Tegami Bachi REVERSE – 08
Strained family reunions at their best
My manga readers out there, will you BAWWW with me over the latest chapter? I’m going to avoid spoilers, so I shall express myself in a cry of anguish: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Interpret that as you will. Switching back to where the anime is at – MY FAVOURITE PART – shall console me.
I usually become viciously angry every time a narrator steps in and starts explaining everything like he’s Jesus or something. This is not an exception. Narrator-man tells us about the legend of Maka, but I’m too blinded by rage to listen. He only talks for a brief period of time, before we switch back to present time where Lag is reading a journal. He seems intrigued by the mystery surrounding Maka and Blue Notes Blues. Who wouldn’t be? Figuring that this was Niche’s birth town, he offers to re-introduce her to everyone there. Her response is surprisingly cold.
AHHH A SHINY POKEMON!!!
As Lag sees a cave, a group of villagers yell at him to get away from the “Holy Site.” They stop being so uptight when they realize that he’s a letter bee, and instantly change their attitudes. Lag is practically forced to sit down and have a massive meal with at least 5 people breathing down his neck. Even the Mayor stands by eagerly, greeting him like some sort of prince. Although the mood is jovial, it’s hard to ignore Niche’s wary glare for the entire time they reside in that room.
Moving onto the whole reason Lag is there! The one witness who saw Noir tells Lag that the man in black had entered a cave and that’s all he saw. Before Lag can run off and inspect it, they very firmly reiterate that it’s a Holy Site, and entry is forbidden. The Mayor tries to offhandedly discourage him by just saying it’s where the Maka resides to end the conversation, but Lag pipes up about the village being “polluted by sin.” Get ready for story time.
Awww corpse chibis!
Once upon a time, Blue Notes Blues was undergoing a bit of crisis. People were dying, crops weren’t growing, and all their geothermal energy was being lost for some reason. One of the “survivors” of this horrible period (a pregnant woman named Celica) caught word of the rumour that a sip from the lake in Blue Notes Scale – where the Maka resides – allows you to live forever. Filled with greed, she headed to the cave to do just that. She returned shortly after and locked herself in her house for months. She died after giving birth to two cursed twins with azure eyes and golden hair. Although the warmth of the land was restored at this point, the two babies fashioned after Maka itself represented a curse. The Maka no longer heeds to the villager’s calls for help.
Lag tries to take all of this is, but it’s understandably a bit challenging to do so. His doubts about Niche fade away as he sees her cute, sleeping face. Aww. Even more AWWWW-worthy is when Niche reassures Lag that she’s okay despite being called a cursed child and gets a tight bearhug in return. Lag cries, of course, and then they head off to the cave. The Mayor is doing his daily morning creeper “peek through the window” routine, and sees them heading out.
The cave is full of Gaichuu trapped in blocks of ice. Lag is alarmed for all of 5 seconds before Niche runs off and they move onto more important things. Although I guess the fact that one of the biggest pillars is broken and some shindan bullet cartridges are lying around is pretty important too. I’m kind of more focused on MAKA than Noir and his evil escapades at the moment though.
The Bee and Dingo come across an underwater lake – Blue Scales Blue. Suddenly, the water shoots up as a golden figure pierces through the surface. Lag can only gape at the dragon-phoenix hybrid that has shown itself before him. The Maka. On the Maka is a naked woman with blonde hair in swords, much like Niche. This mystical scene trainwrecks into Lag telling the woman to put panties on in a stuttering, blushing, pre-pubescent mess.
After pulling a Bayonetta, the conversation turns serious again. She addresses Niche as her sister and criticizes her for forgetting how to grow and socializing with a human. Nevermind, it’s not serious. Niche reacts as only Niche can, saying she doesn’t know this crazy lady. Just to be a bitch, the Maka-woman attacks Lag to find out just what he is. Niche saves him, confusing her sister a little by her actions. It must look weird to see her twin so tsurupettan and protecting some weird non-human creature.
The family reunion just gets worse when the villagers arrive. First they try to bed forgiveness, then they go try and sneak some immortality water. The Maka-woman looks down disdainfully and tells us the true version of the story. The Maka was NEVER creature who cared for the humans, it simply observed them. The only time it ever did something for a human was for Celica, who came crawling into her cave in a near-death state. It was not to drink water to live forever, it was because the villagers beat her and forced her to become a sacrifice for the Maka.
Having no relatives in the village, she was the best option as a sacrifice in order to appease the Maka and regain the quality of the land. So they were trying to appease a God who cannot help them so that it would fix a problem the humans caused in the first place. The Mayor left out the little detail that they mined Spirit Amber to the point where they screwed themselves over. No wonder it’s so cold over there. Celica is ready to die, but begs the Maka to save her baby. Yes, they wanted to sacrifice a pregnant woman, they wouldn’t even wait for her to give birth.
Maka was like “Aw, hell no” and gave her the strength to return to the village and give birth. She had two twin girls, who were locked away and given only water everyday. It was only a matter of time before the Mayor felt the need to throw the accursed infants into a ravine to avoid a bad reputation from the other village. Do all villagers smile and clap after murdering two adorable babies? Was it really that easy for them?
