Tegamibachi starts as a typical shounen. naive - perhaps this is what many would think of it at first. yeah, 7-year old Lag is behaving like a teenager, 12-year old Lag is almost a young man, 14-year old Zazzie is as if he were a grown-up - and we are supposed to believe this is all right, and also believe all of them are for real. and this line of Niche
made me worry whether she would turn out to be just one more capricious
main heroine who is constantly getting angry with the main character
shouting '... no bakaaa!', especially when Niche's seiyuu is
Fujimura-san, who voiced such girls several times
I almost see how people throw tomatoes at this anime and shout - 'cliches! stereotypes!', and they would be right sometimes.
but very soon after the beginning I realised I need not have worried. seemingly grown-up main characters still stay children
the general image of the world where the events are taking place is deliberate and even sophisticated. actually I decided to watch Tegamibachi because I read that the world reminds of XIX-XX century Europe and this is true to some extent
but I must say honestly we do not get to see much of that XX-century-Europe-ish design
as for characters, I found myself torn apart by thinking who is the character I sympathize with the most, as my usual strategy is to find one or a couple of favourite characters and pay attention only to their story. this strategy failed, and I felt huge sympathy and/or respect towards absolutely all the characters. probably, this is mostly the mangaka's achievement, though
the story development has a nice pace which doesn't make you feel the anime is hurrying towards its end, and doesn't make you feel bored, either. so-called 'fillers' like season 1 ep. 19 'Ill Letter Bee and the girls' were not looking like fillers but rather contributed to the general flow of the story and even if we can use the word 'filler' then it will have positive connotation, because this 'filling' was necessary - there must be peaceful days, too, do you not think so?
another important point is that all peripeteias and twists and turns
of the story were properly designed. they do not create the feeling that I
hate the most in any fiction - when you see clearly that this or that
episode or moment is dictated not by the logic of the story, but by the author's whim. for example in season 1
ep. 15 while the
long talk between Frank, the elopers and Lag was taking place, I was afraid I might have the usual question all the spectators have in such cases - why
don't they
do something but just stand and listen? however, I notice a wise move on
the part of screenplay writers - Niche couldn't interfere because she
was busy with collecting Lag's bag which fell from the rock. the fact
that it fell may also be considered as necessary to move Niche away and
make her unable to help, but the falling itself is not unrealistic,
while her standing near and doing nothing would undoubtedly be
I would also note the wise use of all the characters. in other words - nothing and nobody odd. Maka helping in the battle with Cabernet is good. Vincent Alcott who was thought to be an untalented writer takes notes of everything that happened during the battle and creates a bestseller which Lloyd reads in the last minutes of the last episodes. brothers Signal and Signales turn to be more than simple gatekeepers. and Lloyd himself exceeds the 'understanding boss' and shows a great deal of courage and involvement
being so full and detailed, the
story is interesting. yeah, really interesting and intriguing. this is a
rare thing. Tegamibachi is an adventure which appeals to your heart and
your brain equally, making you both think of your own life and the world
we live in, and also - sympathize with and worry about the characters,
who have been dear to you right from the start. Tegamibachi is the case
when you just cannot stop watching because you long to know what comes
next. nowadays people often say 'this anime's attraction is not that it
makes you want to watch the following episodes one by one, but the one
that slowly gives you graduated pleasure' and consider it to be the
right kind of charm, but I do think thrilling, breathtaking story is no
less wonderful
and this story is flavoured with humour. this humour is actually a dangerous thing making you feel relaxed and sure that everything would be the same throughout all the episodes
and special moments like coming to a very strange forest
or Connor making a delivery of erotic magazines
and special episodes
and themes embracing the whole story in the person of, for example, Niche
and Steak, and some others
and praiseworthy is that the authors understand that some ideas may seem ridiculous
but do not get washed away by the funny episodes. they become more and more rare as the story continues. I said, the characters become dear and make you worry, and this does not apply exclusively to the main ones. if you didn't cry in moments like this
then you are probably made of stone...
actually, being the crybaby I am, together with Lag and Sylvette, I spent most sad and touching moments exactly like this
and finally, Tegamibachi is not a typical shounen because 'tis... too serious, especially when you do not expect it
what I went through emotionally while watching the series is hard to describe with words. how many times I cried is impossible to count. how painful 'twas to watch the last episodes is something I would not wish even my worst enemy to understand
you know what? I sincerely believed in an absolute happy end with 'happily ever after' until the last several moments before the last episode ending 'Perseus' started. I believed Gauche's heart would come back. then I believed he would throw away everything and live with his family and friends. then I thought even if he would not 'throw away everything' he and the other 'unable to become spirits' would stay in Yuusari. I believed Lag would get to Akatsuki and change the world. or something like that. I was waiting for a relief but all that I have left is hope. I expected to see shounen adventure, but I got drama
Tegamibachi exceeds the level of typical shounen, but is it an entirely good thing? I doubt. if I am to accept the anime as 'tis, taking its ending as the end, and ignoring the fact that the manga is not finished, then the anime's ending is not even in the least satisfactory, as it leaves too many things unexplained, from not-so-important matters, such as the photo of Jacob and Sandra Gobeni's photo with a child, to urgent problems, such as prof. Thunderland's experiment on returning the lost hearts back, and up to global ones, such as what was the meaning of the Day of Flicker, and why the guy on the airship heard a lot of voices crying 'mother, mother' when the flicker happened, and why Lag's mother was taken to the sun, and how did Gauche get to see her, and in the end - what is Lag, if he is not human. to some extent we can guess and speculate, but proper explanation was never provided. and of course, the greatest disappointment is that we do not get to see how the characters live after that, because we are not that dumb to believe that Lag is going to continue cheerfully his Letter Bee duties, Connor - bring up his child(ren) with Sunny, Zazzie - take care of local cats, and Aria - do the paperwork at Bee Hive as if nothing had happened. this incompleteness almost breaks me now that I finished watching the series today at 2 o'clock in the night, and all that I was thinking about while going to sleep, waking up in the night, getting up in the morning, having breakfast, washing the dishes, drinking tea - was Tegamibachi, more precisely, I was trying to deal somehow with what is called 'cognitive dissonance' scientifically, but in reality is a pain somewhere inside that makes you feel empty and unable to do anything else but to try to get rid of it
