Imagine if you will, a time when email and telephones didn't exist, and letters would take days or weeks to arrive. Also imagine a world where your wealth and social status determines whether you'll be able to live in sunlight, and your ability to travel to other places. Welcome to Amberground, the fantasy realm of Tegami Bachi , a shonen manga series by Hiroyuki Asada from Shonen Jump Manga / VIZ Media that makes mailmen look magical, heroic, and even kinda cute.
Delivering mail in Amberground is pretty serious business -- besides having to hand-deliver mail on foot, Letter Bees must also deal with the threat of gaichuu - giant armored insects that can only be stopped with a shot powered by fragments of the Letter Bee's heart. Letter Bees must be ready to deal with all kinds of surprises, but even an experienced Letter Bee like Gauche Suede is caught off guard when he discovers that his latest 'parcel' to deliver is not a package, but a little boy.
Check out my review of Tegami Bachi Volume 1, and see what this new shonen manga series with the funny name has in common with Harry Potter, The Wizard of Oz, and the one common manga pitfall that it deftly avoids.
Tegami Bachi was one of the 50 new and notable manga mentioned in my Fall 2009 Preview. See the other 49 picks that are worth a look, and maybe pre-ordering in the next few months.
© 2006 by Hiroyuki Asada / SHUEISHA Inc.
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