119. Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee Volume 5

The Man Who Could Not Become Spirit by Hiroyuki Asada (Canada) - (US)
Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee, Vol. 5

Pages: 184
Ages: 13+
Finished: May 17, 2011
First Published: May 3, 2011
Publisher: Viz Media
Genre: YA, manga, fantasy
Rating: 3/5


First sentence:

Huh? Zazie!

Acquired: Received a review copy from Simon & Schuster Canada.

Reason for Reading: Next in the series.

This is a pivotal book in the series. So far the overriding plot has been Lag's search for Gauche Suede. This time he seeks out "The Man Who Could Not Become Spirit" as he has information that he has at least seen Gauche. As we already know from the previous book this is not the real "TMWCNBS" but a victimized impostor. Lag finds this out and helps this man and his partner, Sarah. There are a lot of battle scenes in this volume, and perhaps too many as I found myself a bit confused getting into the story this time around. What with the 3 month wait between volumes and then the heavy battle scenes I found it hard to remember the background plot. What makes this book pivotal is that Lag does finally find Gauche Suede, but it is not a happy meeting or reunion. Without giving any information away to future readers I'll just say that the stage is set for the series to take a new direction with the overriding plot by the end of this book.

An important book in the series but not as satisfying as it should be. Too heavy with the battles and not clear enough on the plot which becomes quite involved and takes new directions. The ending scene is a flash to a different character and holds promise to what the next volume will hold: Vol. 6: The Lighthouse in the Wasteland, available in Aug. 2011.