Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee

[Buffalobiian]

Genres: action, fantasy

Themes: mecha, moe, steampunk

Plot Summary: Gauche is a governmental employee, given the task to deliver any letter to it's destination. Meeting a young boy who is the letter to be delivered, Gauche makes friends with Lag and inspires him to take up the job. Five years later, Lag Seeing finally becomes his dream, that of a Letter Bee. However, the one who inspired him has gone missing and only there does the mystery start. -ANN

Links: ANN, AnimeNFO, AniDB, Official site


DVD Special: [SFW] Letter Bee - Light and Blue Night Fantasy [DVD][E9D62451].mkv

Episode 1:
[Moggert]_Letter_Bee_01_[720p]_[H264-AAC].mkv
[HorribleSubs] Tegami Bachi - Letter Bee - 01 [720p].mkv

[Death13a]

However, the one who inspired him has gone missing and only there does the mystery start.

That's not only mystery. Letter Bee is set in very original fictional world with very unique characters.

If you are not already fan of manga then wait till couple more episodes are out as series are slow and steady build up a solid story.

[Sapphire]

Very original world with very unique characters huh? Make me think of Kekkaishi. I miss Kekkaishiiiii~!

I downloaded it. Will watch soon!

I finished ep one and i definitely like it. Will keep watching

[Pandadice]

i gave it a shot, and i didn't like it. i just couldn't get into it. there was nothing in it that made me interested at all.

[masamuneehs]

i have some very mixed feelings on this first episode. i thought the setting and premise were really interesting, but i can't say that i really like either Lag or his Dingo. I'm also not quite sold on some of the very silly names/terms.

i absolutely loved what they did with Darwin. sometimes you see attempts to give a silent character a personality, and it just fails. the scene with the "dog tag's memories" (as retarded as the concept of that was, the execution was well done) up until the end was really enjoyable, saving this first episode for me.

there is certainly something likable about Lag (his female counterpart, on the other hand, is an absolute dime a dozen "strong yet dedicated, cute female assistant" write-off), but he does annoy me quite a bit. think it could be his voice. thought the CG animation for the machine bugs was simply terrible, as was the exposition dialogue (and flashback).

i think i'll see what the second episode has to offer.

[Archangel]

Plot Summary: Gauche is a governmental employee, given the task to deliver any letter to it's destination. Meeting a young boy who is the letter to be delivered, Gauche makes friends with Lag and inspires him to take up the job. Five years later, Lag Seeing finally becomes his dream, that of a Letter Bee. However, the one who inspired him has gone missing and only there does the mystery start. -ANN

... HunterxHunter?

[shinta|hikari]

2 and 3 are out.

A fantastically cute (vampire?) loli Dingo without pantsu (until Lag had to be a panty party pooper)... This show may have taken the niche of my favorite show for the season.

[Sapphire]

A child tsundere is almost more than I can bare, but this shows delightful originalness and creepy interestingness more than makes up for it.

Why do I think Niche is being sold into child prostitution?

[Buffalobiian]

Two words:

INSTANT
WIN

Cute characters + interesting setting + emotional scenes + steampunk?

The nature of Letter Bee means we get to explore a variety of characters, their environment, and the whole issue of how much weight each letter carries.

Why do I think Niche is being sold into child prostitution?

Looked like a circus to me, while the flier said "freak show".

My description at the top might have let off a bit too much, but the way it sounds as if Gauche vanished from digging into Lag's mother's issue too much hints at a shady government, if that feeling hasn't already been established. They might even by cutting off his letters too.

[shinta|hikari]

Definitely a freak show.

I wonder if Niche is actually a vampire? She can also be a cat girl though.

[Ryllharu]

I wonder if Niche is actually a vampire? She can also be a cat girl though.

I don't think vampire, but maybe something more like a demon. Her eye color combined with the pupil shape comes off more like that to me.

I'm glad I picked this series up late, because otherwise I don't know if I would have stuck with it. Marathoning the three episodes sold me on it.

[Buffalobiian]

I'm glad I picked this series up late, because otherwise I don't know if I would have stuck with it. Marathoning the three episodes sold me on it.

