| | |  | SHONEN JUMP ADVANCED | Home » » » » Tegami Bachi, Letter Bee, Vol. 1: Letter and Letter Bee | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | 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. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| hiroyuki Asada | | Paperback:
| 200 pages | | Publisher:
| VIZ Media LLC | | Publication Date:
| September 01, 2009 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1421529130 | | Product Length:
| 7.52 inches | | Product Width:
| 5.02 inches | | Product Height:
| 0.67 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.44 pounds | | Package Length:
| 7.4 inches | | Package Width:
| 4.96 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.71 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.35 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 9 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 9 customer reviews )
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8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 The letters and the heartSep 03, 2009
By E. A Solinas
"ea_solinas"
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 found the following review helpful:
 Amazing story! Interesting and lovable characters :DDec 04, 2009
By A Happy Woman
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!
Off to an intriguing startJan 26, 2011
By GraphicNovelReporter.com
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
This manga has an interesting premise to itOct 16, 2010
By Lesley Aeschliman
I found a copy of this manga volume while browsing the shelves at my local library, and I checked it out and see what it was all about.
This volume starts with a government employee named Gauche, who is a Letter Bee (and as you can probably guess, it has to do with mail delivery). As a Letter Bee, it's Gauche's duty to deliver any letter to it's destination. It turns out that the letter he needs to deliver is a young boy named Lag Seeing. As Gauche takes the boy to his destination, the two become friends, and Lag is inspired to become a Letter Bee when he is older. Five years later, Lag starts on his way toward realizing his dream.
By the time I finished reading this manga volume, I was intrigued enough to want to read more volumes of this series if I can find them at my library. Personally, I think this is a manga series that can be enjoyed by readers who are fourteen or fifteen years of age and older.
I wrote this review after checking out a copy of this manga volume through the King County Library System.
Fun Read, LONG ChaptersApr 20, 2010
By Tristan A. Hayes
Tegami Bachi Letter Bee Volume 1 is a pretty good read with a sort of "prelude" chapter and then a chapter 1 introduction to the story. The prelude is pretty interesting and introduces a character and the cover character as a young child. The world revolves around the delivery of letters with some supernatural elements. Letters can be anything from items and objects to even children and people as seen in this volume. The second chapter starts off with the main character and his pursuit of becoming a letter bee and hoping to find certain people. It ends pretty well and exciting and the ending preview of the next chapter makes it something that I cant wait to read.
This is a relatively new offering from VIZ Media and was in Shonen Jump for a few issues of that magazine. It was probably taken out because of the fact that the chapters span close to 100 pages. Regardless, its all worth it and is a pretty decent read. Its not like other series where you are turning pages so swiftly but its also not dull enough where you rather read something else.
The volume is read in the traditional format, has some pretty nice look art with clean sound effects and translations as well. Enjoy it and pick this up.
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