Maybe the one with her eyes shut is Niche. She’s stunted XD
Extra Screencaps:
Those arms o_o
STFU, MAYBE I LIKE BEING A LOLI
No, really. We’ll just replace your arm with a machine gun. Come on, it’ll be fun!
End Thoughts: Lucky me – I get more than one episode of Maka goodness. I know some otaku are allergic to the backstory/explanation episodes and find them boring, but I love finding out about the characters. What I really liked was that we have 2 versions of the legend. The first one from the Mayor twists the truth, and the second one reveals the truth. Essentially, we get the same legend twice – but with very different connotations. Both stories are correct in a way, but the framing makes all the difference. Leave out a few details, fabricate others, change your tone and you can completely fool someone while still (sort of) telling the truth.
I cannot express my joy at seeing Niche’s sister FINALLYYYYY. Her voice is NOT what I expected it to be though. It’s so manly o__o. She looks really badass though! Will Niche ever grow up to be that cool? I kind of hope so. She’s cute as she is now, but grown up Niche would be a babe~ By the way, can I fangirl over how much I love the scenery in Tegami Bachi again? Because this show makes me actually want to go OUTSIDE. WHAT A FEAT. An otaku going outside…can you even imagine?
I’m still really curious what Niche’s sister meant by Lag must not be human. Is it because of the Spirit Amber in his eye? Something to do with the Flicker? Something to do with being albisian? I don’t even remember this being explained in the manga yet, and now it’s bugging me. I feel like there are a lot of secrets in Tegami Bachi that aren’t even hinted at. It’s just revealed all of a sudden. o.o Is this a good thing or a bad thing? That, I am not too sure of.
Preview: I want my fighting action now!!! Seeing Niche at the top of her game? I can’t wait. In-between fighting, her sister seems to be touched by Lag’s shindan. Or rather, the memories emanating from his shindan shot…
About Overcooled
A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
POWUH: 1100-1199 and Meta's Evil rice-flour Product with 1137 comments
loli or super hot megababe with huge hands….life is rife with such incredibly difficult decisions….ARGGGH
POWUH: Meta Resident and Yōko Fanboy with 1246 comments
I’ll go with loli
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
*shakes head sadly*
POWUH: 1100-1199 and Meta's Evil rice-flour Product with 1137 comments
*nods head in approval*
POWUH: Meta Resident and Yōko Fanboy with 1246 comments
*unsure what to do in this situation*
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
why not both? two is better than one right?
POWUH: Meta Resident and Yōko Fanboy with 1246 comments
@OC: I know… I would of rather none but that wasn’t a choice
@anaaga: you would for sure! xD You pimp~
POWUH: 1100-1199 and Meta's Evil rice-flour Product with 1137 comments
trueee, tofu likes doing it with Tofu-tan 😉
POWUH: Meta Resident and Yōko Fanboy with 1246 comments
omg this guy…. xD
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
it’s all about opportunities :p
actually i would take none of them. i’m just not into girls that got extremely huge brown hands. if i hold hands with her, my hand would break
POWUH: Meta Resident and Yōko Fanboy with 1246 comments
I second this
POWUH: Meta Resident and Yōko Fanboy with 1246 comments
I just wanted to mention that the most FAIL part in this episode was when the villagers come in and say they are pure but then like half of them tries to drink the water…
“we are pure~ we are good people- OOOO~ forbidden water~ I wanna try~!” *Slurp and dies* (alright, that part didn’t happen but I just wanted to add it in since it would of been such a good payback for those who would drink the water… ^^
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Those villagers were pretty corrupt. I mean, who throws babies into a ravine and then makes things worse by going to the Maka and drinking all her miracle water? <_< *sigh* I hope they die too.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Yōko Fanboy with 1246 comments
I totally agree with you OC
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 70 comments
yes, YES, Niche’s sister’s voice is most unexpected xD
kind of a poor adaptation of the manga, this part (they have their reasons for concealing nudity, though).
great that Niche’s sister hinted at Lag’s identity, because all we had before that was 1) the spirit amber in his eye and 2) his birth date on the day of the flicker.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I know, right???
It’s a bit less mystical than I originally remember it in the manga, but it’s not bad. At least the Maka looks great. Ugh, I wish they would build up more hints to Lag’s identity than these 3 things. I really want to know what he is!
POWUH: Meta Resident and Yōko Fanboy with 1246 comments
The Maka reminds me of “Wing Dragon of Ra” from Yu-Gi-Oh xD
POWUH: Meta Resident and Yōko Fanboy with 1246 comments
OMG!!! I luv Steaks reaction in the second last picture xD Naaa Neeee~!!!!
BTW: Steak is my favourite character in this anime xD although his just a umm…. pet?
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
ooh they’re actually following the manga? gotta start watching it again~
POWUH: Meta Resident and Yōko Fanboy with 1246 comments
I prefer anime over manga unless there is no anime or I found out the manga first before an anime ^^
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
i used to do that, but then i was traumatized by some of the anime that don’t follow the manga storyline. usually ended up crappy :S
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
It depends for me. I USUALLY go the anime route, but if the series is hella long like Reborn! or One Piece, I’m more inclined to read the manga.
The anime is pretty true to the manga storyline for Tegami Bachi o_o Yeah.