Tegami Bachi is ok. It’s a bit slow at the beginning and rushed at the end, but both of these things do not matter much, since you’ll solve the main mystery much earlier than the characters, and what makes this manga worth reading is the world – unusual, intriguing, yet consistent.

When I read more traditional shounen, I tend to take notes of mature details and to imagine what a seinen built around them would’ve been like. With Tegami Bachi this exercise yields unusual results – this manga doesn’t have a middle ground, there’s the plot, centered around the main 12 y.o. character, with all the friends, dreams and heart moments, and then there’s the bleak world with secrets so messed up, that it probably wouldn’t even work in a more serious interpretation, everybody would have been already dead. Not that this dichotomy isn’t underlined by the author himself: the older more jaded cast does create their own plan to save the world and it’s, er, peculiar. These two currents sort of clash – when deaths of comrades are quickly downplayed, sort of compliment each other – when it’s easy to see why a bit of kindness would be valuable in a world like theirs.

It’s not that dark fantasy can rule unchallenged in the world of Tegami Bachi: after all it has its own metaphysics, centered around “heart”, including the human one. Heart is basically the most important source of energy in their world. That’s what I mean when I talk about consistency - everything of importance is heart-related: letters contain heart, Bees deliver letters, use heart to fight, monsters want heart, etc. The world is also memorable visually, considering the atypical lighting, postapocalyptic “moonscapes”, star symbolism and occasional bold fairytale-like designs.

The art is considerably good. I didn’t think it’d click with me, yet, as it turns out, it flows surprisingly well and there are plenty of gorgeous panels. The better parts are the landscapes, Bee uniforms and gear, the more boring are the enemies (bugs are bugs), the characters are a mixed bag, everyone looks way too sweet and somewhat similar.

Three things about Tegami Bachi should be pointed out for the sake of potential readers:
- Firstly, Tegami Bachi is full of crying, speeches about heart and tearjerker moments. It’s all plot-related and world-motivated, tearjerkers are perfectly effective (I did cry a bit, tho, probably, my age makes me sentimental), yet I feel the need to warn you about attempts to exploit your empathy.
- Secondly, fighting in Tegami Bachi is also done with heart bullets, and the side effect of any shot is a leak of heart, when people see each other’s memories and feelings. Somehow that always helps. But the battles are not exactly readable or tense as a result.
- And there’re some distasteful things, like the sexualization of the aide of the main character, who looks like a loli and usually jumps around without pants for a comedic relief. And she is immersion-breaking even when dressed.

I can’t say that I dig the main cast too much. I must give it to the manga, that it’s nice to see a low-key environment for a change: Bees are technically post officers, not superheroes. Their work makes them see a lot of people, so at times the manga resembles a procedural. Side-characters are mostly enjoyable and well-rounded. Yet the main character is a bit too predictable and saccharine, and the relationships between the mains are conflict-free, all forces of attraction - the few promises of potentially interesting disagreement are quickly stiffled, which, in my opinion, makes the interactions a bit too bland.

The tropes that play central part and may be not to everyone’s liking are special kids are special, chance meetings (the most important characters simply bump into each other) and following one’s inspirational figure (one of the major plotlines, if not the major, is about a bunch of people trying to find one cool guy).

The plot picks up around the 30th chapter, the ending is a bit rushed, I guess the manga got an axe chapter limit. What drove my attention was the wish to see more of the world, not the characters or plot, to be honest. Yet, between it all some truly powerful moments form, when, say, a giant monster nightmarishly drinks people’s hearts dry from the sky or a bullet reveals that a character inside his heart stands alone and hopeless under the rain and people can connect to him to alleviate the grief.

Structurally and by worth of some characters Tegami Bachi is a typical shounen, yet on the scale of friendship and battles it’s so skewered towards the former that it starts to stand apart. Tegami Bachi probably isn’t something that should be in your first dozen of titles, but it’s an interesting read worth checking out if you look for different settings, pretty high-contrast art and, maybe, a chance to shed heartfelt tears.