Tegami Bachi

Tegami Bachi
テガミバチ (Tegami Bachi)
Genre	Supernatural, Steampunk, Adventure, Fantasy
Manga
Written by	Hiroyuki Asada
Published by	Shueisha
English publisher	Viz Media
Magazine	Monthly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Shōnen Jump, Jump SQ. Shonen Jump
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	September 2006 – present
Volumes	6 volumes, with 29 total chapters
Anime
Directed by	Mamoru Kanbe
Studio	Studio Pierrot
Released	January 2009 – present

Tegami Bachi (テガミバチ, lit. Letter Bee), sometimes romanized as Tegamibachi, is a shōnen manga series by Hiroyuki Asada. The series was first serialized in Monthly Shōnen Jump for ten chapters, and is currently serialized in the new monthly magazine Jump SQ..

Plot

The story takes place in the land of Amberground, a place of perpetual night only partially illuminated by an artificial sun. Lag Seeing works as a "Letter Bee" (delivery boy) at the "Bee-Hive" (a delivery service), with his Dingo, Niche, and her "pet", Steak, traveling with him. He is entrusted with the "hearts" of everyone in Amberground to deliver their packages.

Media

Manga

The first ten chapters of Tegami Bachi were originally serialized in the now-defunct Monthly Shōnen Jump. The eleventh chapter was published as a one-shot in Weekly Shōnen Jump prior to the launch of Jump Square, where Tegami Bachi is now serialized. As of March 2009, there have been 25 chapters serialized.

Five tankōbon have been released so far in Japan. The first contains chapters 1 and 2; the second contains chapters 3-7; the third contains chapters 8-10 plus the one-shot published in Weekly Shōnen Jump; and the fourth contains chapters 11-14.

Tegami Bachi has been licensed for an English-language distribution on North America by Viz Media, and started serialization in the March 2009 issue of their monthly Shonen Jump anthology. The series has also been released in Italian by Panini Comics under their Planet Manga division.

Anime adaptation

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 Letter Bee: Light and Blue Night Fantasy (テガミバチ 〜光と青の幻想夜話〜, Tegami Bachi: Hikari to Ao no Gensou Yawa), and was animated by Studio Pierrot. The Original Video Animation was translated for free by Anthony Carl Kimm on the Jumpland website with English subtitles.

A television anime series was subsequently hinted to start airing in 2009, according to comments made on TV by Shueisha's Jump Square magazine editor-in-chief, Masahiko Ibaragi.

Characters

Lag Seeing

• Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro

The main protagonist in Letter Bee. He is a 12 year old boy with a very focused mindset, regardless of what situations he gets into and always focuses on delivering the package. He has a special gun called the Shin Danjuu, literally the "heart bullet gun" where he loads a "fragment of heart" into the gun, then fires it at the target. He is seemingly being able to control the direction of the shot. As a child, he was "delivered" by the letter bee Gauche Suede, and was inspired by him to become a letter bee. He is searching for his mother, who was kidnapped to the capital of the country. His left eye is made of red spirit amber, allowing him to better use the Shin Ganjuu and also allowing him to fire a heart bullet from his own body. He orignally has an antique from Cambel, though he receives the Nocturne #12, Gauche's gun. In chapter 30, after Connor's girlfriend lost her heart to a Gaichuu, his spirit amber glowed and he aged a few years, and fired a letter bullet, with a letter to Noir (Gauche) in hopes of restoring his heart.

His "Dingo" is Niche, a girl he saved from a Gaichuu (armored insect) who decided to stay at his side when he said yes to her asking him if saying goodbye would make him sad after seeing his memories via the Shin Ganjuu.

Niche

• Voiced by: Ayumi Fujimura

Lag's personal Dingo. She travels with Lag, acting as his bodyguard against Gaichuu, and sticks closely to Lag along with her "pet", "Steak", on her head. She battles using her hair, also known as "The Golden Sword", manipulating it into powerful blade-like tentacles capable of lifting things several times her size. She has bearlike forearms and claws which she usually keeps covered with oven mitt-like gloves. Niche displays animal-like characteristics, such as licking wounds and sniffing the air for any trace of danger. She dislikes wearing underwear, but wears them for Lag's sake, claiming that he is the first male to make her wear underwear. Lag assumes that she is 7 years old based on her appearance but she recently revealed that she was born aprox. 200 years ago in the town of Blue Note Blues. Later on in Blue Note Blues Niche finds out that she has a twin sister with the same power as her.

