R to L (Japanese Style). In Amberground, a dangerous terrain where a man-made star casts a permanent twilight, young Lag Seeing aspires to become a Letter Bee: a postman entrusted to deliver the hearts of people separated from the ones they love.
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From Publishers Weekly
Gauche is a young mailman, a letter bee; accompanied by his dingo Roda, he make deliveries through a land of darkness with little travel between outposts. His first package is, unexpectedly, a young orphan boy who must be taken on a 10-day journey across wasteland inhabited by metallic insects. Together, they learn more about each other's motivation: Gauche works far from his sick sister to make money to heal her, while the boy, Lag, is trying to find out what happened to his mother. Gauche takes his missions seriously, knowing that his letters (whatever their form) are connections between people. They carry heart, the key motivator of the series. In the second story, five years later, Lag is following in Gauche's footsteps with a delivery that echoes his past, a girl with mysterious abilities. This adventure includes both exciting action and touching emotion. The simple premise is easy to grasp, but has potential for almost any kind of story as the series continues. The art has a detailed sense of world-building with distinctive character appearances. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Hiroyuki Asada made his debut in Monthly Shonen Jump in 1986. He’s best known for his basketball manga I’ll, which also ran in Shonen Jump. He’s a contributor to artist Range Murata’s quarterly manga anthology Robot. He’s also a member of Aquarius 3 with Shoji Tajima and Takeshi Obata. Tegami Bachi/Letter Bee is his most recent series.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The letters and the heart,
This review is from: Tegami Bachi, Letter Bee, Vol. 1: Letter and Letter Bee (Paperback)
In the little world of Hiroyuki Asada, a letter bee is a mailman who will deliver anything with a postal tag -- and with it, the "heart" of the sender. And "Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee, Volume 1" introduces readers to a star-studded little world of night, insectile monsters and die-hard letter carriers, although the time skip is a bit confusing.
A letter bee named Gauche Suede (and his faithul dingo) comes across a small boy in a burned-up house, soon after his mother has been stolen by mysterious strangers. Since the kid has a postal sticker stuck to his back, he officially counts as "a letter" and must be delivered to his destination -- his aunt's house in a far-off city. As they travel through a star-studded wasteland, Lag begins to learn about the world of the letter bees -- the insectile gaichuu that attack them, their "heart" (or memory) shooting guns that are the only weapons that can take out the gaichuu, and their determination to take any letter to its destination. He and Gauche also start to bond, and learn one another's secrets and sorrows. Skip ahead a few years: Lag is on his way to become a letter bee, despite his lack of a dingo. But then he stumbles across a strange little girl in a niche at a train station, with a sticker on her arm. Naming her Niche, Lag takes the reluctant girl to her destination (after jamming some baggy boxers on her), but discovers that she's a creature even stranger than he once thought -- even more so than he is. "Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee" is not a manga for people who like nonstop one-on-one fights or high drama -- it's a gentle, quiet little story with plenty of heart and poignancy. And Asada's artwork makes it a lovely experience -- he fills out the story with starlit night skies, quaint little villages, childlike round-faced people, and shimmering eruptions of "heart" that light up the desolate landscape. The only real problem with the first volume is that the first half is a bit confusing -- I initially thought that Gauche was going to be the protagonist and titular "letter bee," but it turned out to be Lag's journey instead. But Asada keeps things interesting and moving along at a nimble clip, with moments of humor (Niche in her baggy boxers) and action (attacks from the gaichuu). And he injects some distinctly fantastical elements to his protagonists, which ought to be interesting in the future. Despite one odd aspect of himself, Lag seems very much a normal little boy -- he's haunted by the mysterious loss of his mother, and later shows great compassion and courage (much like his mentor Gauche). Niche is a murkier character, since her emotions and past are are strange as her magical body -- especially since she hardly ever changes expression. But she seems to be warming up to Lag. "Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee Volume 1" is a bit confusing in its first half, but it's a charming, magical story interlaced with uplifting moments and sorrow.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing story! Interesting and lovable characters :D,
By A Happy Woman (Las Vegas, NV, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tegami Bachi, Letter Bee, Vol. 1: Letter and Letter Bee (Paperback)
I enjoyed reading this volume so much. I love the characters. The story is interesting and the art beautiful. I like the idea of a "dark" world where good people succeed and progress in spite of the struggles and difficulties. I love Lag Seeing's characters and Niche. Can't wait 'til next volume's out!
4.0 out of 5 stars
Off to an intriguing start,
By
This review is from: Tegami Bachi, Letter Bee, Vol. 1: Letter and Letter Bee (Paperback)
Normally letters are made up of paper. But one day Gauche has to deliver a letter in the form of a young boy.
That's not the only thing off kilter in this fantasy manga. The story occurs in a place known as Amberground, a land of darkness, where there is one manmade star that mainly gives light to the elite caste. Other places of Amberground are very, very dark and it's called a "land of perpetual night." There is also the problem of running into Gaichuu, which are more or less gigantic insect monsters that roam the countryside and wreak havoc. Gauche works as a special kind of delivery person known as a Letter Bee. He and other Letter Bees are described as "a rare breed of government agent [who] travel this dark, dangerous territory on official business. People entrust these agents with their HEARTS." He has to face Gaichuu as he delivers his mail. His parents are gone, but his younger sister is still alive, and if he earns enough money, he can heal her crippled legs. He works with a strong dedication to his job. Still, he's surprised when he has to deliver a boy. The boy is named Lag Seeing and he's in a terrible, depressed space because his mother was taken away from him. So far, it's not clear exactly who took her or why. Gauche can't help him there, but he can take Lag Seeing to his aunt, which is where Lag's supposed to be delivered anyway. A little more than half the book covers this part of the story. Five years pass, and the story picks up again with Lag Seeing having decided that he's going to be a Letter Bee as well. He wants to catch up with Gauche again, but he also wants to find his beloved mother. He sets out into the world, not knowing what will happen to him. Readers, likewise, are still learning about the world presented in this manga. The art looks like pretty typical shonen work: It's neither very detailed nor too sparse, and it has its fair share of action scenes with plenty of fighting and big action words across the page. Tegami Bachi has been intriguing so far, especially with how it often talks about hearts. The theme of the heart is almost constant in these pages. A land of darkness is archetypical, and many aspects of the plot are still murky and mysterious. -- Danica Davidson
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