Heard the title mentioned in one of the clubs, liked what I saw on the cover, liked what I read in the description, checked it out. And what a wonderful thirty minutes it was; even the extremely slow streaming site could not ruin this for me.
-STORY- 10/10
First of all, the setting is extremely unique. I love the idea of a city where daylight doesn't exist; it adds a mysterious and somewhat gloomy feel to the overall atmosphere. Nearly everything is covered in darkness, and yet this little boy carries on with his job to deliver 'light' from one person's heart to another. The concept is simple but beautiful. Those who know the feeling of receiving a letter from a special person while having an overall bad day will surely be able to relate to it.
Since this is only a special for the upcoming TV series, obviously it does not show the entire story and does not explore all the characters in detail. In this special we are given a short overview of the world and are introduced to some of the main characters. It also covers one of the story arcs, and I loved every second of it. It was beautiful, touching, bittersweet, and very deep. It has that subtle slice-of-life feel to it that makes it realistic despite the fictional setting, some of the characters' mysterious powers, and mechanical monsters that get in the way of Lag's deliveries.
-CHARACTERS- 10/10
Once again, since this is only a special, I will judge it accordingly and will not subtract from character development either. In thirty minutes, Letter Bee introduced quite a variety of interesting individuals. Except for Lag, none were explored in detail, but all were very memorable. It left me with a lot of questions and made me wonder about their pasts and relationships with each other: how they became acquainted, who founded the Bee Hive in the first place, who were the previous Letter Bees... I can say this much: the cast was intriguing enough to make me want to watch the upcoming full story and learn more about all of them, and that means that the special did its job.
-ART/ANIMATION- 10/10
Both art and animation were simply stunning. I loved absolutely everything about it. The character designs (especially the eyes), the Letter Bee's uniform design, the background shots. The color choice was fantastic; the melancholic atmosphere it created fit in perfectly with all other aspects. It was just beautiful, I don't know what else there is to say.
-SOUND- 10/10
To complete the perfection of this special, the music was also wonderful. It was at times sad, at times uplifting, and it was ideal for the portrayed situations. I loved the contrast between the rather gloomy opening and a cheerful ending theme after Lag successfully completed his delivery and moved on with his companions.