Did you watch the DVD special first? It helps too, because it gives a fair enough introduction into what the series is about, shows you what's to come, and gives you confidence that the slower introduction will get to the loli build up to something good.

The best thing about this show is how powerfully it brings out emotions, followed closely by the art.

Is there any particularly good group doing this? Anidb isn't being very helpful

HorribleSubs are getting me by. I don't think they're anywhere near as bad as gg was in the latest Kobato ep.

[shinta|hikari]

Did you watch the DVD special first? It helps too, because it gives a fair enough introduction into what the series is about, shows you what's to come, and gives you confidence that the slower introduction will get to the loli build up to something good.

Fixed.

Are there heavy (plot) spoilers in the DVD special? If it is material that will eventually be covered in the anime, I may opt not to see it to keep the mysterious feeling of the show.

[Archangel]

Is there any particularly good group doing this? Anidb isn't being very helpful

[Buffalobiian]

HorribleSubs - Episode 4

[Sapphire]

Wow it seems like these are coming out really fast *downloads

[Buffalobiian]

In the face of strong episodes this week such as Railgun and Nyan Koi, I still enjoyed Letter Bee the best this week.

Everything was predictable, except her being a dragon maybe, but I didn't stop it being a powerful episode

The only real issue here is now Lag's beam was so much of a shounen-esque powerup, but since the entire show is about Heart, I guess it can't be helped..

[shinta|hikari]

Well, the Lag beam was shown a few episodes before, and that is practically the same move that his idol Gauche uses. It is not really unexpected, or even a power up at all, since he already had it years before.

Hmm... I find the animation in this episode a bit lacking, but that is probably because I watched the OAV right before it. The half naked Niche was actually a lot less cute than the fully robed one. I think is is because of the way they drew her body almost squarish.

So for now, Nopan Niche > Boxers Niche > Half Naked Niche

[Ryllharu]

So Niche really is like a demon (or dragon more appropriately) in human form. Interesting.

I had thought Lag could see the memories of other Shindan bullets because of the amber in his eye. Is it the case that anyone can see them, or is Niche special on that front as well? She saw a quick summary of most of who Lag cares about, notably which included herself.

I don't see it as a shonen power up ability. He's really weak otherwise, which is why he needs such a powerful dingo. It's basically the only thing Lag can do. He can't even defend himself against normal snakes, but he's the only one who can completely defeat a gaichu.

[Buffalobiian]

I had thought Lag could see the memories of other Shindan bullets because of the amber in his eye. Is it the case that anyone can see them, or is Niche special on that front as well? She saw a quick summary of most of who Lag cares about, notably which included herself.

I think the way the Shidan gun works is you shoot a fragment of you heart at the beast, which then resonates with their own heart and explode. The snowflakes are probably even more fragmented remains of Heart, so people who come in contact with it will see whatever memories the shooter used in the attack.

Lag saw Gausche's
Gausche saw Lag's
Niche saw Lag's.

It's not exclusive to Lag's eye.

I don't see it as a shonen power up ability. He's really weak otherwise, which is why he needs such a powerful dingo. It's basically the only thing Lag can do. He can't even defend himself against normal snakes, but he's the only one who can completely defeat a gaichu.

Lag's beam wasn't really the powerup I was talking about, since he shot it before. I was referring to the fact that he couldn't initially release his power with a normal gun, but now he can because he got more emotional.

The very first time he shot with Gausche's gun was when he was out of control, and his stone resonated with that of the gun. In the DVD special, he wields a Shindan gun without a loaded stone, but was still able to shoot, indicating that the conventional stone doesn't need to be there. In both cases however, it was a Shindan gun.

I thought Shindan guns were made differently, and there was some sort of energy transfer mechanism between the barrel and the stone for it to work, rather than a normal gun with a hole cut out simply to house the stone.

Based on all that, plus the fact that it failed to shoot initially, I thought it was physically impossible to shoot a Heart beam. The way a change of Heart could reverse this (assumed) physical impossibility lead to my previous response. I did, however, expect a Shindan beam to kill the bug one way or another.