Tegami Bachi REVERSE – 09
And I thought Yu-Gi-Oh! characters had the craziest hair…
Exams are coming up verrryyyy soon, which means that Overcooled isn’t feeling very…..cool. Blogging is a good way to fight stress though, so rambling about my favourite shows isn’t a waste of time at all. Especially when the episode is a particularly good one. LIKE EPISODE 9 OF TEGAMI BACHI! =D
After hearing the truth about the Maka legend, the villagers turn their cold glares towards the Mayor. Niche’s sister can’t believe the level of idiocy these feeble creatures display, and tries to dispose of them. Niche stands in the way of the attack to protect them, which is something I wouldn’t have done. <_< They don’t deserve to live. Niche is a good girl who wants to keep protecting Lag though, while I’m just a crazy sadist.
Niche’s sister shifts her murderous intent onto Niche, changing her hair into various, oversized weapons to strike Niche down with. The fight is intense, but quick, as Niche can’t dodge forever. Before she delivers the final blow, Lag shoots an akabari into her chest. The poor girl has no idea what is happening to her as Lag’s memories surge through her.
All the memories of how and where Lag met Niche flow through Niche’s sister’s mind. Even the touching “you’re the first man to ever make me wear pants” scene makes it’s way into her mind. Once the memories stop, she realizes that Lag shot a piece of heart into her. Instead of the usual revelation it causes, it makes her even more mad. As Lag runs towards Niche to try to wake her up, the sister screams at Niche for forming a bond with despicable creatures such as humans and smashes her with a wrecking ball. Subtle.
It would be a very sticky, organ-splattered mess if that actually hit them, wouldn’t it? After avoiding death, Lag entrusts Niche to Steak while he tries to talk with Niche’s sister. UGH, OKAY, SO I’m tired of saying Niche’s Sister, so her name is Blondie now, got it? Good. Lag gives a rather nice speech to Blondie, but she’s more interested in Lag’s spirit amber. She seems a bit confused whether he’s human or not, and how his eye came to be like that. After she’s done looking at the pretty red light, she bats Niche around like a cat toy and sets up yet another final blow.
Lag stops her in the nick of time yet again, this time firing a rather risque shot into her boob o_o. Once again, she is flooded by memories – this time a short clip of Niche arriving at the circus and saying goodbye to Lag. Niche’s voice saying “Don’t go!” sends Blondie into a trance of her own, as she recalls her own memories with her sister. Niche was the only comfort she had in the never-ending darkness of that room, and they were always together. They were separated once they were thrown into the river, as Niche remained in her basket and Blondie fell out into the icy water.
Niche drifted away, and Blondie tried to feebly paddle towards her. She looked adorable, but didn’t get very far in the “moving” department. Sinking into the depths of the water, she started to cry when she realized how alone she was. Wrought with sorrow and loneliness, she curled into a ball and those emotions caused her to grow into an adult. After a matter of time, she naturally wound up in Blue Scales Blue, waiting for her sister.
Lag cries at the story (of course) and tells her that she’s the foolish one for waiting 200 years for her sister instead of searching for her. She’s amused by this, and changes her actions from attacking Niche to getting the Maka to transport her to a healing spring. It heals wounds, but won’t make you live forever, like the villagers thought. Now that things are calm, Lag can finally have a decent chat with her.
He asks a bit about the Gaichuu and Niche. Blondie explains that the Maka froze them before they could under metamorphosis and that she’ll send him Niche once she’s healed. From hating humans, she’s transitioned to entrusting Lag with her sister! Lag is touched, and cries again…..I swear I need a cry counter. By the end of the season, I’ll bet it’s around 25 or something. Anyways, one of the most touching parts is when Lag describes a letter to Blondie, and she thanks him for delivering Niche to her. Awwww.
Bonus:
I WHIP MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH
Crying underwater: does it really look like that?
Yep…they’re real.
End Thoughts: A LOT happened this episode. The only part that wasn’t completely packed with action or important backstory was the extensive Niche flashback. Flashbacks can be a blessing or a curse, but it worked well in this situation to remind us how strong these two have bonded. Not to mention that I expected Blondie to be sympathetic right away…but it just made her angry. Tegami Bachi actually makes really good use of flashbacks in most cases, where a lot of shows overdo it.
Niche’s sister is a veritable swiss army knife of deadly hair techniques. A wrecking ball, a bow and arrow, a sword and a huge blade? I’m probably still missing some, and that’s still amazing! I hope Niche learns all of those cool techniques one day. This episode makes me excited for how Niche will develop in the future (I’m guessing it’s going to take a while though based on her progression in the manga…). Not only Niche, but Lag. He’s not human. I’m betting he’s some sort of experiment done by the government that actually worked…he’s…the..uh…boy who “became” spirit..I guess.
Ahhh I loved this episode so much~! Everything was woven together so well…the story of Niche and Blondie is a particularly interesting one. It’s probably my favourite of the season so far. Niche’ sister is actually a really interesting character with a lot of depth. I doubt we’ll see more of her but…I wish we would. What an awesome team they’d be T.T I first thought she was gonna train Niche for a while, but I guess not…Oh well.
Preview: With the Maka “arc” over, we move onto another one of my FAVOURITES!!!! The Bees Zaji, Connor and Lag all have a mission in a town whose main feature is a Church. Looks like Roda and Gauche are also there to stir up some trouble. Not convinced the next episode will be an interesting mission? DID YOU SEE THE PICTURE OF TRAP!LAG AT THE END? YEAAAAHHHHH
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: Meta Resident and Yōko Fanboy with 1246 comments
AHAHAHAHA! Lag has became a TRAP! xD Make me curios of what’s gonna happen next episode, don’t you think? ^^
This episode is WIN for sure, like what you said OC, everything is sewed together wel with the fighting scenes of a bunch of emotions to flashbacks that reveals each others true feelings towards this little…umm… big (and dangerous) fight between sisters who are unleashing emotions of sadness and despair in there…hair?
AWWW~~!!! No Niche next episode? That’s a shame… I hope Steaky is in it, IT’S (since I don’t know if it’s a girl or boy) is my favourite character in Tegami Bachi reverse believe it or not~
Just asking, who else was touched by the flash back about the two sisters separating? Is it just me? Because that scene has heaps of stuff in it, the camera angle, the scenes in the water with blondie crying (and OC I believe that’s how it looks like since I’ve never seen it before in RL) it’s such an emotional work of art, words cannot describe that scene as good as how you watch it and interpret with your own heart ^^
As for next time~ Naaaa Niiiii!?!?!?!??!?! (That’s what Steaky always says…if you haven’t realized)
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
All my favourite manga chapters are being animated YEAAHHH! Trap Lag is awesome.
It was definitely a good episode in terms of tugging at our heartstrings and maintaining a really good flow between the past and the present. I definitely “awwwed” when Niche floated away from her sister and she completely shut down underwater. I’ll have to see someone cry underwater before I can say if that’s what it looks like lol.
Steak seems to be chilling with Niche, so I think he’s out of the picture for a bit too. (Too lazy to check the manga lololol~) I…can somehow believe you would pick such an odd favourite character <_< Only you Tofu, only you.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Yōko Fanboy with 1246 comments
ahahahaha, I know, I also feel the same being the only person who likes such an odd character ^^ But oh wells. AWW~~ No Steaky? T___T
With the crying underwater thing…you wanna try? nishishishi~ err… I mean, Naaaa Niiii!?!??!?!