This episode begins with us getting the first verse of Amberground’s scripture, and then we see Sylvette seeing Lag and Niche off to work. Then we get a little Skit involving Niche and her underwear, we find out that Sylvette has gotten Niche to wear more girly ones in exchange for not making that nasty soup for three days, and Niche’s not happy with the new style.

          Then Lag runs into another Bee while traveling to a pickup and Moc Sullivan tells Lag that he wonders if someone like him should be a Bee. He goes on to tell Lag that it’s not necessary to know anything about a letter, or its heart, only that it was delivered properly.

           When Lag arrives at the pickup address, he finds out that he’s early and the man (Vincent) hasn’t finished writing the letter. Vincent asks Lag for some lies/tall stories to put into his letter and Lag is shocked about the idea of putting lies in a letter. Then Vincent tells Lag to look around him and see how shitty of a situation he’s living in, of course he can’t tell his mother the truth because she’d worry about him.  Vincent tells Lag to shut up and just deliver the letter, and it’s none of his business what he writes about anyway.

         Later, just as Lag is about to deliver the letter to Vincent’s mother, they get attacked by a Gaichuu while walking across a rope bridge.  While Lag has Niche carry Vincent’s mother to safely he has to decide whether or not a letter of lies is worth risking his life for, and he decides that it’s worth the risk. After a short battle, Niche and Lag defeat the Gaichuu, and some of the fragments from Lag’s Shindan hit Vincent’s letter.

         Well, Vincent’s true situation is revealed, he’s been writing novels and stories but keeps getting rejected over and over. Lag tells Vincent’s mother not to look at that, but read the letter instead. Vincent’s mother is in tears when she tells Lag that she’s glad that her son hasn’t given up, and she tells Lag that her son has a great imagination. She goes on to tell Lag that Vincent is a terrible liar so those BS letters he had been sending her just made her worry.

          Later, guess what? Lag shares a nice cry with Vincent’s mother before heading back to town.  Then we see Niche showing Lag that Steak has swallowed one of Vincent’s books along with an unposted letter. Next, we get another skit involving Niche, Steak, and underwear, because we and Lag can see that Niche has taken off the girly underwear and Steak is now wearing them, and Lag has to promise Niche to buy her some baggy ones with his first paycheck. Well, that’s all for this episode.

         Well, I’m going to go on a small rant about this series. I don’t mind filler episodes as long as they make sense, but it looks like we’re getting back to back filler episodes, this one, plus the upcoming  Christmas episode. Other than the beginning of this episode where we got to hear the first verse of Amberground’s scripture everything else was pretty much recycled Letter Bee tropes; Lag cries, Niche underwear skits, Lag cries some more,  Sylvette’s terrible soup, and Lag cries again, you get the picture.

         With Letter Bee episodes being only 20 minutes long including the opening and the ending songs you would think that the creators/writers would consider every minute precious, but it seems that we’re going to continue getting bad jokes about Niche’s underwear choices, Sylvette’s poor cooking, and Lag crying at every possible moment instead of progressing the story forward.

        Well, this episode begins with Lag renting Gauche’s old room from Sylvette, and we see that Sylvette has her hands full with getting Niche to do things like brush her teeth. Later, Lag thanks Sylvette for letting him rent the room, and Sylvette makes Lag promise that as long has he’s living here he’ll come home. Then Sylvette makes Lag and Niche her brother’s favorite dish, and it tastes just like that crappy soup Gauche fed him in the first episodes.

         Later, Lag is saved from having to eat more of Sylvette’s food by a knock on the front door; Aria Link has stopped by for Lag’s first work day. Aria gives Lag a bag and tells him to hurry up and change. Outside, we see Lag reappear in a Letter Bee uniform with both Aria and Sylvette waiting on him. Sylvette hands Lag her brother’s old gun and lunch for him and Niche, as Lag departs with Aria we see that Sylvette has tears in her eyes.

        Lag asks Aria where she’s taking them, and she tells them they’ll know when they arrive. During the ride, Lag finds out that Aria knows about Lag being a letter, and Aria finds out that Lag knows her because he was shot by Gauche.

       They finally arrive at an elevated part of the road where Lag and Niche are given a spectacular view of Amberground’s artificial sun.  Aria tells them that this is the Hill of Prayer, the place where you can feel closest to the sun. Aria goes on to tell them that Amberground was founded by the Empress who rules over the country and whom we worship, and this hill is a holy place where we pray to the Empress under the light. Lag asks Aria why she brought them here, and she says that Gauche loved this place since we were little.

         She tells them that she and Gauche would come here every day and pray for their safety until twelve years ago on day 311, called “The day of Flicker”, on that day Gauche lost a precious part of his heart. Lag asks what happened. On that day, while Gauche was on the hill, his mother went into labor and was in a very bad way, and Aria was sent to get him. As Aria was running up the hill the sun went out and only starlight was visible, Aria watched as a government airship crashed from the sky. When Aria reached Gauche the sun was back on but Gauche was in a trance/daze talking about the sun flickering on and off.

        Well, when Aria and Gauche return, Gauche’s mother is dead but his infant sister is born. Gauche grabs his sister and names her Sylvette shocking everyone around him. They ask him if he’s giving his sister the same name as his dead mother. It seems that Gauche has lost all memories of/feelings for his mother. Gauche promises to always be there for his sister, and he notices that something is wrong with her legs.

        Lags asks if the Flicker caused this, and Aria says the government announced that it was doing an adjustment/examination of the sun that day and they claim the airship crash was unrelated. Lag asks if that’s true, and Aria says that’s what the government claims and she doesn’t know. Aria gives Lag a bit of advice telling him that if you get to close to the sun darkness will grow in your heart, and that’s what it means to aim for the Head Bee position.