Lag found Niche at a train station on his way to his Bee Interview. She was a "letter", but the address on her mailing label was incomplete and she was scheduled to be "abandoned" in two more days. Lag offered to take her to her new home ("Rabusamu Wandaun" according to the mailing label, which he thought was an orphanage) even though he was on a deadline for his Bee job interview. While traveling, Lag found she had multiple names, so he named her Niche after where he found her - in a niche at the station.

After delivering Niche, Lag found out she was to be put in a side show act as "The Child of Makka", Makka being a mysterious being both worshipped and feared in AmberGround's Northern territories. Lag hurried back to Rabusamu Wandaun with the excuse that Niche's delivery receipt had not been signed. When he got there he found that Niche had already wrecked the sideshow tent with her "Golden Sword" and gone on the run towards Gaichuu territory. He followed her and consequently saved her from a Gaichuu. She decided to stay with Lag after he explained that her address had become unknown (since she had destroyed the sideshow), and she insisted that from then on she would be Lag's "Dingo".

Gauche Suede/Noir

• Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama

Lag's rescuer, who first appears in chapter 1. He is the letter bee that finds young Lag Seeing marked as a letter in "Coza Bel", a small town in the "Yodaka District" (The low class district in Amberground). He has to deliver to "Cambel Litus" a town also on the "Yodaka District" so he can join his aunt who was trusted to take care of him from the person who wrote Lag's letter data. Gauche is also a caring and enthusiastic letter bee, he is trying to become the "Head Bee" (Captain of the letter bees) so he has enough money to help his sister and live peacefully. In Chapter 7 it is revealed that Gauche is no longer a Letter Bee. Gauche later appears before Lag and steals the letter he is delivering. He refers to himself as a Marauder known as Noir and appears to have no memories of Lag or being a Bee, possibly having lost that part of his heart. Later on a Marauder is explained to be a "Plunderer" who take on the job of theft. Marauders mainly target Letter Bees to keep them from delivering their letters.

Sylvette Suede

• Voiced by: Nana Mizuki

Gauche's younger, paralyzed sister. Born on The Day of Flicker, like Lag. Her brother left her to go to Akatsuki, and eventually dissapeared. When she would meet Lag, years later, she had claimed to have given up on Gauche being alive. She later learns he is alive, and Lag promises to find him. After the encounter with Noir outside Honey Waters, when Lag returns home, Sylvette throws him a party because he had found Gauche, as promised. She rents Gauche's room to Lag, Niche, and Steak, and she makes Dolls to cover the rent and expenses. Lag thinks her soup is as terrible as "The Three Brother's Soup" Gauche had brought with him on his journey, Zaji sympathizes with him on this.

Roda (dog)

Gauche's "Dingo". She is a skillful dog that seems to be very well trained for fighting and tracking situations. She appears to be a skilled hunter as well. When Gauche, under the name of Noir, confronts Lag, Roda, in a human female form, confronts and distracts Niche.

Roda (human)

A child that was given to Noir as an assistant from the leader of Reverse. Noir subconsciously named her after his former Dingo.

Steak

• Voiced by: Naomi Nagasawa

Steak is Niche's "pet" and emergency food supply. He followed her from the Lovesome Downs sideshow after she destroyed it. He is usually seen traveling on her head, very rarely moving from his perch even while she is battling Gaichuu. He has the ability to sniff out the weak spots of Gaichuu, allowing Lag to fire his Shindanjuu at the weak spot, killing the armored insect. Steak is also known to bite people on the head, his whole body represents that of a mouth.

Niche has remarked that Steak would taste delicious (hence his name). Steak seems to have accepted his fate as a future meal and appears to have meekly submitted to Niche's (interrupted) attempts to cook him. But in all the attempts to cook him, he only got a perm.

Steak may be the last of the Kapel Meister, a species that once co-existed harmoniously with the Spirit Insects, and was thought to be extinct.

Connor Culth

A young Letter Bee who was first seen in chapter 2, escorting Lag to his Bee job interview. Connor made regular deliveries to Cambel Litus as Lag was growing up, and seems to be popular with the townspeople. He has a hearty appetite and a stocky build, and tires easily. His Dingo is a hound dog named Gus, who is skilled at tunneling.

Connor's Spirit Amber attack is called "Heart Land Mine", which he executes by setting shards of his "Appetite" on the ground and igniting them under the Gaichuu.

