Tegamibachi

To be honest, I didn't think I would enjoy Tegami Bachi after I read the plot summary. A government employee delivers letters and fights monster bugs. Great. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

Story: 9/10
Although Tegami Bachi may seem extraordinarily childish at first, the subtle, dark undertones are what make it very appealing.

Amberground, the setting of the story, is divided into three sections based on social class: Yodaka, Yuusari and Akatsuki. The land is covered by darkness with the exception of the artificial sun with illuminates the capital (Akatsuki); therefore, the farther away you get from the capital, the darker it gets.

Lag ... Seeing, an orphan, was found by a Letter Bee, Gauche Suede, who realized that Lag was the package he had to deliver to Campbell Litus, a small town in the dark Yodaka District. To Lag, Gauche was like a hero - he had saved his life numerous times during the delivery. Gauche was also the one who taught him about how letters hold the hearts of those who write it, and how the gaichuu (giant insects) are out to steal those hearts. Overshadowed by his hero, Lag swears to become a Letter Bee when he grows up. Only, when he finally achieves his goal, he discovers that the person who inspired him is no longer working as a Bee. Desperate to see him again, he begins to search for Gauche during his deliveries. In the process, Lag learns of an underground organization plotting to overthrow the capital, and the price that the citizens of Amberground pay for the artificial sunlight.

Art: 8/10
Studio Pierrot has done a pretty good job with the animation. All the colours look very comfortable and eye-pleasing, with fabulous openings and endings.

Sound: 10/10
I really like the music in Tegami Bachi because it really adds to the story. Each piece of music was carefully planned out and they really suit the setting of the story.

Character: 7/10
This is where I really think the story is lacking. Lag is an annoying crybaby who really, is nothing more than annoying. Niche, Lag's dingo, does incomprehensible things almost every episode. Gauche is the only one who has a relatively deep character, that enables you to understand his thoughts and motivations. The occasional flashbacks do help explain Gauche's character, but in general, you can't really relate to the characters.

Enjoyment: 8/10
The light mood mixed with the dark undertones make a nice blend.

Overall: 8/10

Tegami Bachi Season 1 Review: Pretty Middling tbh. Nothing really that stood out.

The Series is set in steampunk world where the Chads are Mailmans. In this world they are called Letter Bee, or Tegami Bachi. They go around delivering Letters which carry people's hearts. Each Letter Bee has 2 main components. Their Gun which is capable of shooting there *metaphorical* heart and there Dingo which is like a sidekick. The story follows our main character who wants to find his hero who saved 7 years before we begin our story. So alongside his trusty Dingo who is an underage girl who refuses to wear underwear ... because this is Japan and we have no choice in the matter.

So When I say I found the series Middling I did lie a little bit. The setting of this series is very interesting. The desert is unironically kind of peaceful too look at. Until the Gaichu show up. Which are basically sand monsters. But Victorian style buildings and locations. As well as the outfits really add an immersion to the series you don't really see. If you guys think I'm praising something small and trying to make it much bigger than I should. That's because I am. Nonetheless good setting.

Now the action is pretty hit or miss. Mostly due to how it was handled. The action is a one hit finisher type thing. Where the Letter Bee's charge up there attack to hit the single weak point of the Gaichu. Some are fun, most are ok, some are shit. Its not really anything tbh. The Dingo here is meant to be capable of revealing the Gaichu's weak point so the Letter Bee's can attack. This is basically all of the fight scenes in the series.

Now the main character is... quite annoying. His hero that helped him 7 years ago was more charismatic then him. The main reason for that is because this guy cries so fucking much. Every Episode its the same shit. He just crying over and over and over again. Now I get it, he's 12, he's not supposed to be strong or whatever. But realism doesn't mean its enjoyable. If i wanted to watch a bunch of kids whine like little shits I'd go to the park or look in the mirror or hang around r/anime.

I actually quite like the Dingo character. She is honestly adorable however. The, I'm not wearing underwear joke, was funny the first time. But Not subsequently.... I do hope this isn't a major problem continuing the series.

Really the only episode that actually felt fresh was the last episode. Where not only the story moved forward but we got to see something different or something unique. I didn't hate the previous episodes either. But they just felt mundane. I don't mean to use the word boring but maybe redundant would be better.

The series also has quite some filler. Do Note you don't have to watch the OVA that came before the series. As a remake of that OVA is made into Episode 17. So don't make the same mistake I did. The filler episodes themselves were actually fine. They kept in tone with the theme, the main characters. In the end the fillers weren't the problem. I honestly wouldn't be able to discern the quality of the filler episodes from the canon episodes.

As far as Season 1 goes. I'm disappointed. Not angry, just disappointed. Considering how the series ended though I am interested in watching Season 2. I was told that it actually shifts from the manga entirely so lets see how the anime handles the ending.

Overall. 5/10. Its fine. No strong opinions on this one so far.

THIS SHOW MAKES FAMILY GUY LOOK LIKE A STORYTELLING MASTERPIECE
Seriously, literal garbage "Family Guy Funny Moments" compilations are far more captivating and enjoyable than this show, because at least some of them are so terrible you can make fun of them.
Anyways, I don't typically write reviews, but seeing not a single negative review on this show I feel absolutely compelled to rip into this horrendous show. "Letter Bee" is one of the absolute worst things I have ever had the displeasure of watching, for so many different reasons. The show is a lazy, uninspired, generic, piece of garbage that fails at anything it could've had ... going for it. The thing that makes this worse though, is it's not even so bad that you can sit and laugh at it; it's boring. I will try my best to breakdown why I feel this way.