        Just then, Conner runs up to Lag and Aria and tells them that Zazie ran into trouble with a whole lot of Gaichuu and is requesting backup, Aria tells Lag to get going. Lag thanks Aria for the word of warning as he heads off, and he also tells Aria that he was also born on The Day of Flicker.

       Well, Lag arrives on the scene to help Zazie and he has to learn to control is Shindan energy levels. Lag and Niche work as a team with Zazie and his dingo to take care of the Gaichuu, and after the battle is over he joins Zazie and Conner for a snack from Lag’s canteen, oh no it’s Sylvette’s nasty soup. Well, that’s all for this episode.

        Well, after watching this episode the mysteries only deepen and the connection between Gauche, Sylvette, Lag, and Lag’s mother only grow stronger. I sure wasn’t expecting to find out that Lag was born on the same day as Sylvette, and I sure as hell wasn’t expecting that to be the day that Gauche’s mother died and the sun flickered.  It’s really going to be interesting to figure out why the Day of Flicker took from Gauche his memories of his mother, Sylvette the use of her legs, Gauche’s and Sylvette’s mother’s life, while giving Lag an spirit amber eye.  Also, this episode raises the question of why Gauche had to work hard at becoming a Bee if his family already lived on the “good” side of the river, doesn’t being a citizen have its bennies.

        Also, it was quite funny finding out the source of Gauche’s poor taste in soup, of course he’s goanna love his sister’s soup even if it tastes like shit. For me, Niche continues to be one of the best characters in the whole damn series, and for god sakes can Lag go more than a day without crying his eyes out.

“Are you crying? Are you crying? ARE YOU CRYING? There’s no crying! THERE’S NO CRYING IN SHONEN ANIME!”

       All I can say is that it’s going to be an interesting ride watching Lag getting to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the artificial sun and finding out if/how Amberground’s government is corrupt. Another interesting note was Aria warning Lag about getting to close to the sun, and getting darkness inside your heart.  Her comments to Lag raise an interesting parallel between Gauche’s actions in attempting to become Head Bee and the myth of Icarus, and did he like Icarus fly to close to the sun?

Question; did the creators use Saaya Irie as Sylvette’s body model, both are twelve?

        This episode begins with Sylvette having a flashback of her brother vowing to work hard to become Head Bee so she can live better and walk again, Sylvette thinks to herself what did he accomplish by losing his heart. Lag walks in on Sylvette crying and they reach out to one another, and Lag spirit amber eye charges, so he fires the shot at Gauche’s gun.

        Then we get a flashback/vision of Lag talking with Gauche about his mother, Sylvette’s birth, his lack of previous memories from before Sylvette’s birth, and why he became a Bee. We Also see flashbacks of Gauche’s battles and his deliveries, and his fights seem to take a ever growing toll on him. Then we see Gauche asking the Head Bee for ever more work in order for him to get a job in the capital, and we also see Aria telling Gauche that she’s worried about his heart.

         Then the scene changes for a bit to Conner, Niche, and Steak where we see that Conner easing Niche’s worries about Lag. Back inside Sylvette’s house Gauche’s gun is still giving off memories where we see Gauche being followed by some suspicious characters. After giving them the slip we see Gauche buying a new custom revolver and being warned that the new gun will use more heart than his normal gun, and we also see that the seller telling Gauche that his old gun is worth a lot of money if he wants to sell it.

       After eating a meal with the merchant, Gauche tells him that he’s heading off to the capital this weekend, and Gauche refuses to sell his old gun. The merchant asks Gauche if he was followed. Yes. The merchant tells Gauche that they are rumors of a anti-government group called “reverse” forming that wishes to reform the current government, and he tells Gauche that the word is that they’re targeting Bee’s that work in the capital.

        Then we see Gauche giving his gun to Sylvette and telling her that if his good friend comes calling please give him this gun, Sylvette asks if it’s the crybaby boy her age? Yes, his name is Lag Seeing. As Lag reaches for the “memory” all the memories and illusions vanish.

       A tearful Lag tells Sylvette that no matter what happened to Gauche he’ll become a Bee and travel the world and find and return Gauche to her. Sylvette tells Lag that he’s first person she’s met that’s a bigger crybaby then her, and she give Gauche’s gun to Lag. She also tells Lag that she’s sorry for not giving it to him earlier because she was afraid of a flood of memories about her brother.

       Once Lag returns to the wagon he’s in better shape and thanks Niche for her help, and that he’s counting on her in the future. Inside the Bee Hive, the Head Bee informs Lag that having passed his exams he is hired as a full-fledged Bee, and that only he and Jiggy come from Yokada. Lag tells them that his dream is to deliver hearts and dreams, and his goal is the same as Gauche’s. Well, that’s all for this episode.

       Well, while this episode answered some questions it also raised many more, like did Gauche lose his heart or did he find out that the government of Amberground is corrupt, or is he dead? Another interesting question is why Gauche felt it necessary to get a more powerful gun that drains even more heart than normal? Also, I would like to know why Aria didn’t go looking for Gauche after he disappeared if she was so close to him. 

       Regardless of the new questions, I’m glad that Letter Bee seems to be reaching the meat of its story; Lag finding and returning Gauche to his sister. Well, Letter Bee sure is a shonen series because every female except Niche is racked and stacked whether or not they’re thirteen or thirty. The only thing that separates this series from a normal shonen series is that our male protagonist cries more than any male lead I’ve ever seen, and for a while I couldn’t figure out who was supposed to be the girl, Lag or Sylvette?

        I also worry about Niche’s long term future, while she claims to be Niche’s dingo her feelings have to go deeper than that, Niche is a girl after all. While Niche may be the “child of Maka” she has to feel more than just loyalty towards Lag, and I wonder if she’ll get jealous or emotionally hurt if Lag becomes romantically attached to Sylvette. Maybe, we’ll see a Conner/Niche relationship develop or maybe Niche will be happy just being a dingo. 