Largo Lloyd

• Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi

The Supervisor of the "Bee Hive". Largo tends to have a more invested interest in Lag and his deliveries, though the reason for this is unknown.

Aria Rink

• Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu

A Letter Bee / Vice supervisor of the "Hive". Aria Acts as Ralgo's right hand, taking care of the minor things for him. Was/is the girlfriend of Gauche Suede.

Aria's Spirit Amber ability is the Heart Restoration Bullet, which she executes by playing music on her violin. The music has a healing effect on everyone who hears it. The closer one stands to her while she is playing, the stronger the healing effects.

Sabrina Mary

Lag's aunt who lives in "Cambel Litus" and was trusted with Lag's care since he was delivered to her at the age of 7 by "Gauche Suede" the letter bee.

Dr. Thunderland Jr.

A biologist who belongs to the Amberground Science of Living Creatures Advisory Board, Third Division. He specializes in pathology and collects corpses for dissection and study, earning him the nickname "The Corpse Doctor." He has a morbid interest in dissection. Nonetheless he has a kind heart, and makes a star-shaped memorial for each corpse he dissects. Zaji hated him at one point, because he thought Thunderland had tooken a group of street kittens Zaji liked, however, it was shown he only quarantined them.

Zaji

A young Letter Bee who was introduced in Chapter 7. He is very skilled at killing Gaichuu. His parents were killed by Gaichuu when he was young, leading Zaji to become a Letter Bee so that he could seek revenge against all Gaichuu. Because he is so focused on killing Gaichuu, delivering Letters is of little interest to him. Zaji is very fond of cats. His Dingo is a big cat resembling a black panther, named Vashuka. Zaji is often mistaken as a girl, due to a translator referring to him as a she throughout most of the chapters they had translated.

Zaji's Spirit Amber attack is called Aotoge (Blue Thorn), which uses shards of his "Malice" instead of his heart.

Jiggy Pepper

A semi-recurring Bee, whos Motorcycle is his Shindanjuu. He was first mentioned in Chapter three by his adopted sister, Neri. Neri hated him because she blamed the death of her brother Nero on his leaving them. When Lag shot off a heart bullet at Nero's letter, it was revealed he wanted to get stronger for Neri. Jiggy later appeared saving Lag from a giant Gaichuu that had trapped him in a trance. He said he had received a letter from his sister Neri, telling him about Lag's efforts, and thanked him, before departing. Zaji worships him as a hero.

Terminology

• Bee, A delivery person who is entrusted with the "hearts" of everyone to deliver the letters while combating the armored insects.
• Dingo, A bodyguard who is picked and trained by a Bee to protect them from armored insects (a dingo can be anything from a dog to a human).
• Bee Hive, The headquarters of the delivery service where all the "Bees" work. Located in Yuusari, the middle-class area of AmberGround.
• Gaichuu (lit. "armored insect"), Giant insects covered in jeweled armor, they live in the dark lands outside of the artificial sunlight and attack anyone who travels along the darkened paths. They are said be spirit insects that lost their hearts.
• Shindan (lit. "Heart Bullet"), The "fragments of heart" used when firing the "heart bullet gun".
• Shindanjuu (lit. "heart bullet gun"), The weapon Lag uses to combat armored insects, he first loads a "fragment of heart" into the gun, then fires it at the target, seemingly being able to control the shot's direction.
• Spirit Amber, A powerful amber stone that has the power to allow its user to shoot a heart bullet from its heart bullet gun. It comes in a wide range of colors that each have different abilities. It contains this power because of the spirit insects trapped inside them.
• Reverse, A group trying to overthrow the AG government. It is led by a man known as "The Man Who Couldn't become Spirit"
• Marauder, agents of the group "Reverse" who steal letters from Bees.
• Letter Bullet, It is used for conveying your heart to a person. A small letter is written, with an address to a specific person of which the bullet will only work on. The bullet also stores more 'heart' than a normal heart bullet. This is also a physical cartridge with a red liquid within it.
• Picture Letter, A letter written with heart but solely an image. Nostalgic and conveys hopes and has a strong message (sometimes) for the receiver of the letter.

Discrepancies

• One of the guns in Tegami Bachi has many different names/numbers:: (In the order that they appear in the manga) it has been called "Nocturne Number 12" "Nocturne Number 20" and "Nocturne Number 13".

External links

• Tegami Bachi official website Template:Ja icon
• Tegami Bachi official website Template:Ja icon
• Asada Hiroyuki's blog Template:Ja icon
• Tegami Bachi (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia