Comics / Manga

Tegami Bachi: Volume 17 manga review

By Leroy Douresseaux
November 4, 2014 - 20:54

Tegami Bachi: Volume 17 cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

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Rated “T” for “Teen”

The country of Amberground is locked in darkness, and only a man-made star casts a dim light over the land.  Gaichuu, giant insects with metal exoskeletons, infest the forests between the cities and towns of Amberground, which makes travel dangerous.  There is a brave corps of messengers, known as the Letter Bees, risking life and limb to deliver letters and packages to the cities.  Lag Seeing is a Letter Bee, traveling with his dingo, Niche (and her dog-thing, Steak).

As Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee, Vol. 17 (Late Hire Chico – Chapters 71 to 77) opens, the quest begins to find the 5 children born with fragments of the heart of the artificial sun, because they were born on the mysterious “Day of the Flicker.”  Inspector Chalybs Garrard orders his Letter Bees to go forth and begin the search; he will even accept those who only have memories of the Flicker.

Meanwhile, Dr. Thunderland has discovered a great secret about how the artificial sun is kept shining.  Also, Lag gets a new partner, a contrary young woman named Chico Neige.

THE LOWDOWN:  The Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee manga moves deeper into the conspiracy at the center of the narrative.  It seems to span time, reaching far into the past, with serious repercussions for the future.

Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee Volume 17 certainly makes it obvious that series creator Hiroyuki Asada has put a lot of thought into his series.  It is complex, but also easy to embrace.  I find that once I get the particular rhythm of an individual volume that I can't stop reading until I reach the last page.  The last pages usually offer a reason to come back for the next volume, as this one does.  Like a Letter Bee, Tegami Bachi delivers.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Anyone looking for a good alternate world science fiction comic book will want the Shonen Jump title, Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee.

Rating: A /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12