        This episode begins with Lag questioning Zazie about Gauche no longer being a Bee, and Zazie tells him that Gauche had worked his way up to being a candidate for Head Bee and then must have had a nervous breakdown or something that caused him to quit. Lag is so upset that he tells Zazie to stop lying about Gauche.

        Later, Connor and Zazie take Lag to visit Sylvette, and Lag doesn’t respond to Connor’s apology about not telling him about Gauche. After Lag has left the wagon, Connor tells Zazie about what Gauche meant to Lag. Zazie heads back to the Bee Hive leaving Connor to wait for Lag’s return.

         When Lag enters Sylvette’s house he encounters a strange doll and a gun toting woman who at  first mistakes Lag for a bill collector. Lag then realises that the woman is none other than Gauche’s sister Sylvette, and Sylvette also figures out that he must be Lag Seeing.

        Sylvette makes some tea with milk for Lag and Niche, and Niche doesn’t drink the tea until Sylvette makes a comment about Niche staying small (Niche does a comparison between her and Sylvette’s tomato’s).

        Well, Sylvette tells Lag that he’s just like Gauche described him, and Lag tells Sylvette that he met her through the Shindan that Gauche shot him with. Well, Sylvette tells Lag to stop, and she tells him that Gauche isn’t here and points him towards a letter.

        The letter is a termination letter stating that Gauche is fired because of his absences from the Bee Hive and his failure to appear at a hearing, so his crossing pass is terminated and his residence in the capital is revoked. Meanwhile, back at the Bee Hive, we see Aria looking over an old picture of her and Gauche and thinking back to when the Head Bee had her deliver Gauche’s termination notice to Sylvette.

        Sylvette tells Lag that soon after Gauche crossed into Akatsuki he lost his heart and disappeared. Well, Lag asks about Sylvette’s gun (Gauche’s old gun) and she says that Gauche had a new gun made once he arrived at the capital and that this gun doesn’t contain spirit amber, she uses it to bluff people. Sylvette tells Lag that over the last 4 1/2 years she’s seen no report of her brother or heard from him, so she’s given up hope, he’s dead to her. Lag tells her that Gauche was doing everything for her, but Sylvette says he reaped what he sowed and that she never asked for anything other than to be with her brother. She goes on to say that he pushed himself to ruin by taking the most difficult deliveries. Sylvette tells Lag that she was glad to met him and apologies for the bad new, and she also tells Lag to leave and never come back.

       On the wagon ride back, Lag asks Niche what she’d do if he lost his heart and forgot her. Well, Niche tells him that she’d drop him, bite him, and lick him. But, she also tells him that she’s his dingo and she would never forget him, so they’ll always be together.

       At that point, Lag tells Connor to stop the wagon because he’s going back to see Sylvette. When Lag leaves the wagon, Niche tries to follow, but Connor grabs her and says that Lag should see Sylvette alone. Soon, Niche comments of Connor’s squishy waist, and she also asks Connor if you need nice breasts to be beautiful? Before Connor can give her a answer he needs a little help with Steak who’s decided to taste Connor’s head.

       As Lag rushes to Sylvette’s house he thinks that she gave up hope because it was too sad to bear, and he also thinks that Gauche is still alive somewhere, he vows to become Sylvette’s hope and he’ll search for Gauche. Well, that’s all for this episode.

      Well, as Letter Bee has progressed Lag’s done a lot of crying over other people’s troubles. But, in this episode Lag’s tears come from his own sadness. Since the beginning of the series Gauche has always served as Lag’s standard for judging his manhood; Gauche would never quite so I won’t, Gauche works hard for his sister so I’ll work hard for my mother, and Gauche is a Letter Bee so I’ll become a Letter Bee. So, when Lag is confronted with the knowledge that his idol wasn’t perfect it really rocked his world. It must have really shocked Lag to see how Gauche’s dream and Sylvette’s reality conflict with each other; Gauche’s dream was to get his sister to Akatsuki so her life would be better, and all Sylvette wanted was to be with her brother. So, while Gauche achieved his dream, Sylvette’s life isn’t any better in Akatsuki, and it could be argued that her life is even more lonely and sad in Akatsuki. By the end of the episode, Lag’s decided to take on the maybe impossible task of becoming Sylvette’s light of hope, I guess it’s time for him to payback what Gauche did for him.

       I also found it quite interesting that while Niche considers herself Lag’s dingo, she’s now comparing herself to other girls in terms of looks and attractiveness. Sorry, Niche, I don’t think you’ll grow much in the tomato department because I think that operating those golden swords uses up a lot of energy that normal girls might have used in other areas. Also, I wish that the girls in my high school would have drank some of Sylvette’s tea with milk, for her being only slightly older than Lag she got better equipment than many of the girl’s I dated while in the Army and in college.

::ZinGZanGZunG presents::

for more informations click  HERE  happy shopping and lot of greetings, zyma 

        This episode begins with Lag, Niche, and Steak passing the guardian of Bifrost’s test, and they are allowed to cross the bridge. Once on the other side, Niche, Lag and Steak again face another guardian, the twin of Signal (the guardian from the other side) before being allowed to exit. While they were crossing the bridge, Lag accepts Niche as his Dingo causing her to put her pants back on, and Lag also gets wet because he had to rescue Steak from the water.

       On the other side, Lag finds Connor waiting for him and he introduces Niche as his Dingo. Connor takes them by wagon to Yuusari Central, the capital city, Yuusari Central is very lively and vibrant. Lag asks Connor if Gauche’s sister Sylvette lives here, and he says yes but he’s also very quiet whenever Gauche’s name come up.

