With the double-episodic format that Letter Bee appears to be taking I think it’s high time to change the direction of my blogging routine. Similar to when watching the first season of Darker than Black, it was always a far more enjoyable experience to watch two episodes in a row. So from now on I’m going to be waiting two weeks so I can watch the two episodes at once. Obviously, this will mean a change in blogging tactics. So from now on I’m going to blog Letter Bee two episodes at a time. Since neither MAL nor ANN seem to know how many episodes this show will have combined with the fact that it’s Pierrot making it, I’m assuming that Letter Bee is going to continue on for quite a number of episodes. So unless they change their approach sometime in the future or it suddenly becomes clear that there’s only going to be 13 episodes, I’m sticking to the 2 episode per post plan.
For now though, let’s continue with this episode.
My prediction in the last episode was that when Nelli was stopped at the border was that Lag would take the letter off her and try to deliver it to Jiggy himself. I guess I can’t accuse Letter Bee of ever being predictable now can I? What I missed was the fact that the reason Nelli wanted to deliver the lette was for spiteful reasons ie: making Jiggy feel guilty. Lag wanted to prove to Nelli that Jiggy wasn’t an evil twat so, using his new found powers, did exactly that. It’s a bit corny to use the power of heart stored in an object but it works in the context of the show. Generally there hasn’t been any major bad guys in the show, at least ones with personality. There’s been those horrible CGI bugs and the rather silly people at Love Someone Down but there’s been no proper sign of the corruption in the Letter Bee organisation that keeps being subtly hinted at.
But there is something bigger at work here behind Lags story. The gatekeeper and the guy who seemed extremely interested in Niche know each other from the Ishbal revolution the past somehow. Then remember way back in episode 1 (or was it 2?) when Lag shot the CG bug he noticed that it made a sound similar to crying. Methinks that there’s certainly something more to those bugs. And then there’s even bigger questions at the very core of this anime, such as why is the world split the way it is. And the artificial sun. Who, why and what came before it?
Because Amberground is a bloody magical place, not just literally. There’s just so much little stories around the place that Lag has encountered so far. I want there to be reasoning behind everything that goes on in this world and I want an insight into how Amberground was formed and how it runs. Part of this is down to the just gobsmacking artwork. If there was ever a game created where you could wander around Amberground, doing pointless little missions, I would buy it in a heartbeat. However another reason why I want Amberground to be explored more is because Lag just isn’t that interesting as a main character.
In traveller anime (an odd way to describe the genre but it’s the best I could come up with) you need a combination of an engaging and unique main character combined with a world fit for them to explore. The character needs a certain degree of purposefulness in his journey. What made Kino in Kino’s journey stand out was his attempt to stay detached from any country he visited, opting to only ever stay for 3 days. You might think that Vash from Trigun is very similar to Lag but what made Vash fascinating was whenever he got involved in anything, it was because he was trying to prove to himself that it was possible to live by the morals he had set out for himself. I’m probably being too mean on Lag since he’s still only a kid and hasn’t decided what his view on the world is just yet. I just hope he doesn’t go through the entire anime with his current way of viewing things. Hey, he has plenty of episodes in which to develop in…hopefully…
blindability
Brian
Poro
jGLZA
Loba
TeamZer0
thaivuN
Bokutachi no BLOG 
Shonen anime,or maybe all anime, tend to spend their first few episodes defining what the main character is like before they start putting them in personality-changing situations. So Lag’s gonna stay like this a while longer and probably won’t change if this is a 13 series. I hope he does change, he’s the only thing I dislike about this show so far.
It could very well be that Lag is currently underdeveloped as a character and will develop more in later episodes – or he could be one of those terminally “good-hearted” and “innocent” protagonists who is always an idealist, and who remains that way through the whole series. It’s a little early to tell with Lag which kind of protagonist he is. I’m hoping he develops further, myself.
I agree that Lag isn’t exactly fascinating as a protagonist, so I’m waiting for more exposition of the adult-aged characters and their backstories. There’s still Gauche, and Jiggy, and Lag’s mother, and this new guy Lloyd, so there are a lot of balls they’ve tossed up in the air that haven’t come down yet.
@graciepan
Yeah that’s why I’d like Letter Bee to have more than 13 episodes. Originally I felt that it would probably work quite well with that amount but with Lag badly needing development, combined with the huge world they’ve yet to explore, I really do hope it’s longer.
@Jan Suzukawa
The difference between Lag and Vash (sorry if you haven’t seen Trigun) is that Vash knows that that’s his ideals and tries desperately to validate them. Lag doesn’t have anything like that. Niche does actually have something like that, hence she’s a far more interesting character to watch. It’s a basic way of developing excellent characters. If you know what drives them then they are far more interesting to watch
It’s confirmed for 24-26 since there apparently 7/8 DVDs coming out, and yes Lag does develop more as the story progresses.
Jiggy is totally my favorite character now. Badass name, badass cross-shaped scar, badass motorcycle, he is voiced by the badass Kazuya Nakai and he fist bumps. I need more Jiggy Pepper.
@Iron Maw
Ah that’s the perfect length for this series. And goody for Lag development.
@Shinmaru
Jiggy’s VA is indeed badass. And he’s certainly going to appear again. They wouldn’t give him such a well-known VA and have appear for only 5 minutes. However the best thing of all is he has those crazy star-candy things coming out of his exhast pipe. Jiggy Pepper has a magic moterbike!
Lag is now twelve; many other protagonists by his age have found their purpose or drive. However, at this point in the story, he’s still just becoming a Bee, so yes, he has time to develop. As of right now, he’s just naive: he was angry when Gauche found him, and after Gauche, he became this love-everything kid.
The thing about Tegami Bachi is that there are people that Lag has met (who haven’t been explored as individual characters yet), people he has yet to meet, and those he will (hopefully) meet again. And I think it’s these people alongside Lag that bring the story together. As for Bad Guys… they’re coming.
(Sorry Scamp & Others: I follow the manga; hope I didn’t ruin anything)