With all the building plot and increased tension, I almost completely forgot that some of the characters were still completely underdeveloped. This takes care of some of that.
Creative Staff
Story: Hiroyuki Asada
Art: Hiroyuki Asada
Translation/Adaptation: Rich Amtower
What They Say
After years of searching, Zazie is on the trail of the Gaichuu that devoured his parents’ hearts. But the hunt will force him to learn more about himself—and his past—than he ever imagined. And Emil, the kindly blind girl who runs the nearby inn, has an terrible secret…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Zazie has been a character that had a lot of mystery leading up to his arrival thanks to the contents of volume two or three and he really became just an enjoyable supporting character in the volumes since then. Tegami Bachi has always been Lag’s story and the side cast really has suffered because of that strong focus. While the series manages to continue to excel and please, this volume actually decides to divert the story and focus on providing backstory and depth to Zazie. It is a more than welcome diversion.
Zazie’s parents were murdered by a very specific Gaichuu when he was young, this led him to his decision to become a Bee for the sole purpose of hunting down the Gaichuu and taking his revenge. While delivering dead letters with Conner after the massive fight with Cabernet, Zazie discovers a large snow print of the Gaichuu Laphroaig and stays behind to investigate. Zazie’s entire purpose is to get his revenge and this quest blinds him. While looking for the Gaichuu, Zazie stays at an inn called Wuthering Heights that is managed by a young girl named Emil Bronte, I know, that name is too on the nose but the story doesn’t suffer from it. From this launchpad, the volume careens down a path of discovery for Zazie and the readers. We learn about his past, his motivations, his regrets, and his shame. The book does an absolutely fantastic piece of turning this cool rough-and-tumble rebel character and fleshing him out almost as much as the series has done for Lag so far. It adds a lot of weight to the the overall story as we finally get full characters from the supporting cast. In true Tegami Bachi fashion, the art is unparalleled in its beauty and the story has plenty of sad emotions being thrown around to hit the old ticker nice and hard.
In Summary
With the revelations of the previous volume, it really felt like Tegami Bachi was ramping up to rush towards its conclusion. The new quest to seek out the other children born on the Day of the Flicker has actually opened up the possibilities of the story more than I initially believed. The quest has allowed the characters to branch off on their own and opens up the possibility for large scale character development and exploration, which is exactly what this book does for Zazie. Great! I’m in no rush for the series to end as it has been of consistently high quality throughout the majority of its run and now that I know that the supporting cast isn’t just fodder to put in the background of our hero, I’m excited. I still want to see the story resolve, I want to understand the mysteries of Amberground and the Flicker. This series is going to conclude wonderfully if it simply caps off the whole world with long over due explanations and revelations. However, I’m more than happy to keep waiting if this is how the series is going to be spending its time.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: March 4th, 2014
MSRP: $9.99