        When they arrive at the main post office (the Bee hive) Lag’s rush to make a good impression cause quite a stir, and soon Lag meets the sub-master who happens to be Gauche’s friend Aria Link. After Lag is fully dressed he is taken to meet the master (Largo Lloyd), who happens to be none other than the rare anime collector from the last town. When Lag first notices who Lloyd is, he tells him he can’t have his friend and dingo, Niche. Lloyd tells Lag that he intended to use the child of Maka as his own dingo on business trips (OK, I really buy that). Aria sends Lag to wait at an apartment complex to begin his interview.

        Once Lag arrives at the apartment, he’s introduced to Macky Gee (age 17) and his dingo Resia, they’re each given a letter and told that their sole task is to deliver their letters to the proper address, no time limit and they are both told that all 22 of the previous test takers have failed the exam. Each is offered a Shindanjuu gun and amber, Macky chooses the largest gun, but Lag tells Aria that he has his own gun and amber.

       Outside, Macky is very cocky towards Lag and about the task, he decides to take the carriage while Lag chooses to go by foot. As the two head off, we see Aria watching Lag from above and wondering if Lag is the silver haired Albisian child that she heard about?

       When Macky reaches the encounter with the Gaichuu (they were basically told they would encounter one), he and his dingo are worthless, his dingo runs away and he starts crying for help. Finally, Lag, Niche, and Steak arrive on the scene, and after a tough battle they destroy the Gaichuu but Lag is covered with mud and his letter is missing. The entire battle was observed by a Bee (Zazie) who is serving as exam proctor, and who’s job is also to prevent the test takers from being killed.

        When Lag delivers his letter the woman goes all “postal” on Lag because the letter is very soiled unlike the clean letter Macky delivered. As Lag is saying his apologies, Zazie shows up and gives the lady some stamps for the inconvenience and asks to see the other letter. Once Zazie has the letter he has Lag shoot it with his Shindan revealing to everyone that Macky forged the letter to pass the test, Zazie tells Macky to train his heart and try again.

       Later, Zazie tells Lag that he did a great job, and almost got the all time speed record, faster than him, Conner, and Jiggy. He tells Lag that since Gauche is no longer a Bee he’s really the new record holder, Lag stops in his tracks and asks Zazie if Gauche is really no longer a Bee? Well, cliffhanger time, that’s all for this episode.

       Well, I think that we’ve reached the real beginning of Letter Bee with Lag seeming to be well on his way to becoming a full fledged Bee. In the next few episodes it seems that Lag’s got quite a bit of work ahead of him, he’ll have to discover why Gauche gave up his dream of becoming head Bee, and he’ll have to discover who kidnapped his mother, and why. I really don’t trust Largo Lloyd because there has to be more to his interest in the Child of Maka/Niche than his needing a dingo excuse he feed to Lag, and I get the feeling that there’s corruption somewhere in the Letter Bee management. Also, I thought that Niche and her dingo bait stole the show in the fight with the Gaichuu, Steak rocks!

The second of the two Posters communicating a message to an audience of the future, and also specifically using hockey as a launching point or a filter for communication. Here i tried to communicate a message less harsh that “ABANDON HOPE” as well as make this poster more readily understandable to any audience. “Save what you can before you leave the ice” was chosen as a metaphor which could work for both Hockey and Salvage(ing). For Salvage(ing), in that if we are all going to have to leave the earth at one point we should make wherever our new home is more like our original home and for hockey in that defensive playing will need to be employed in all games before calling it a day. Again all contents type and imagry have been cut out and scanned in from a 1976 issue of The Hockey News.

Here is the first of two posters which were created as a message to the future using only the contents in which i had found in a given issue of the 1976 Hockey News. This message was created for days far into the future when almost nothing is left of the earth to encourage those still inhabiting the earth to leave their homes and join others on the new colonies of other planets.

In a way this was supremely over thought in that to have this poster relate to my topic Salvaging i almost did not have to create a new message because by using the elements of The Hockey News i had already sucsessfully salvaged alot of material and information.

       This episode begins with Nelli reaching the Bifrost bridge only to find the main span missing. She wonders where the bridge is when the guardian (Signal) tells her that he is able to verify the identity of all those wishing to cross bridge by using the smoke from his pipe. She tries to show the crossing pass but he tells her that his pipe can’t confirm that she’s Lag Seeing, so he summons a monster to deal with her.

         Just as the monster is about to get Nelli, Niche and Lag arrive on the scene, and Niche uses her swords to open a passage for Nelli to escape. In the skirmish Nelli and her letter are separated, Lag decides to go after the letter, and as he does so, he ends up firing a Shindan from his hand that strikes Nello’s letter and releases his memories of his relationship with Jiggy. It turns out that Jiggy didn’t want to leave Dead End Town, but Nello urges him forward towards his dreams. Nello tells Jiggy that someday he’ll become a man like Jiggy and protect Nelli, Jiggy gives Nello a fist bump, and tells him to protect Nelli for him. As Nello lays dying, he tells Jiggy that he’s sorry that he can’t protect his sister and he asks Jiggy to protect Nelli.

      Later, Lag tells Nelli that Nello wasn’t mad that Jiggy left, he was sad that he couldn’t become a man and protect his sister. Lag wonders why a Shindan came out of his hand and the traveler walks up and tells him that Shindan are created from the spirit amber, heart shaped into a bullet, and the gun is merely a tool that helps shape the bullet properly. So, since Lag has amber in his body his body became the gun and shot the bullet, and he goes on to speculate that Lag’s Shindan has the power to peer inside the feelings and emotions stored inside a object. Then we get a further memory that points to the fact that Jiggy might have been responsible for the construction of the church so Nelli could have a job providing food and medicine for Nello, and then the church could provide shelter for the children and change the town. Well, Nelli kind of blows this off, but she give Lag his crossing pass back.

