but also glad that this series wasn't dragged out as much as it could have been.
My only complaint about this volume is the write up in the back for the next volume. We are of course left with a cliffhanger about the Tsubasa... until the "next volume" summary spills the beans about what the Tsubasa really is. It isn't entirely something you wouldn't already have guessed at, but it's still pretty much a spoiler all the same. Grrr... So if you don't like spoilers, try to avoid that summary.
The plot still follows Kotobuki & Raimon as they search for Tsubasa as well as a way to end all of the fighting & injustice going on. (Or at least a place where they can be free.) Unfortunately Raimon's last brush with his old military "friends" has left him with a bomb in his skull and as a result, a signifigantly shorter life span if he was to jump the border. Now Kotobuki has to find the Tsubasa even more than ever so she can beg it to save her love from certain death.
It'd been a while since I read the last volume & I do have to say that if you haven't read the previous volume in a while, read it. There was quite a bit of story in this volume & the tale moves rather quickly, so if you aren't caught up on everything it is easy to get left behind. The most interesting part of the manga (for me anyway) was to see the development of the characters. It was very easy to see which characters would later influence plots & characters in Takaya's later series Fruits Basket. The artwork is somewhat different of course & is a little rough in some patches, but it is still beautifully done. I'll be a little sad to see the last volume come out, but also glad that this series wasn't dragged out as much as it could have been.
My only complaint about this volume is the write up in the back for the next volume. We are of course left with a cliffhanger about the Tsubasa... until the "next volume" summary spills the beans about what the Tsubasa really is. It isn't entirely something you wouldn't already have guessed at, but it's still pretty much a spoiler all the same. Grrr... So if you don't like spoilers, try to avoid that summary.
December 30, 2020
Tsubasa: Those with Wings volume 2 leans further into sci-fi than it does straight fantasy, which I generally don’t have a problem with. However, if you were super invested in this being a fantasy story, you may not enjoy volume 2.
The characters are more developed in this volume and the search for Tsubasa becomes even more intense and desperate. I’m not a huge fan of Kotobuki and Raimon’s relationship as it seems too combative for my liking. They don’t seem to get along very well and have very different outlooks on life. I can’t imagine this couple working out.
My only real gripe is that it’s a shame this isn’t an action-heavy manga. There is lots of beautiful world-building, but Takaya does very little with it. The sci-fi elements definitely intrigued me though, so I’m going to finish reading it.
The characters are more developed in this volume and the search for Tsubasa becomes even more intense and desperate. I’m not a huge fan of Kotobuki and Raimon’s relationship as it seems too combative for my liking. They don’t seem to get along very well and have very different outlooks on life. I can’t imagine this couple working out.
My only real gripe is that it’s a shame this isn’t an action-heavy manga. There is lots of beautiful world-building, but Takaya does very little with it. The sci-fi elements definitely intrigued me though, so I’m going to finish reading it.
June 19, 2013
i don't really have any thoughts? except that i missed reading manga and it's nice to get back to it
umm. things i can say. it looks like this series is fantasy sci-fi? of the nominally scientific but far out enough to functionally be magic variety
the characters are still a bit flat to me, you can tell takaya improved by the time she wrote fruits basket
oh hey, one interesting thing. since this volume established they're not in japan (it sunk into the sea post-apocalypse style!) i'm imagining the characters pretty differently. my kotobuki is officially filipino, it's neat :)
anydoodles, i'm off to read the next volume. 2.5 stars
umm. things i can say. it looks like this series is fantasy sci-fi? of the nominally scientific but far out enough to functionally be magic variety
the characters are still a bit flat to me, you can tell takaya improved by the time she wrote fruits basket
oh hey, one interesting thing. since this volume established they're not in japan (it sunk into the sea post-apocalypse style!) i'm imagining the characters pretty differently. my kotobuki is officially filipino, it's neat :)
anydoodles, i'm off to read the next volume. 2.5 stars
August 2, 2009
It's still shocking to get used to this drawing style from Takaya Natsuki after reading Fruits Basket, but the story is interesting enough to keep me going. I love Kotobuki and Raimon, and even the side characters as well.
It's also entertaining to see the new covers Takaya drew, and the little bonus chapters, all done in her current drawing style.
Looking forward to book 3.
It's also entertaining to see the new covers Takaya drew, and the little bonus chapters, all done in her current drawing style.
Looking forward to book 3.
November 21, 2010
This book was even more interesting than the first volume in the series, but because of a sex scene I lowered my rating from 4 stars to 3 stars. The scene is not explicit - they only show the upper half of the couple, but sex is being implied. I just skipped over that small part and read the rest of it. I'm curious what will happen in the final volume of the series!
April 3, 2013
A good series that often gets overlooked. Not quite as good as fruits basket, but it deserves more attention then it got. I'd like to believe that one day it will get republished in the U.S. but I admit that's not likely. Check it out if you get a chance, I'm sure there are plenty of cheap used copies floating around amazon.
May 27, 2013
Not nearly as good as the first issue. Introduction of robots, and glimpses into the history of the relationship with the colonel, and Tsubasa. 'Team Rocket' is back, with most of the minor characters appearing again as well.
December 20, 2009
I love this series. More science fiction than fantasy but still great!
March 9, 2011
The series just keeps getting better.
May 1, 2011
A touching story of love and badly thrown grenades. My favorite is actually Shoka. Truly hilarious. Natsuki drew me in again. Hook, line, and sinker. =)
June 1, 2011
Tired of it, gave up. Don’t know if it’s just the story or if I am tired of the Manga format. Either way I am done with this series. I am also done with Manga, at least for a few weeks.
October 19, 2014
OOOOH sooo good... love love love it! <3 can't wait for the next one to arrive at the library for me!
September 28, 2011
Can Kotobuki really find a Tsubasa to set Raimon free or is Raimon ever safe?
January 5, 2012
A cute read. I loved that it wasn't just one genre, rather it was both shojo and shounen. Something to pick up if you're looking for a sweet and adventurous read.
July 9, 2015
I just really love Kotobuki...she is one of my favorite characters, representing a continuous innocence and strength. All of Natsuki Sensei's characters are amazing. Great plot!
March 16, 2016
Great, amazing awesome. Words can not describe it. Plot, characters, theme... Brilliant book all around.
November 10, 2016
This book has some odd ideas about sex I tell you what. I'm mainly still reading because I'm still intrigued by the plot stuff, character stuff isn't quite as good as it could be.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews