Tegami Bachi: Volume 6: The Lighthouse in the Wasteland

by Hiroyuki Asada, 183 pages

Lag struggles to find the right words to place inside the special bullet that could return Gauche's heart; discovers the sender of some anonymously hand-delivered postcards; gets lost in the echo of heart swirling inside an isolated lighthouse; meets the coolness-personified star Bee, Jiggy Pepper; catches a glimpse of lost Gauche's memories; and sees the place where his devoted dingo Niche was born.

I do like this series. It's shamelessly sentimental and earnest with just enough underlying zing to make you genuinely worry about what's going on in the background with Gauche and Rhoda, Reverse, and the horrible implications of dark doings within the capital.

Tegami Bachi: Volume 5: The Man Who Could Not Become Spirit

by Hiroyuki Asada, 182 pages

Lag and friends fight a heart-devouring gaichuu in addition to the embittered, frightened townsfolk of Honey Waters. In the process, they discover that the real "man who could not become spirit" is somehow connected to Reverse, an anti-government organization whose marauders have recently been waylaying Letter Bees and stealing their heart-filled letters for mysterious purposes. When Lag himself encounters a cold, emotionless marauder who looks like someone close to Lag's heart but who calls himself Noir, the pint-sized Bee finds his own heart tied in knots.

Oh, Gauche, what has happened to you? Don't make little Lag cry more than he has already. With a heavy heart and new friends Hunt and Sarah in tow, Lag returns to the Hive, uncertain of how to face Sylvette with the news about her brother. But considering his own personality, he shouldn't underestimate the capacity for hope and optimism in others. While Niche learns more about what it means to be a proper dingo to her Bee, they both gain friends who can help them in Lag's mission to recover his friend and bring sunshine to the hearts of everyone around him.

Tegami Bachi: Volume 4: A Letter Full of Lies

by Hiroyuki Asada, 183 pages

Now a rookie Letter Bee, Lag goes about his deliveries with unrivaled earnestness. New to the field and naive about the ways of the world, he's offended to learn that the writer of a letter has filled it with falsehoods about his achievements--and it's a letter to the man's mother, no less. What kind of person lies to their mother?! As he learns the answer to that question, Lag is led to ask even more. At the Bee Hive, he meets the mysterious Dr. Thunderland, Jr., the scarred, eye-patched chief of biological sciences in the two Amberground regions outside of the capital. He, too, found a rare friend in Gauche and supports Lag in his search, sending him off to a dangerous region to find a man without a name. The town of Honey Waters has been cut off the Bee route for some time due to anti-government sentiment in the area, but Lag has come for information as much as he has for a delivery--if he can find the unnamed recipient. Who is the "the man who could not become spirit," what does that even mean, and what are the goals of the shadowy anti-government organization known as "Reverse"?

Lag learns that even letters full of lies can be full of love; that fear can lead even good people to do bad things; and that if you have friends you can count on, you can do anything. Setbacks are tough, but he firmly believes that love will overcome all obstacles. This series is all about heart--and little Lag is made of nothing but.

Tegami Bachi: Volume 3: Meeting Sylvette Suede

by Hiroyuki Asada, 175 pages

Gauche Suede is missing. Soon after his promotion to the capital Akatsuki five years ago, it seems he somehow lost his heart and vanished. No one-- not even his dear little sister Sylvette, for whose sake he strove to be Head Bee--has seen or heard from him since. Heartbroken, Lag goes to visit Sylvette and tearfully promises her that he will find Gauche, return his heart, and bring him home. As Lag begins his first official deliveries as a Bee, he keeps his eyes and ears open for any clue to his hero's fate. In the process, he learns about what happened to Gauche on The Day of Flicker. On that day twelve years ago, the artificial sun that shines above Akatsuki inexplicably flickered for the first and only time in living memory, leaving the world in darkness for the barest of seconds. At the same moment, a government airship crashed, Gauche's mother died giving birth to Sylvette, and Gauche lost all of his memories of his mother. It was also the moment Lag was born. The government claims the brief blackout was due to routine maintenance and that the airship was just on an insignificant research mission, but there are those who question the official story. Lag just wants to know what happened to his friend and to his own mother, both lost to the secrets of the mysterious capital.

I love the whole idea of The Day of Flicker. It's creepy and unsettling. A true sun shouldn't do that, sputtering as though there were a short in the wiring somewhere, leaving the landscape lit only by the faint pinpricks of distant stars. The atmosphere of this series is one of its most unique features and it only deepens the sense of mystery, mysticism, and conspiracy.

Tegami Bachi: Volume 2: The Letter to Jiggy Pepper

by Hiroyuki Asada, 191 pages

Even before little Lag Seeing makes it to the Bee Hive in Central Yuusari to present himself for his letter carrier exam, he's already stumbling upon those who need his help to carry their heart to their loved ones. A girl struggling with poverty vows to someday deliver the last letter written by her deceased little brother. And if she has to steal Lag's bridge pass to get to Yuusari and find the recipient, she will. But nothing can stand in the way of Lag's determination to become a Bee and make his hero, Gauche, proud.

Along with his fiercely loyal, self-appointed dingo (assistant) Niche (a strange, super-strong little girl with golden swords for hair and claws for hands) and her willing emergency rations, Steak (he's small, white, fuzzy, and almost all mouth-full-of-sharp-pointy-teeth, but he'd gladly serve himself up grilled for Niche), Lag throws himself into everything he does, leaving a trail of hope and goodwill in his wake. His vast reserves of empathy stand him in good stead in painful situations, but his own little heart takes a hit when he learns a startling truth about his beloved Gauche.

Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee: Volume 1: Letter and Bee

by Hiroyuki Asada, 197 pages

Gauche Suede is a letter carrier, or Letter Bee, in the sunless world of Amberground. He's on his last pick-up before his long-sought transfer to the capital when he discovers that his designated package isn't a heart-filled letter. It's a child. Lag Seeing, a small, emotional boy who's recently seen his mother carted off and his home burned to the ground by mysterious men from the capital, initially trusts the capital-idolizing Gauche about as far as he can throw him--and considering how tiny Lag is, that's not far. If Gauche is going to deliver him safely to the address on the mailing label on his arm, the two will have to cooperate and count on each other's strengths--especially the strength of their hearts.

Giant, armor-plated bug monsters called gaichuu roam the less populated regions of Amberground, attracted to the "heart" of humans. The only way to destroy them is to shoot them with a heart-powered weapon right between the plates of their protective shells. All Bees are so-armed and draw their power by resonating their hearts with a piece of spirit amber, a bead of hardened amber containing an ancient insect. As long as they don't expend too much of their heart at once, they'll eventually recover the bits they spend in ammunition. When a weeping Lag accidentally powers up Gauche's gun to eleven just by picking it up, the older boy knows there's something different about this crybaby package. And as Lag observes Gauche's dedication to his mission regardless of the personal cost, the child vows to someday follow in his footsteps.

I quite like the animé based on this series, so I'm giving the books a read to see how the two compare. So far, so good. The visuals feel a little cramped by their frames, but I think that's just because I'm used to seeing them full-color, in motion, and in a "frame" the size of my monitor. :P Otherwise, they are plenty pretty. Lag is a tear and snot factory, poor thing, but his meltdowns never get annoying. And his hero-worship of Gauche and the Bees is naive and sweet. This volume only just touches on the mystery of Amberground and its capital Akatsuki's artificial sun, but there'll be much, much more to come.