      Lag grabs Nelli and tells her that they’ll just find out Jiggy’s true feelings. As Lag heads off with Nelli, the traveler tries to grab Niche, but she see him, and easily avoids his attempt.

       The traveler then talks with the bridge’s guardian (Camus), and the guardian asks Master Lloyd if he’ll be heading back to the main post office? Then we see that Lag has taken Nelli to the church where he tells her he intends to shoot the church with his shindan to find out the truth.

       Well, Lag fires his Shindan at the church but nothing happens, so he fires it again and again until he collapses. Nelli tries to go to Lag but Niche blocks her, and says that if she ever hurts Lag again she’ll kill her. Lag tells Niche, bad, don’t say such things. Well, Lag tells Nelli that Jiggy must have cared for them like Gauche cared for his sister, so Nelli directs him to the church’s bell which was made on the other side of the river.

       Well, Lag’s Shindan reveals that Jiggy did indeed commission the construction of the largest bell in all of Amberground for the church, he wanted it to be a beacon of hope for those who gaze upon it, and some day he wished to stand there with Nello & Nelli. In the end, Nelli refuses to let Lag take the letter saying that she wants to save up and send it on her own. Nelli tells Lag that some day she wants to become like Jiggy, and she also wishes Lag luck in becoming a Bee. Well, this episode ends with Lag heading towards the bridge, and Nelli heading back towards town.

       Well, this was one hell of an episode with us getting to see how Lag and Niche function as a team even though Lag still refuses to acknowledge Niche as his dingo. Also, Lag and Niche got to indirectly meet the Head Bee which was the position that Gauche was striving for. One thing that confuses me is why the Head Bee is after Niche/the child of Maka? It can’t be money, I assume the Head Bee has to make big dollars unless my original theory of there being some sort of corruption existing between the upper Bee management and the Amberground government.  At least it’s proven that some of the Bee’s make a little side money by carrying non-posted items; Connor and his girly mags, and Jiggy and his non-official pickups. Well, I really look forward to see how Master Lloyd’s and Jiggy’s interest in Niche ties into the mystery of Gauche’s and Lag’s mother’s disappearances. Also, this one’s for Ghostlightning, I guessed it right with the Bifrost bridge’s nature being tied to the Norse myth, but I still haven’t got a clue how the Bifrost’s guardian, Camus ties in with the storyline. Letter Bee seems to make use of names very carefully, so I assume that Camus is the Albert Camus of The Myth of Sisyphus fame, so I’m still working on how all this links up.

       This episode begins with Lag and Niche making it to Kyrie aka (Dead-End Town) with only one day left to spare before he has to be at his interview, all he has to do is cross the bridge tomorrow.  After asking for directions to an inn, the fact that they have a temporary crossing pass draws the attention of Nelli who was trying to get a Bee to take a letter to another Letter Bee (Jiggy) which he refused to do because of no postage or a proper address. Nelli leads them to the Cold Case hotel, a pretty run down place that charges a lot of money.

       In the lobby, Lag runs into a traveler who has returned from Love Someone Down, he was looking to buy the child of Maka. Well, Lag gets Niche out of his presence and tells her that he’s thinking of sending her back to his home town because it’s dangerous of a girl. Niche gets pissed off, takes off her pants, and walks out on Lag. Later, Lag finds out that Nelli has taken his bag which contains his crossing pass and is on her way to the church.

       When Lag catches up with Nelli he finds that she has his crossing pass and plans on becoming Lag Seeing. Lag tries to take his pass back but Nelli pulls out a knife and slashes his arm, and the sent of his blood draws Niche’s attention. They argue for a while then Nelli calls out the locals, and tells them Lag wants to become a government worker (Letter Bee). Nelli is pissed off because her brother Nello idolized Jiggy who left the town and became a Bee breaking his heart and causing his death.

       As Nelli is ranting about getting her revenge on Jiggy she gets cracked upside her head by another local who wants the pass for themselves. A huge brawl starts over the crossing pass, Niche leaves the hotel to find Lag and the traveller in the lobby notices that Niche is the child of Maka and sends a message to his master (Jiggy) to come pick her up. Niche enters the fray and disables the brawling mob while Lag tells her not to hurt humans. In the end, Nelli still has the pass and runs off towards the gate. Lag starts to go after her but Niche stops him demanding to know if she’s his dingo? Lag doesn’t want to argue right it right now so he tells Niche if he doesn’t get the pass back he can’t become a Bee and Niche can’t become a dingo. So, Niche and Lag give chase to Nelli.

      As Largo Lloyd (the traveler) watches the scene he thinks to himself that Nelli is in danger because the temporary crossing pass won’t be enough to get her through the gate, and he’s also astonished that Lag could tame a child of Maka. As Nelli is running towards the gate we get flashbacks of her brother, he loved and idolized Jiggy and was very sick, Nelli worked on the church and Nello continued writing a letter to Jiggy, but soon Nello became sick and died and Nelli swears revenge on Jiggy for breaking her brother’s heart. Well, that’s all for this episode.

         Well, this episode was pretty good, Lag continues his journey to his interview and they stop at Kyrie (Dead End Town) and Lag’s naive trusting nature causes him problems. I’m not going to comment much on lag’s youth or Nelli’s desire for revenge because I think this episode reveals a very important plot point. Up until now, all the Letter Bees seemed to be diligent government servants just doing their jobs, but we now have reason to suspect that at least one of them (Jiggy Pepper) is corrupt in some way, and where there’s smoke there’s fire. Also the name of the bridge to the capital is very interesting, Bifrost; in Norse mythology the name of the bridge linking our world to the world of the gods is also called Bifrost. The traveler made the comment that Lag’s temporary crossing pass would not be enough to get Nelli across the bridge, and if the nature of the bridge is similar to the Norse bridge she’ll be in trouble. In the Norse myth, Bifrost is guarded by a god called Heimdall who is rumored to have hearing and vision that can reach the ends of the worlds, he never sleeps, and he’s even rumored to be able to tell if people or gods are lying to him, so Nelli might be in real trouble. Overall,  a very a nice and enjoyable episode with Niche’s facial expressions and looks stealing the show.

