• Price: $4.99 USD (currently on sale for $3.99 until June 23rd)
• Developer: Blackwing Gaming
• Publisher: Ratalaika Games
• Release Date: June 2, 2023

A review code was kindly provided by PR Hound on behalf of Blackwing Gaming and Ratalaika Games. We thank them for being able to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Kuroi Tsubasa (or “Black Wing” in Japanese), is a visual novel in which Blackwing the devil decides to leave hell to check out the human world. The only problem is that his “evil shadow side” separates from him somehow and starts causing trouble in the human world. Blackwing can’t stop his “evil shadow” alone, and recruits office worker Kureha and her new friends to help defeat him.

When Blackwing first arrives in the human world, he’s looking for a human vessel who’s brimming with positivity to counteract his negative nature, but he can’t seem to find anyone! “We are here in the human world,” he cries. “Why aren’t people happy?” 🤔

Blackwing has never been to the human world before; he’s only ever heard stories and read about it. So he may be operating under a few misconceptions about the way humans work… Eventually, he goes into an office building to rest, and as expected most of the employees there are pretty much dead inside. But he senses a spark of something from Kureha Kurono (“a ray of hope”), and decides to stick around and observe her.

Poor Kureha just moved to this town, and her new coworkers take advantage of her and coerce her into doing their work for them. Some of the other women make nasty comments about her appearance. It’s a prime example of a hostile work environment. Once Kureha finishes the report her colleague dumped on her, she heads home – unaware of the demon following her. Apparently, Blackwing must possess an item that’s important to the human, and he possesses a cute little winged plush.

Naturally, Kureha freaks out when she sees her plush moving around and talking. She runs out of her apartment and gets lost, and runs into a man affected by Blackwing’s negative energy that he accidentally released. He gives her a little bit of his power to defend herself, and she transforms into a magical girl. Kureha then uses the power of “talk no jutsu” 🤣 to clear the shadow away from the man.

She’s still freaked out about everything afterwards – especially her now purple hair and magical girl outfit – and Blackwing manipulates her into continuing to search for the shadow while leaving out his involvement. Together they brainstorm about who could have enough negative emotions to attract the shadow, from her coworkers to convenience store employees to a street musician and more.

As Kureha and Blackwing patrol the streets for signs of the shadow, they become closer to each other and befriend those who discover their secrets. Blackwing often has amusing – and accurate – social commentary, as well as hilarious misunderstandings about tea ceremonies being demonic rituals and literal interpretations of human phrases. Although his intentions start out selfish and deceitful, he does achieve character growth over the course of the story.

The other characters that join Kureha and Blackwing don’t necessarily have a ton of depth, but I think they are still a likable cast. The plot involves Kureha doing her best to calm down people possessed by the shadow after it escapes from the last vessel. This shadow apparently grants its human host’s wish in a “twisted way” by allowing them to use its power.

Everyone the shadow possesses feels some type of negative emotion about something important to them, and Kureha expresses empathy for their struggles. She’s not the best at social interactions, but she still cares about people. The ending is a little cheesy with the way they resolve the shadow crisis, but I didn’t mind it too much.

After finishing the main story, you’ll need to hit “ascend” on the main menu to view an epilogue of sorts. There’s also a silly extra chapter in the extras section, plus a fun little character viewer and music section. (Over 50 songs are used in the game, and I think it’s a nice soundtrack. I especially enjoyed the animated opening with a Japanese song.)

Kuroi Tsubasa is a 120,000 word linear visual novel, and I enjoyed my time with it. Sometimes the English wasn’t perfect, and there was a frequent lack of possessive punctuation and capitalization of proper nouns. I was also a little confused about how Blackwing’s shadow separation worked. But nothing was incomprehensible, and I think they did a decent job of developing a plot with a good balance of comedic and dramatic elements. If you enjoy visual novels with an emphasis on the power of friendship, this may be for you.