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.