      Well, Lag and Niche finally make it to Rent, and after a bit of searching he locates “love someone down” which looks like a circus tent. After a worker tells Lag to wait outside, Niche decides to have a look around where they find dozen of caged wounded animals. Lag says he wishes he had one as a dingo, Niche asks what a dingo is, and Lag explains the whole Letter Bee/dingo working relationship to her. Soon, a boss/or someone in charge who isn’t too friendly comes around, and after an initial bit of misunderstanding they accept the letter/Niche, give Lag a tip, and send him on his way.

       Well, as Lag is on his way to the interview he begins to wonder about Niche, then he runs into two travelers looking for a freak show called love Someone Down in Rent, and they show Lag a flier advertising a girl who has recieved the blood of the legendary Maka. Lag suddenly realizes that Niche is the new attraction at the freak show, he thinks about all the wounded animals and “borrows” the travelers’ horse and race back to Rent.

       Then we see Niche chained and caged with the freak show workers trying to force her to show them her rumored golden swords, they call her Maka-chan, but she says she’s called Niche. Lag races towards town thinking about Niche the whole way. Back at the freak show, Niche tells them her name is Niche and to get it right, the boss notices that she wearing pants and demands she take them off and produces a knife to threaten Niche. He tosses the knife at her but she blocks it with her hair which turns out to be her golden swords.

       Niche uses her hair and slice through her chains. The boss is over joyed because Niche is the real deal, and he can charge big bucks for her. Then Niche turns her hair on her cage and destroys it, then she destroys all the other cages, freeing all the animals, and then she finally destroys the tent while making her escape. Lag arrives just in time to see the destruction of the tent, and to see Niche fleeing by air.

       Lag chases after Niche who has headed into a forest filled with gaichuu, and he arrives just as Niche is facing off against a Four Roses gaichuu. Lag tells Niche to run away as he fires his gun at it, the bullet just bounces off the gaichuu, and Lag realises that the gun needs a crystal to stop the monster. Niche attacks the monster, lopping its head off with her hair but that still doesn’t kill the monster. As the monster attacks Niche, Lag dives towards her and drags her to safety.

       After Lag and Niche roll to safety, Lag sees that Niche has recieved a head wound and can’t move, so he makes his stand against the monster. Niche regains some awareness and tells Lag that she was glad she saw him again. Just when all hope seems lost, Lag’s amber eye activates and he’s able to fire the normal gun just like a real Letter Bee’s gun, destroying the monster. After Lag fires the gun he drops to the ground from exhustion, and Niche feels the after affects of Lags use of his heart. Niche see all his sad partings; his mother, Gauche, his aunt, the town, and Niche, and all his emotions touch Niche.

        Lag looks at Niche and tells her he was glad he could see her again, and Niche goes over to Lag and starts licking his wounds. Lag tells her to stop, but Niche tells Lag to be quiet saying that his wounds will heal faster. Niche tells lag that she’s only ever done this for herself, but because he named her, made her wear pants, and because goodbyes are so sad for him, she’ll stay by his side.

        After they get out of the forest they see that they’re being followed by a small creature that Niche freed from the freak show, which takes a liking to Niche and she names it Steak. Afterwards, Lag says he’s sorry for taking her to a place like that, and Niche asks, so you failed at your job? Lag says, no, pointing to Niche’s now destroyed address label, and says address unknown, you’re no longer a letter, just Niche.

       Niche tells Lag that she’s not just Niche, but she’s now Lag’s dingo. Niche asks Lag if he really said that anyone could become a dingo as long as they’re strong, Lag starts to argue but Niche says not to worry because while Lag’s weak, she’s strong. The episode ends with Lag following Niche as she heads towards Lag’s destination.

       Well, this episode of Letter Bee was very entertaining and enjoyable, but the really interesting thing is how the episode highlights the differences between Lag and Gauche, and how their differences will affect the rest of the series.

       The first major difference between Gauche and Lag is that Lag wears his heart on his sleeve while Gauche hide his true feelings until the end. When Gauche first met Lag he really cared more about the completion of the job than he really cared about the “Person”, Lag. To Gauche, Lag never really became a person until after he was delivered.

        On the other hand, Lag Seeing, immediately begins to transform/humanize the “letter” into the “human or human-like” Niche.  When Gauche asked the “letter” what his name was, it was more for confirmation and management purposes, OK, you’re Lag Seeing, so I got to deliver you.  Lag’s reaction to his “letter” is quite different from Gauche’s reaction, once Lag discovers that she had no real name he almost at once goes about giving the “letter” a name thereby transforming Niche from a letter/object to a unique individual.

       Also, Lag must have understood by the end of third episode that Niche wasn’t quite human or at least not normal but he chose to treat Niche as a human girl by demanding that she put on some pants. It was clear that Lag’s decision to have Niche wear pants upset the freak show’s owner, since he considered Niche/Maka to be nothing more than another creature to be displayed and tamed.  So, in one episode, Lag has managed to individualize and humanize Niche, and gave her feelings of self-worth for the first time, “My name is Niche!” Later, Niche goes on to do the same thing of the creature that followed her into the woods, once Niche decided to accept the creature as a traveling companion she names it, “Steak”.

