Tegami Bachi is a Japanese shōnenmanga series written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Asada. The manga is set in "AmberGround", a fictional land illuminated by an artificial sun. The story follows Lag Seeing, a Letter Bee with the ability to see the memories of people and items, and his personal dingo Niche on their journeys across AmberGround. The series was first serialized in the September 2006 issue of Monthly Shōnen Jump. After ten chapters, the manga was moved to the new monthly magazine Jump SQ. after the Monthly Shōnen Jump was ended by Shueisha in June 2007. The manga ended in November 2015 and was compiled into 20 volumes. Tegami Bachi was adapted into two separate anime television series, entitled Tegami Bachi and respectively. At the 2010 Comic-Con International, Viz Media announced that it acquired the license for Tegami Bachi in North America. The company serialized the manga in the North AmericanShonen Jump magazine from March 2009 to March 2010. It is currently releasing the English version of the manga in the tankōbon format, with all 20 volumes released by 2017. Both seasons of the anime have been licensed by Sentai Filmworks.
Plot
The story takes place in AmberGround, a land of perpetual night only partly illuminated by an artificial sun. Lag Seeing is a newly minted delivery boy, called a "Letter Bee", who worked at the Bee Hive delivery service with his Dingo, Niche, and her "pet", Steak, travelling with him. As a Letter Bee, Lag's job is to deliver letters and packages from town to town while avoiding AmberGround's deadliest hazard—Gaichuu, giant armoured insects who attempt to feed off the "heart" that reside within these letters and packages. When Lag was very young, his mother was kidnapped by men from AmberGround's capital of Akatsuki. He was sent as a "delivery" to his aunt thanks to Gauche Suede, who Lag started to idolize and was inspired to become a Letter Bee. But as Lag becomes a Letter Bee, he is informed that Gauche has disappeared; at the same time, a resistance movement called "Reverse" begins stealing letters from travelling Bees. Lag later encounters Gauche, who appears to have no memory of his past, and is now devoted to Reverse's cause. In desperation, Lag vainly tries to make Gauche remember. At the same time, Gauche awakens a giant flying Gaichuu that is headed for the town Yuusari, the location of the Bee Hive; and later Akatsuki to destroy AmberGround's man-made sun.
Characters
;Lag Seeing
;Niche
;Gauche Suede/Noir
;Sylvette Suede
At the end of the story, Sylvette's heart is taken by the sun. However, Lag gets it back. By this point, both are in love with each other. ;Roda ;Roda
She is also from Reverse for she was an experiment and many species/creatures were mixed with her but the experiment failed, thus throwing her out, then found by Lawrence. She told Lag about this and said that maybe one of the creatures mixed in her is the former dingo of Gauche/Noir. ;Steak
;Connor Kluff
;Largo Lloyd
;Aria Link
;Sabrina Mary ;Dr. Thunderland Jr.
;Zazie Winters
;Wasiolka ;Jiggy Pepper
;Anne Seeing Lag's mother. She was kidnapped to the capital of the AmberGround, Akatsuki at the start of this manga. She is later revealed to have been from the royal bloodline, and is now part of the machine continuing to keep the man-made sun lit. During the Day of Flicker, a fragment of heart hit her, causing an accelerated pregnancy within minutes. What was born was a boy being of pure heart; to keep him from fading, Anne had Sabrina Mary place a Spirit Amber in his eye socket. This gave the boy human form, and Anne named him Lag. ;Lawrence He is the leader of the Reverse society to plunder the letters that Letter Bees delivered. He, while Gauche no longer remembers his past, gives him name as Noir, the Marauder.
Media
Manga
Tegami Bachi is written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Asada. The first ten chapters of Tegami Bachi were originally serialized in the now-defunct Monthly Shōnen Jump from 2006 to 2007. A special un-numbered chapter was published as a one-shot in Weekly Shōnen Jump prior to the launch of Jump Square on November 2, 2007, where Tegami Bachi was then serialized. The series ran in the magazine until its ending on November 4, 2015. Viz Media announced that it had licensed Tegami Bachi for an English-language adaption in North America at the Comic-Con International on February 28, 2010. It was announced that Tegami Bachi, otherwise known as Letter Bee in English translations, will be serialized in the monthly manga anthology Shonen Jump, where it replaced the manga series Slam Dunk. It debuted in the March 2009 issue of the magazine. Serialization ended after the March 2010 issue, while the volumes have continued to be released till 2017. Additionally, in Australia and New Zealand, another English version of Letter Bee was released by Madman Entertainment. Tegami Bachi was also translated into Traditional Chinese and published in Taiwan by Ever Glory Publishing and in Hong Kong by Jade Dynasty, where it is known by the name. It was also translated into Simplified Chinese and released in Singapore under the name of by publisher Chuang Yi. In Europe, the series is licensed and translated into Italian in Italy by Panini Comics under their Planet Manga division. Kana also released the French version of Letter Bee in France. The Spanish version of Letter Bee was released in Spain by Planeta DeAgostini Comics. Tokyopop has so far released 16 volumes under the name Letter Bee in German.
Drama CD
On February 16, 2009 a Drama CD was released of the Jiggy Pepper arc. It was named "Drama CD Tegamibachi" and has the.
Anime
A special anime adaptation, running for about 30 minutes, was shown during the Jump Super Anime Tour events in Japan in the fall of 2008. It was titled, and was animated by Pierrot+. The Original Video Animation was translated for free by Anthony Carl Kimm on the Jumpland website with English subtitles. It was later released on DVD in the beginning of 2009. In the June 2009 issue of the Jump SQ magazine, it was announced that Tegami Bachi will get an anime series in the fall of 2009. This anime series is directed by Akira Iwanaga, and it features the same voice cast which had voiced characters in the previous 2008 special anime. This anime started airing in Japan on the TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi and other affiliated television networks around Japan on October 3, 2009, and it ended on March 27, 2010. The first opening theme song for this anime was revealed to be the song Hajimari no Hi, which is sung by Suga Shikao and features Mummy-D, on September 7, 2009. This theme song was replaced by the song Love Letter no kawari ni kono Uta wo, which is sung by singer Seira, in episode 14 of the anime onwards. In 2013, Animax Asia re-aired Tegami Bachi in English, under the title Letter Bee. A second season of the anime, called Tegami Bachi REVERSE was announced in the Puff magazine in Japan during an interview with the artist. This season of the anime retained its previous voice cast, and is also directed by Akira Iwanaga. The second season of the anime premiered on October 1, 2010.
Reception
Manga
Deb Aoki of About.com reviewed Tegami Bachi Volume 1. Aoki said that the series "has the right stuff to appeal to both male and female readers: thrilling action, a magical world full of mysteries, likeable characters that are worth caring about, and lovely artwork, all done with a touch of light-hearted humor." In Japan, volume 2 of the manga debuted at the 6th position during the first week of its release.
Anime
Carlo Santos of Anime News Network reviewed the first 6 episodes of Tegami Bachi. He commented that the series "may be one of the last few adventure series that is genuinely about adventure" and "an adventure with a unique vibe". Santos went on to say how the series as a whole isn't like typical adventure series, which deal with "the triumphs and tragedies of having the best sword", as it is built on "the triumphs and tragedies of the human heart". A negative point he said was about the animation—describing the Gaichuu as "plastic-looking CGI beasts looking woefully out of place among the scenery". However, Santos complimented the series' art direction by saying that "the artistry is far more commendable: the blend of feudal and industrial eras results in a unique visual aesthetic". Overall, Santos gave a positive review of the first 6 episodes of Tegami Bachi with an overall grade of B−.
