Tegami Bachi REVERSE – 07

Is there anything left for Lag to save?

As nice and sweet as all of Lag’s deliveries are, I can’t help but get excited when the focus shifts back to Noir and Roda. With the series finally reaching my favourite arc in the manga, I couldn’t be happier. I miss when Roda walked on four legs and Gauche smiled all the time though T_T

Lag heads up north to Canada Blue Note Blues for his latest investigation. Apparently, Noir has been spotted in the area and a bright light from a powerful shindan was reported. We find out that Lloyd sent him on the mission due to his heart-sensing capabilities. Dr. Thunderland Jr. talks to Lag before he leaves, telling him that this is the town where the legend of Maka originates. He’s intent on unlocking her true power, but Niche doesn’t seem to remember a thing.

Before Lag leaves on his trip, Zaji and Connor meet him at the door. Zaji immediately offers to investigate Noir in stead of Lag, seeing as his next delivery is up north anyways. As if Lag wants Zaji to take his place when he can see Gauche for himself! Zaji tries talking some sense into him, knowing that even if Lag sees him, he hasn’t written his letter bullet yet. What’s more is that Lag is pretty naive, and his basis for Gauche even having a heart to save is just wishful thinking.

And now, one of my favourite moments of Tegami Bachi…Niche skiing down the icy slope on her hair. She ditches Lag from now until the end of the episode to…stand around and think. Oh Niche, always so capricious. You leave Lag on his own, and he stumbles down a hill, finds the shell of a Gaichuu, and then falls into an ice cavern after shooting a shindan at the THIN ICE AROUND HIS FEET. You have no one to blame but yourself and those precariously-placed bullets of Gauche.

Zaji is doing his deliveries around this time, but there’s not much to deliver thanks to the letter robberies. It’s not long until Zaji is assaulted himself and his dingo blasted by Noir. His shindan is now called “Gymnopedie” which is a horrible attack name. The show proceeds to switch between the memories Lag sees and this fight, but for organization’s sake, let’s just finish up talking about ZAJI’S AWESOME FIGHT. OH YEAAAHHH.

The battle isn’t over yet, despite taking a shindan head-on. Staggering, but determined, he recalls what it’s like when someone close to you loses their heart. Both his parents lost their hearts to Gaichuu, and there was no way to get it back. Zaji gets emotional and points his gun at Gauche, deciding to kill him to spare Lag the pain of seeing an old friend become so heartless.

LITTLE ZAJI ALONGSIDE GUN IN YO FACE ZAJI!

Zaji is knocked down yet AGAIN, but ultimately left alive. He manages to tell Noir that Lag will save him before being tossed aside. He does manage to get a glimpse of Noir’s memory – him killing that huge Gaichuu by the glacier – so he won’t return to Lag without useful news. Zaji fires an aotoge into the sky, snapping Niche from her trance to go save Lag.

Lag awakens in his icy tomb to see memories playing in front of him. Instead of worrying about freezing to death, escaping, or calling Niche – he quietly watches Gauche’s heart on display. There’s some overlap from the flashbacks we’ve seen before, but now we know that Lawrence wants to use Gauche because he’s the only one who returned from the light alive. Also, Gauche is badass. Good enough reason for anyone.

The government is actually bad. At least, that’s what Reverse is saying. Akatsuki is the only country the gets the full light of the artificial sun, as the less-privileged countries live in darkness. The government decides all this, of course. Reverse only wants everyone to be EQUAL. That doesn’t sound so bad, right? Unless communism happens *cough* <_< After this, Roda shows Noir where he used to be “Gauche Suede” at his request. He looks at everything with apathetic eyes, barely even turning his head at encounters with unaware acquaintances such as Aria and Sylvette. Mind you, he turned his head at Sylvette, so that’s a start…But still heartbreaking that he walked away right after.

After walking down memory lane, Roda comes across a washed up mermaid, who is actually one of the government’s experiments. Roda tells us more about how bad the government is, and how she somehow escaped them. In the next memory (HOW MUCH HEART WAS LEFT IN THAT BULLET?!), Lawrence gives Gauche his gun back, telling him it’s called Gymnopedie. Despite supposedly not having a heart, he manages to shoot it. This and the fact that he refuses to be called Gauche anymore, pleases Lawrence greatly.

THE LAST AND FINAL MEMORY occurs after Zaji shoots his aotoge into the sky. Lag gets one last memory of Noir “arbitrarily” giving the name Roda to his new dingo. Lag regains his confidence that he can save Gauche, and Niche busts him out of there. From there they head to the town, but Niche knows a safer path…How? She was born there 200 years ago. Two…two hundred?!?! Niche, can you even count that high?!

Oh right. Being saved. Forgot about that one.

Characters I sort of Neglected:

W…why wasn’t I in the main post? am I not popular enough? WHY DO I EXIST?

Everytime I hear Roda speak, I replace it with “woof woof woof, woof woof.”

Obscure pairing fujoshi, I know you’re lurking somewhere…

End Thoughts: I love the scenery in this show so much…A giant moosehead glacier? THAT IS TOO AWESOME. Each and every village and place in Tegami Bachi seems to be thought out with care, something I usually never care about. I…I really want to visit Amberground @_@

Zaji was awesome this episode!!!!! Seeing as Zaji is probably one of my favourite characters (sorry, Lag…), seeing him in action makes me so happy…<3 Connor may have chided Zaji for picking on Lag, but he’s really just a kind, protective kid. The whole episode, he was looking out for Lag. The determination to keep his letters safe and somehow bring Gauche to his senses was pretty surprising from someone as rough around the edges as him. He even went as far as to want to kill him to spare lag the misery..Aw….Sweetie, you’re going too far there, but you were just caught up in the moment so it’s okay =w= *pats him*

Reverse…They really make you question who is the bad guy. But in the end, someone with a name like “The One Who Couldn’t Become Spirit” is obviously the villain. XD While I don’t doubt the government is up to some shady business, I don’t think Reverse are the good guys either. The good guys are probably the citizens and nice Bees like Zaji, Aria, and Lag. It’s hard to tell who is really corrupt, but Reverse isn’t exactly good at making themselves seem like a good organization with everyone so afraid of them -_-

All in all, a really good episode. Lots of jumping around, but it didn’t feel too jolting. Lots of Zaji and Gauche make this episode win.

Preview: I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS EPISODE FOREVER OMG OMG OMG NICHE MEETS….Well, you’ll see. It’s “another Maka”, that’s all I’ll say. Do not miss this episode. You hear me? Especially all you Niche fans!