Tegamibachi: Hikari to Ao no Gensou Yawa

Letter Bee is one of the Autumn anime of 2009 that I look forward to. Knowing that the anime is an adaptation of the manga makes me want to watch it even more. I want to pick up the manga but since idle time is a luxury nowadays, it was a given that I couldn't afford to read another new manga. I just have to settle with just the anime for now.

This review however is for the special episode before the full season is released.

As the tittle suggested, Letter Bee is about delivering letter/mail/package. Letter Bee is equivalent to your modern day postmen. Bee is ... the company where Lag, the protagonist works at.

He is accompany by Niche and Steak. Anyway, many refers Niche as Lag's guardian Dingo, whatever that is.

Light and Blue Night Fantasy tells the tale of Lag delivering an important package to Elena, a former Letter Bee. They are to make a journey to Silencio. He is to bring a veteran as a guide for this delivery. That's where Darwin steps in. Lag doesn't know this but Darwin was once Elena's Dingo and the real package for Elena is Darwin himself. Ralgo keeps this a secret from Lag for he knows if Darwin finds out he'll abandon the trip.

Letter Bee is a hazardous occupation. You might get attacked by Gaichuu during delivery hence why Lag carries a gun. The gun is called Shindan and is used to fire Heart when Gaichuu attacked. Shindan's ammunition is something that is called Spirit Amber. Lag's spirit amber is his red stone eye.

What is a Gaichuu you asked? They are bugs but with size of a monsters ^^"

Btw, Dingo is just a name given to the guardian. They pretty much protects the Bee from any harm. Niche for example, can hardens her hair and used it as a weapon against Gaichuu. Steak is usable too for he found their opponent weak spot. So guardian Dingo are not really human. They come in many forms, shapes and sizes. The relationship between a Dingo and a Letter Bee runs deep. It is as if they are partner for life.

I have no complains when it comes to the characters. The voice of each character suits them perfectly, so are the character designs. I personally thinks that Lag's voice is super cute and makes him appears more adorable and wot not.

No complains on the animation either. It is very pretty and smooth. I can feel that the production house puts a lot of effort with this episode. I appreciate that and hope the quality will stay consistent through out the season.

If there's one thing I do not like about Letter Bee, it is the way the Gaichuu met their death. It just wasn't dramatic enough imo. Other than that, I'm sure the full season of Letter Bee is going to be an enjoyable ride.

Story: 9

Not very many anime have made me cry, feeling sad, yet feel so overwhelmingly happy about the story. It reminds me of some of my favorite books, where one falls in love with the characters and can feel almost what they feel. While there is so much more I want to know, this gives a great set up for the full lenght Anime coming out.

Art: 8

The art work was crisp. The details were exceltent. I enjoyied the realism of the buildings, and the designs on some of the more ornate objects. Won't go into them as this might provide spoilers. The world is in ... darkness, but it is placed into a blue hue, so that it is neither scary, nor is it hard to tell details on.

Sound: 10

I have a bias here... I have always been a huge fan of the style of music presented in here, it is both haunting, yet somehow soothing at the same time, which fits this fully.

Character: 6

I personally think that we'll get more character development in the Anime, but we might not. We are only given a small glimpse of the characters, but as this is a special, that is to be expected, isn't it? The characters are still lovable and filled with personality. It is just not much there.

Enjoyment: 8

I was jerked to tears. I had thought, alright, this is going to be one of those happy go lucky Anime's at first, but then I came to the conclusion that it wasn't, and that it was a very thought provoking piece, which makes me wonder if the Anime coming out will be the same.

Overall: 9

I was mondo impressed. For such a short peice, and such a well developed world, they got a lot into the special here. Also, it drew on the emotions in just the right way, allowing one to sypathize with the characters. It is also a rather mellow story, but beuitiful none the less! :)

This is more like a pilot or one-shot episode (as it aired prior to the beginning of the first season), and was actually re-used or re-animated as episode 17 in the first season of the anime. The season one episode title was: "Tegami Bachi to Dingo" (テガミバチとディンゴ) . So if you've seen the first season already, you've pretty much seen this episode. I want to say that the only difference is that there are more flashbacks in this OVA to compensate it as a one-shot, and the art looks a little sketchier in spots.