Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee is an anime that was recommended to me years ago. I kept on putting it off yet every time I saw it I would have one of those "oh right, I should watch this soon" moments. When I finally got the opportunity to give it a chance, I was excited. The first season was nearly perfect in my eyes and I couldn't have been happier to learn there was a second season.
Now, here, this should be made clear from the get-go: The anime has a different end than the manga. Although the anime is inspired by the manga, there are slight differences in the story regardless. I'd prefer to think of the ending in this anime as a derivative ending and not the "true end," if that makes any sense. Like... an alternate ending and a possible "what if" scenario. However, this doesn't change that I'm slighltly disappointed with how it ended here.
Story: The story's good up until the latter half of this season. There is slight filler but it's kind of to be expected from anime at this point; the filler isn't as bad as the first season, though. All the episodes contribute to the plot in some way which is, obviously, a very good thing. However a lot of things felt very... rushed. Let me explain:
On multiple occasions, the show would bring up a huge detail that seems like it should be important later on. Like, for example (since this was shown since season 1 and I'm guessing everyone already knows this much), the fact humans were experimented on by the government. This is a huge point against the government in the show yet it's never fully addressed. As a matter of fact, the show ends with Lag still working as a Letter Bee which - fine, it fits his personality and character well - but never does anyone do anything against the obviously terrible government that the show has told us awful things about since season 1.
This show's antagonist should have been the government itself. Perhaps Lawrence could've been a "false antagonist" of sorts; a character with the right idea but the wrong way of doing things. Instead, the main cast is forced to fight a giant gaichuu created by Lawrence out of his hatred for the people who experimented on him. I sat there watching the last episode scratching my head like: "Really? That's all? The government is never mentioned again?"
Nope. Not at all. It's just thrown to the side and we're expected to just forget about all the shitty things its done. In the last episode, we see Lag looking at the artifical sun - which is a huge sign that the government is still a powerful force in this world. Really? It feels like they just forced out a quick ending because the studio they worked for forced them to. The manga ended in 2015 I believe, so the studio could've added a final third season where all this is finally talked about in detail - but because the anime ended in the way it did, it's now impossible. The studio basically shot itself in the foot here.
Animation: The animation is good, as expected from this series. You can tell that the animators put a lot of hard work into the fluid motions of the characters sometimes which is always fairly cool. Now, I will say that the gaichuu look like they don't belong in the show because they're so strangely 3D, but... this is an anime from 2009-2010. That's kinda to be expected, to be fair.
Sound: Sound was good, if not a little repetitive at times. But this is more of a personal opinion than anything.
Characters: Okay, here we go again - another rant-y part of this review. Now, the characters are good for the most part. I love them all and appreciate how the script follows their personalities well. However, Lag Seeing - as much as I love him - was so frustrating at some points in this season. I will cut the show some slack when it comes to him being a crybaby because hey, the kid's 12 - of course he's going to be immature. But it wasn't his crying that I was annoyed about.
Spoiler time: Noir told Lag so many times that he isn't the Gauche that he once knew. Instead, he's only a fragment of who used to be Gauche - he lost his heart and will never be able to get it back. Despite this, Noir shows Lag that it's almost like he's been reborn - he has a new heart that was made the moment he woke up without any memories. It may not be as strong as the heart Gauche had, but he still has one although it's implied he'll never be able to have a full heart ever again.
Instead of accepting Noir as... well, his own person, and instead of trying to help Noir get treated in the process, Lag just cries, points the shindan at him, and says "You"re Gauche! I'll bring back your heart someday!" and other things of that sort. Hell, even during the final battle, Lag nearly cries while Noir is telling him to shoot the giant gaichuu - not because said gaichuu could easily destroy everything, but because Noir expressed that he isn't "Gauche Suede" anymore. That scene made me smack my head against the desk in frustration.
In a following scene, Lag says that Noir will always be the person he idolized regardless of who he may be now. That scene was actually heartwarming and may be one of my favorites in the entire series, but the fact he nearly got sad over it again made it feel like he's mad at Noir for not wanting to pretend to be "Gauche" anymore. It's like Lag is thinking only of himself and doesn't care how Noir feels at all - and the audience is meant to just agree with him and be mad as well. Had this not being so rushed, it could've been a powerful moment.
For example, imagine that Lag was slowly coming to accept that Noir isn't capable of being "Gauche" anymore - instead of just shouting whenever Noir tried to express discomfort. Then the two could come to acceept the situation together. Maybe Noir feels bad later on seeing how much everyone missed "Gauche" - Lag then could've reassured him and said he'll always be his hero. This feels like a much better conclusion in my opinion.
Overall, I still recommend this show because it truly is really good and underrated. Check out the manga as well, as it ties up all the loose ends the anime carelessly tossed to the side.
Screenshots
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