      Now, to one of the more notable fan service moments of the episode, the Niche on top of Lag scene, while one can add sexual context to any scene where you see a girl sitting atop a guy licking him, I found this scene to be quite touching/uplifting (the writer beats back his inner lolicon). In the previous episode Niche noticed Lag licking his wound and comments that she also licked her wounds, so when Niche licks Lag’s wounds and tells him that she has only done this for herself, Niche has fully accepted Lag as a member of her family. Now, I tend to look at Lag, Niche, and Steak as a pack, and we really know who runs the show. 

Setelah berhasil menghubungkan dua komputer, hal lain yang bisa anda lakukan selain berbagi file dan printer adalah berbagi modem. Windows XP menyediakan setting yang sangat mudah untuk melakukan hal ini. Hanya dalam beberapa menit anda sudah bisa menggunakan modem yang tertancap di satu PC untuk bisa digunakan oleh PC atau laptop lain yang terhubung melalui kabel LAN (UTP). Silakan disimak…

Lakukan langkah-langkah berikut di komputer yang ada modemnya:

1. Start > Control Panel > Network and Internet Connections > Network Connections
2. Pilih modem yang hendak dishare, lalu klik-kanan mouse
3. Pilih Properties
4. Pilih tab Advanced
5. Di opsi Internet Connection Sharing, pilih (contreng) Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection.
6. Pilih opsi Establish a dial-up connection whenever a computer on my network attempts to access the Internet kalau anda mengijinkan komputer satunya untuk otomatis melakukan dialup.
7. Klik OK. Akan muncul peringatan bahwa IP Address LAN Card anda akan diset menjadi 192.168.0.1. Yang perlu diingat adalah komputer lawan harus memiliki IP Address dalam range 192.168.0.2 sampai 192.168.0.254 (supaya masuk dalam segmen yang sama – ingat artikel yang lalu).

Menyiapkan parameter koneksi untuk komputer lawan:

1. Masuk ke Start > Control Panel > Network Connections
2. Pilih Local Area Connection. Klik-kanan mouse lalu pilih Properties.
3. Pilih tab General, klik Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). Klik Properties.
4. Anda boleh pilih opsi Obtain an IP address automatically. Tapi lebih aman jika anda berikan IP Address dalam range 192.168.0.2 sampai 192.168.0.254 lalu di Gateway ketikkan 192.168.0.1(alamat IP modem yang dishare)
5. Klik OK. Selesai

Langkah terakhir:
1. Buka menu Start > Control Panel > Internet Options
2. Pilih tab Connections. Klik tombol Setup.
3. Akan muncul New Connection Wizard. Klik Next
4. Pilih Connect to the Internet. Klik Next
5. Pilih Set up my connection manually. Klik Next
6. Pilih Connect using a broadband connection that is always on. Klik Next
7. Klik Finish

Sekarang coba buka browser internet favorit anda dan mulai menjelajah internet.

ucapan terima kasih saya tujukan buat infogaptek buat artikelnya

      Well, this episode starts out with a narrator giving us the geographic and social lay out of Amberground. Then we see a Letter Bee heading towards town to pick up Lag for interview with the postal service, and then we see his aunt having flashbacks of the five years that have passed since Lag came to live with her. After the Letter Bee (Connor) drops off letters and packages he tells Lag to say all his goodbyes. Lag says his goodbyes, accepts parting gifts from friends, and has a tearful parting with Aunt Sabrina who tells him to find his real mother, Anne.

      When Connor and Lag get to the next stop, Connor asks Lag about his dingo, and Lag tells him that he wouldn’t listen to him so he doesn’t have one. Connor tells Lag that he has to be tough underneath his soft exterior. Connor goes on to tell Lag that a Letter Bee’s abilities are based on what kind of dingo they have. As they’re walking down a corridor, Lag asks Connor if a Letter Bee can have something other than a dog, and he says that a trained lion or panther might do. Just then, Lag steps on a piece of broken masonry and notices a little girl chained to a pillar.

      Well, Connor looks over the girl and tells Lag the she’s a letter. No, after he looks over the postage slip more carefully, he tells Lag that her address isn’t complete and she has insufficient postage with no return address, so she can’t be recognized as a letter and will be destroyed. Lag begins to freak out, but Connor tells Lag that what he means by being destroyed is that after a few days the girl’s chains will be cut and she’s on her own. Lag goes back to the girl and looks over her address tag again and asks Connor if she really can’t be delivered, and Connor tells him no way as they rush to meet the train.

      Inside the train, Lag tells Connor that the town of rent is only 30 units away and he thinks that he can deliver the girl and make it to the interview in time. Connor tries to talk Lag out of the idea, but Lag tells Connor that the girl was in the same situation that he was in when Gauche came along and if Gauche had left him he would have……… Lag starts to leave the train but Connor stops him, and gives him a note and says that if you show this to the station master he’ll help you, he also gives Lag a temporary crossing pass.

      As the train is pulling away, Connor sees a flier advertising a freak show at Love Someone Down in the town of Rent which is part of the girl’s delivery address. As Lag begins to escort the girl to Rent, he introduces himself and asks her name, Maka, then she goes on to tell him she has many names. Lag asks her for her real name and she says that she doesn’t have one.  So, Lag gives her the temporary name of Niche, meaning a small gap that holds flowers or other thing in honor of the place he found her. Soon, they’re attacked by a rock snake and before Lag can get out his gun Niche takes down the snake and tells Lag that he’s weak.

      Niche is quick and nimble and is almost able to fly from rock to rock making Lag wonder if she’s really a boy. Just as Lag is thinking about that idea, Niche goes flying by him and he sees that she’s really a girl because she’s not wearing any underwear. Well, Lag tries to get her to put on some pants but she refuses. Lag tells her that she needs them because she’s a girl, but Niche tells Lag that since he seems like a person who doesn’t do bad things she doesn’t need them.

