It's
been snowy and winter is officially here and everyone is probably sick of the
cold by now, so clearly this is a fantastic time to talk about a
series that seems permanently stuck in winter mode: TegamiBachi/Letter Bee. Yes! It's a surprisingly sincere and engaging series, considering it's based around a kid who works for the postal service.
For
those who haven't read this series yet, a brief primer: the story is
set in the world of Amberground, where night is perpetual and
artificial light only reaches so far, leaving much of the outer world
in permanent darkness. Lag Seeing is a Letter Bee who delivers
packages on a regular basis with his partner/Dingo, the strange girl
Niche.
Lag became a Letter Bee because his life was saved by one, a
mysterious man named Gauche who ended up having disappeared by the
time Lag made it to Amberground's capital. The series main story
revolves around investigating a mysterious organization called Reverse, the search
for Gauche, and the issue of Lag and Niche's collective pasts.
The
core of Tegami Bachi lies in the system of the Letter Bee, the
traveling postman who braves harsh terrain to deliver their parcels
to remote locations. They are often required to travel with their
Dingo, who operates as their physical back-up in case they are
attacked en route. It is certainly not a job for the faint of heart,
so it makes sense that our brave hero Lag has loads of heart to spare
from the barrel of his trusty Shinganjuu ("heart bullet gun").
One
of the tenets of Tegami Bachi that really can't be stressed enough is
the idea that our words, written on scraps of paper, hold a piece of
our heart. This is idealized through the power of Lag's Shinganjuu,
for when fired it can reveal the 'heart' of a particular letter's
writer. To use this power, it taps into the amber found in Lag's eye,
spending a fragment of the boy's heart as well. Like the alchemy in
Full Metal Alchemist, it's all about equivalent exchange: you need to
spend heart in order to reveal heart.
In
the world of Tegami Bachi, few things are as powerful - or as
important - as words. Look at the great power the capital post office
wields; it is pretty much an arm of government. Look at the great
risks Letter Bees take in order to deliver their letters. As many
stories in this series have shown, a letter has the power to change
someone's fate or save a life or end it.
People are willing to put
their lives on the line to see that their letter has been delivered.
In today's society, you don't really see that very often, at least
not between people. Well, once you consider the fact that electronic
communication as we have it doesn't exist in Amberground, it
becomes apparent why letters are as valuable as gold there.
But
it's also in the 'heart' that their writers put into their words that
give letters their value, and this is why Lag's ability is so special
and so necessary. Sometimes we try to put our feelings - our true
feelings - into words on the page for our intended, but words seem
inadequate.
Lag's Shinganjuu reveals the true heart of our written
words and breaks down the barriers of communication that lead to so
many misunderstandings and hurt feelings. Lag can tap into the great
emotion that comes from writing a letter from one person to another,
a greatly intimate form of communication, and turn said emotion into unmistakable visuals in ways words cannot do alone.
I
think Lag and his colleagues in Amberground would find solace in the
world of Library Wars and the Library Defense Force, especially
people like Iku and Dojo. After all, they both lay down their lives
to protect the written word, whether in book or letter form. Both
series realize the power of the written word and hold it up without
overly romanticizing it. As a bibliophile, I love these series for
loving the same things I do and I appreciate them for highlighting
the ability of words to literally move people.
Question:
In order to reach the heart of his old friend
Gauche, Lag Seeing prepares a letter bullet - a Shinganjuu attack
that holds the words he wishes to express to Gauche, those that have
his true feelings. If you were to create a 'letter bullet', what
would it say? Who would you send it to? Also, feel free to discuss your own favorite aspects of Tegami Bachi in the comments!
You can watch streaming subbed episodes of Tegami Bachi at Crunchyroll. The manga is available via English through Viz Manga.
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