Tsubasa wo Kudasai (lit. "Please Give Me Wings") is a Japanese folk song by the band Akai-Tori that gained popularity in the 70's. Many renditions have been performed since, and several English translations have been written by artists Akai-Tori, Susan Osborn, Kanon, and Hayley Westerna. This song features several times throughout the manga and has themes such as freedom and longing.
Lyrics[]
"Wings to Fly"
by Hayley Westerna
I, I have a dream
A dream of you and me
We're flying high above
We're soaring over sea
Bless me with some wings
For I, so want to fly
These precious white wings
Will take me soaring high
To the sun that lights the day
(Tsubasa wo kudasai, tsubasa wo kudasai…)
To the clouds that drift away
Only then will I be free
Past the city lights and haze
Through the autumn trees ablaze
In the sky, I am truly free
Just you and me
I, I have a dream
We're high above the trees
The wind is in my hair
The ocean breeze takes me
Tell me, what can I do?
To earn, earn me some wings?
Some precious white wings
To help me live my dreams
To the sun that lights the day
(Tsubasa wo kudasai, tsubasa wo kudasai…)
To the clouds that drift away
Only then will I be free
Past the city lights and haze
Through the autumn trees ablaze
In the sky, I am truly free
Just you and me
"Tsubasa wo Kudasai"
by Akai-Tori
ima watashi no negaigoto ga
kanau naraba tsubasa ga hoshii
kono senaka ni tori no you ni
shiroi tsubasa tsukete kudasai
kono oozora ni tsubasa wo hiroge
tonde yukitai yo
kanashimi no nai jiyuu na sora e
tsubasa hatamekase
yukitai
kodomo no toki yume mita koto
ima mo onaji yume ni miteiru
kono oozora ni tsubasa wo hiroge
tonde yukitai yo
kanashimi no nai jiyuu na sora e
tsubasa hatamekase
kono oozora ni tsubasa wo hiroge
tonde yukitai yo
kanashimi no nai jiyuu na sora e
tsubasa hatamekase
yukitai
Plot[]
One day in elementary school after his friendship with Aiko has ended, Punpun skips after school choir practice to go home. There, he learns his parents are divorcing, so he rides back to school and lays down on the gym floor, listening to his classmates practice the song "Tsubasa wo Kudasai" down the hall. He wishes he could disappear, and when he returns home, he cries quietly the rest of the night. The arc words "Goodnight, Punpun" are used for the first time, immediately followed by the first of several time-skips in the manga. In high school, while Punpun walks home with Kanie, he hears the song play in the distance. Across the street, Seki and Shimizu also stop to listen. Unbeknowst to them, the song is being performed by the Pegasus Ensemble on a nearby rooftop. Afterwards, Seki tells Shimizu that although the future is unpredictable, they should remain good friends. When Shimizu is twenty years old, he ends his friendship with Seki and joins the Pegasus Ensemble. The Ensemble performs this song for a TV crew, and Punpun and Aiko listen in the distance. Punpun has just apologized for sexually assaulting Aiko. Hearing the song, she is reminded of the day Punpun skipped choir practice so many years ago and realizes none of her hopes have come true since then, a sentiment that Punpun shares. He admits that he has been obsessing over her in their years apart but is finally ready to move on. When she admits she has been waiting for him as well, Punpun plummets right back into his desperate and angry feelings. Tsubasa wo Kudasai is the one song the Pegasus Ensemble practices on their key-flutes, in preparation for the day they will ascend into space to engrave its notes onto the Akashic Record, an infinite music box in the shape of the universe. They believe this song's good musical vibrations will restore harmony to the world. Although the majority of the Ensemble does not go through with the final plan, Pegasus, Shimizu, and three other members are killed one way or another on the day of the group's mass suicide, and they ascend to Punpunia. They were supposedly able to engrave the song onto the Akashic Record, since a New World is born.
Analysis[]
After Aiko's suicide, Punpun decides to kill God, and remarks that he has achieved true freedom and strength now that he has nothing left he needs to protect. With God and Aiko both dead, Punpun is able to live the remainder of his life without the dark urges of his God or his unhealthy obsession with Aiko. In this way, Punpun is able to achieve a numb sort of freedom and calm, describing his current self as a wayward "ghost". The freedom Punpun longed for as a child, and described in the song, is ultimately achieved through drastic and tragic means, further exploring the story's theme that true freedom can only come from detachment, but detaching oneself from the thing they believe in, whether it be a religion, relationship, job, etc, can have scary consequences. One must have something to anchor them to the world, to stay moral and to experience joy. However, where there is joy, there is inevitably pain. Further, there is the persistent image of Punpun being a wingless bird, although the song centers around a wish to have wings and leave everything behind.
The story has strong themes of wanting to go into the sky, specifically the night sky and outer space. At one point, Weekly Big Comic Spirits says, "Pegasus should Fly," which he and four of his members are able to do after their death. They ascend to space in an effort to restore harmony to a broken world. Before Aiko commits suicide, she watches a hang glider return to the ground and remarks that people are earthbound. While Punpun's perhaps represents the more horrific aspects of unchecked freedom, the Pegasus Ensemble represents more hopeful aspects, although both arcs ultimately have bittersweet ends.
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