 In the anime "Road to 2002", he was voiced by Kikuko Inoue as a teenager and by Tomokazu Seki as an adult.For the 2018 anime, Yūko Sanpei took the role of Tsubasa's Japanese voice; she commented, "I thought he was cheerful and a naturally talented soccer player at first, but now I know he actually practices diligently".Tsubasa first appeared as the protagonist of the manga "Captain Tsubasa", which Takahashi started writing in 1981.