is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Asada. It was first serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Jump from September 2006 to June 2007, before the magazine ceased its publication. It was then transferred to Jump Square, where it ran from November 2007 to November 2015. It chapters were collected in 20 tankōbon. Set in a fictional land illuminated by an artificial sun, it follows Lag Seeing, a Letter Bee with the ability to see the memories of people and items, and his personal dingo Niche on their journeys across AmberGround.
Tegami Bachi was adapted into an anime television series by Pierrot+, which aired for two seasons from October 2009 to March 2011.
The manga was licensed for English release in North America by Viz Media; it was published in their Shonen Jump magazine, and they have released its 20 volumes. Both seasons of the anime series have been licensed by Sentai Filmworks.
Plot
The story takes place in AmberGround, a land of perpetual night only partly illuminated by an artificial sun. Lag Seeing is a newly minted delivery boy, called a "Letter Bee", who worked at the Bee Hive delivery service with his Dingo, Niche, and her "pet", Steak, travelling with him. As a Letter Bee, Lag's job is to deliver letters and packages from town to town while avoiding AmberGround's deadliest hazard—Gaichuu, giant armoured insects who attempt to feed off the "heart" that reside within these letters and packages.
When Lag was very young, his mother was kidnapped by men from AmberGround's capital of Akatsuki. He was sent as a "delivery" to his aunt thanks to Gauche Suede, who Lag started to idolize and was inspired to become a Letter Bee. But as Lag becomes a Letter Bee, he is informed that Gauche has disappeared; at the same time, a resistance movement called "Reverse" begins stealing letters from travelling Bees.
Lag later encounters Gauche, who appears to have no memory of his past, and is now devoted to Reverse's cause. In desperation, Lag vainly tries to make Gauche remember. At the same time, Gauche awakens a giant flying Gaichuu that is headed for the town Yuusari, the location of the Bee Hive; and later Akatsuki to destroy AmberGround's man-made sun.
Characters
A 12-year-old boy with a very focused mindset, regardless of what situations he gets into and always focuses on delivering the package. He was also born on the day of the Flicker. He's very emotional and is nearly constantly crying. He has a special gun called the Shindanjuu, literally the "heart bullet gun" where he loads a "fragment of heart" into the gun, then fires Akabari (Red Needle) at the target. He is seemingly able to control the direction of the shot. His spirit amber visualizes memories of an animated object. As a child, he was "delivered" by the letter bee Gauche Suede, and was inspired by him to become a letter bee. He is searching for his mother, who was kidnapped to the capital of the country. His left eye is made of red spirit amber, allowing him to better use the Shindanjuu and also allowing him to fire a heart bullet from his own body. He originally has an antique from Campbell, though he receives the Nocturne #20, Gauche's gun. In chapter 29, after Sunny lost her heart to a Gaichuu, Lag's body glowed like spirit amber as he fired a special letter bullet at Noir (Gauche) in hopes of restoring his heart. His name is derived from "lagrima", a Spanish word for "tears", "rag", "Lú"/"Lugh", the name of the Celtic god of the sun of the Danann family, and "seeing", the measure of sight. His "Dingo" is Niche, a girl he saved from a Gaichuu (armored insect) who decided to stay at his side when he said yes to her asking him if saying goodbye would make him sad after seeing his memories via the Shindanjuu.