Tegami Bachi is an ongoing stylized fantasy manga by Hiroyuki Asada. Also known as Letter Bee, the story is of government letter carriers known as Letter Bee who risk their lives in a dark land called Amberground. A Letter Bee named Gauche Suede finds his letter to deliver, however this time it’s a living person named Lag Seeing. Lag is a special young kid who desires to become a Letter Bee himself and to know what happened to his missing mother. Lags mother was actually taken and is believed to be in the capital city that the artificial sun hovers over. Danger arises between cities as deliveries are often interrupted by large beetle like living armor known as Gaichuu that attack them. Luckily for Letter Bee, they are equipped with special guns (Shindanjuu) that fire hallow bullets (Shindan) that are filled with the shooter’s heart.

Wonderful characters and strong words are well supported by the many attempts to get emotions from the reader. Words like amber, love, and heart are used a lot. Volume one gives the impression that Gaichuu are remains of people who’ve corrupted their hearts and that taking of Lag’s mother was planned so Lag can become strong. Memories are openly revealed when a Shindanjuu is fired and that’s what makes Tegami Bachi special. I am emotionally attached to this world of endless night.

Each volume has lush purple, silver, and cream colors support the feel of the environment. Perhaps repetitive coloring is used on purpose for keeping a nightly vibe while you read. The artwork is stable and characters are fairly close to the mangaka’s colored illustrations. The author makes a pretty interesting comment about how he hopes you read Tegami Bachi enough to where pages are worn. The guy keeps his favorite books nearby whenever possible.

Volume one is out in English by Viz with two chapters. There is a 28 minute anime special from a Shounen Jump tour that was streamed officially with English subtitles titled Letter Bee: Light and Blue Night Fantasy. Hopefully the anime will be distributed by Viz soon after episodes air with the upcoming TV series this fall.

This really could work out. Letter Bee (Tegami Bachi) the manga has already been licensed by Viz and the special short has been shown earlier in the Shounen Jump road tour in Japan. This new anime adaptation is not official yet, but it’s likely.

You can watch the Letter Bee special mentioned above here. It is sub-titled already, but you will need to download the special Shounen Jump player to watch. After that hit watch and then open/save. You may want wait a bit before playing the file.

Letter Bee has been compared to D.Gray-Man and there are some similarities, but this series is really styled well and the characters are more likable, though. There are five volumes of the manga published in Japan, so there will be enough material for at least a good season (or two). Just hope it does not go so long as D.Gray-Man. The voice acting is very pleasent in the special, even Lag’s.

Cool points are scored by Lag’s name, his gun (which clearly looks like it was meant to be much longer), and the abuse of various shades of purple with blue colors.

Letter Bee or also known as Tegami Bachi is getting an anime quite soon. The thing is that it may not be released on DVD or shown on television. It’s for the Jump Super Anime Tour in Japan, but perhaps a single episode could spark interest in producing an animated series. The original creator Hiroyuki Asada sure likes the idea of a Letter Bee anime. The guy mentions how wonderful it is often on his blog. Screenshots and voice actor information can be found here on the Jump Square official site. Jump Square is the magazine where the new chapters are coming from.

Hope it doesn’t get over shadowed by the Dragonball, One Piece, Bleach, Blue Dragon, the other special episodes being shown with it.

Manga publisher Viz Media has acquired the manga Tegami Bachi (also known as Letter Bee). Even better the manga will be serialized in Shounen Jump in March 2009. Tegami Bachi is serialized in Shueisha’s Shounen Square/Monthly Shonen Jump in Japan and is currently on going.

The story is of couriers known as Tegami Bachi send and deliver important letters and items accross Amber Ground, a land of never ending dusk. Very detailed and lush art on every page. Covers and colored artwork included have a creative blend of colors setting the mood. It may seem a little like D.Gray-Man at first, but the adventure is much more fun. At then end you have poor Dr. Tunderland giving explanations and background of each volume.

Tegami Bachi volume 4 has been release in Japan this month. This manga just might be animated if it keeps going.

One of the only Tegami Bachi related videos on Youtube was removed, even though it was just some manga scans and music.

My first real Photoshop attempt is coloring of manga. A bit of a simple style, but hopefully later on textures and such can be added. For now there’s these. They’re from the manga Tegami Bachi (Letter Bee). A shounen fantasy series with characters who’s duty is to deliver mail to people in a world of eternal dusk.

Please do credit, do not hotlink, never claim as your own, but do enjoy.