The Characters

This show has one of the worst cast of characters in any show I have ever seen, and almost every major character aids in on being a problem for the show, the major offenders will get their own category but before anything goes further, this show has one of the most boring and lazy character naming convention ever. Nobody's name is clever or smart and almost all of them are lazy ranging from words like "Lag Seeing" and "Niche" to just the first name you get when you look up most popular baby names for boys like Connor. Anyone not mentioned is extremely one note, and the only character with a semblance of personality that gets actual screen time is Gauche.

Lag Seeing
The star and protagonist of the show, Lag Seeing, the perfect place to begin. The first major problem with him is that almost everything that happens in the show is handed to him on a silver platter, and within the realm of the show he is incredibly overpowered and no problem is actually an issue for him. Now that doesn't sound bad; protagonists like Goku, Ainz Ooal Gown, and Rimuru Tempest all fall into being overpowered and solve things with almost no issue, and they're great protagonists, but Lag Seeing fails to do anything to make himself likable when it comes to these situations. Often times Lag will just start crying, his magical overpowered red eye starts glowing, and boom problem is over. Nothing more to it. No Kamehameha, no wits, no nothing. His red amber just starts glowing and the problem is gone. He's also a particularly bad crybaby, he responds to almost everything by crying and often feels like a frustrating protagonist more than anything. I really mean it when I say every solution is handed to him on a silver platter; there is a part where he doesn't have a partner dingo (which is essential to becoming a Letter Bee) and literally within the next 5 seconds he meets an overpowered dragon girl that has never listened to anyone before but now listens to him for some reason, we'll get more into her later. And even when he isn't crying, his personality is just boring and bland. His only motivation to become a Letter Bee is because he met some guy when he was like 4 years old and has spent his whole life obsessing over this singular guy. Even when he's finally becoming a Letter Bee after passing all the tests with flying colours, he is STILL crying about this guy he met when he was 5 years old. Let's not lag on this topic any longer, otherwise I'll begin repeating myself. Before we move on, he's also a bit of a nosy brat too, there's an episode where a man is writing letters to his mom that he fills with lies to not worry her, but the whole episode Lag keeps going WAH THIS LETTER IS FILLED WITH LIES THIS LETTER IS ALL LIES I CAN'T DELIVER LIES despite some of his idol's first words to him being that he does not inquire about the letter whatsoever, he just delivers it.

Niche
This might unironically be the worst character in the show. She is the previously mentioned dingo of Lag Seeing that is some kind of dragon hybrid thing with claws and has supposedly never listened to anyone aside Lag. There is nothing more to say other than the writers used this character to write all their fetishes into. That's it. She hates wearing panties, she has a kink for being treated like a dog or slave, and those two traits make up her entire existence outside of her being overpowered and beating up anything Lag needs help with, and by that I mean she hits someone once and then Lag blasts his red beam and wins. There's nothing more to say, she's the fetish character.

The Plot
This shows plot is dumb. Lag Seeing is just obsessed with Gauche, and the plot quickly spirals into a horribly generic "government is bad who would've guessed" plot that a million other things have done before and did it better too. Every single character interaction is Lag shooting something, memories and "feelings of the heart" are revealed, they all cry. If you want to watch a show with an overpowered main character obsessed with an older man they only knew as a baby where everyone's weapons absorb their life force that also eventually twists into a "the government is evil" plot, PLEASE do yourself a favour and go watch Kill la Kill instead.

Setting, Music, Visuals
As for music, this show has a god awful opening and ending song while the music within the actual show is just forgettable. The setting is somewhat generic, and the pretty night skies looming over desert being every location starts to wear real fast. The actual animation is terribly mediocre and the CGI for the robot enemies are absolutely awful. To save your time, it's bland to look at and anything that did look nice either rarely gets used or will get stale fast. Worldbuilding is actually horrendous in this show even though they try to make it out as if the world they are in is an extremely important part. The show also has an obsession with raining konpeito all over the screen. Speaking of...

Flashbacks
This show is obsessed with flashbacks, stuff that doesn't need to be flashbacks will still be put into flashbacks for no reason, and they always put a sepia/greyscale filter for them alongside raining konpeito all over the screen. In the Christmas episode, there was a scene that would've flowed finely but they skipped to Lag and his friend on a train and then showed a flashback that occurred roughly 5 minutes ago in world. It gets annoying fast. Not much more to say on that.

The Singular Diamond
There is one good thing I can say about this show. One singular good thing. Every episode ends with these funny yet strangely long chibi segments featuring Dr. Thunderland teaching at the "Letter Bee Academy." This is the sole thing that holds up the show. It's pure chaos in a jar trying to be held together by Dr. Thunderland alongside a lot of actually funny fourth wall breaking jokes, such as a character who hadn't shown up in the main show yet commented on the fact that he hasn't. Almost all focus is taken off any of the main characters and shifted onto Dr. Thunderland; even the segments that don't star him, the full focus of those segments is usually about him not being there. The strange thing though is that Letter Bee Academy segments almost always succeed at humour, while every attempt at humour in the main show is cringe worthy. Speaking of comparisons to the main show, the Dr. Thunderland segments do more world building than the actual show.

Summary aka TL;DR
Characters annoying. Protagonist horrible. Plot generic. Too many flashbacks. Very forgettable overall. Dr. Thunderland Letter Bee Academy segments funny. Only watch Dr. Thunderland segments and enjoyment will be raised tenfold.