      Lag goes on to tell her that even though she’s a nice girl she needs to wear something to make a good first impression. Lag goes on to tell her she’s beautiful and Niche jumps down from her rock and asks Lag if he really called her beautiful? Yes, and you have really pretty eyes. Niche jumps into the air and lands perfectly in the pants that Lag was holding, and she tells him that he’s the first man who has ever gotten her to wear pants, damn.

      Well, Lag starts laughing at her comment and he begins to lick a wound on his hand. When Niche sees this she jumps back up on a rock and tells Lag that since he also licks his wounds she’s decided to use the name he gave her, Niche. Well, that’s all for this episode.

     This was a very interesting and entertaining episode, and I felt that the pacing was spot on. I thought that getting some background information on the social and geographic landscape of Amberground was pretty informative. So, it seems that we have a world that exists in an enclosed  underground space with an artificial sun shining over the center most portion which is called Akatsuki (of course this is the capital and only the rich live there),  then Akatsuki is surrounded by a ring sea separating it from the next ring of land, Yuusari. The ring of land called Yuusari is the home of the middle class and another ring sea separates Yuusari from the outermost ring of land called, Yodoka. So, what do you know, poor Yodoka, the area furthest for the sun, is the home of the lowest members of Amberground’s society. 

     A lot of things have changed in the past five years for both Lag and the town of Cambel, Lag is now 12 years old and has been working hard to pass the entrance exam for the National Postal Service, and the town of Cambel is now more connected to the rest of the world thanks to it becoming an established delivery stop by the Letter Bees. Cambel had been out rightly hostile towards the government and the Letter Bees, but now that the Letter Bees have been picking up and delivering stuff to the town they’re now very friendly towards their Bee, Connor. 

      Well, we now find out that Lag has passed his entrance exam and has to leave with Connor to take the next step towards becoming a Letter Bee, and everything hinges on his interview, meeting Gauche again, and getting a crossing pass so he can locate his real mother. What was enlightening about this episode was that Lag behavior towards Niche establishes his future strengths and future weaknesses. Unlike Gauche who was all business while on the job, Connor points out to Lag that he needs to be tougher underneath his kind exterior. 

      You can see how Lag’s experiences on his journey with Gauche really formed his idea of how a Letter Bee should act and behave; his introduction to Niche was almost a carbon copy of how Gauche acted with him.  The only problem that Lag has with Niche is that she’s much more powerful than him, and most likely non- human. Niche practically flies from rock to rock, she also defies the very notion of gravity, and after seeing Lag lick his wound she also says she does the same.

      Another reason for suspecting that Niche is non-human or only part human is when she tells Lag that he’s the first man who’s ever gotten her to wear underwear.  So, this has to mean that Niche has either grown up away from normal humans, or she is so powerful that she needs not worry if who she shows her stuff to, either way, her line to Lag is an instant classic and will find its way into one of my motivational posters sooner, or later.

     Overall, this is another nice episode in a fairly interesting shonen anime series, and I look forward to watching Lag become a Letter Bee enabling him to continue his search for Gauche and his mother.

        Gauche and Lag continue their journey together, and Lag asks Gauche a lot of questions about the memories she saw after being healed by Gauche’s shot; like what the Head Bee is, how old his cute sister is (the same age as Lag [7]), has he smooched or rubbed the breasts of the cute female Letter Bee, Aria? While Lag is being an energetic and lively young boy Gauche still doesn’t seems to have warmed to him yet.

       Later, we get a little skit about how Lag’s so sick of Gauche’s soup that it forces Gauche to try and catch some food. But, after utter failure by both of them they give up only to see that Roda finally made the kill.

       Then Gauche asks Lag to write a letter to someone, and Lag refuses by  asking what’s a letter worth? Gauche says that a letter written to someone who will shed a tear for you contains a piece of your heart for them. Lag then begs Gauche to take him to the capital (Akatsuki) so he can track down his mother, and Gauche tells him  that it’s not that easy. Gauche tells him that unless you’re called into government service and issued a crossing pass you can’t cross the bridge into the Yuusari area.

      But, Lag asks him to use his pass, and Gauche tells him that couldn’t he see from his memories how he needs to earn more point before he can move his sister to the capital and even now she has to live alone while he works. Lag asks him if he knows why his mother was taken, and he tells Lag that if his mother was taken to the capital it might not be as bad as he thinks. Gauche tells Lag that his situation is really none of his concern, and Lag asks him if that means they can’t be friends? Gauche tells Lag that his only concern is that he’s delivered safely to his address, Lag says he hates Gauche and all Letter Bees.

       The next morning, Gauche awakens from a dream about his sister and Lag to find his gun missing along with Lag and Roda. Then we see Lag walking through the desert with Gauche’s gun saying that he’s going to fight his way across the bridge without a crossing pass. A short while later, Lag is ambushed by a Gaichuu that is like a ground spider, and Lag is in danger of falling into its pit and being killed. Soon, Gauche comes swinging down on a rope held by Roda to save Lag for the time being. Gauche is injured in the process and he asks Lag to aim the gun while he pulles the trigger, they miss. So, Gauche figures that their only chance is to jump towards the monster next time it fires its weapon.

       When they jump, Gauche figures out why Lag and his gun reacts the way it does, it seems that Lag’s left eye is a spirit crystal, a protective charm from his mother. Gauche and Lag are separated while falling, and Gauche tells Lag to fire the gun. The shot kills the monster and Lag and Gauche’s memories resonates with each other, Lag experiences Gauche and his sister’s love, and Gauche experiences Lag and his mother’s love (Lag’s mother wanted him to live more than anything).

       Later, we see Lag carrying an injured Gauche across the landscape saying I’m a letter, I’m a heart. When Gauche wakes up, he thinks that it’s Sylvette by his side, but it’s Lag. Lag has carried him all the way to Mary’s house. The first thing that Gauche does when he sees Mary is to ask for his delivery slip to be signed, and Mary tosses him out of the house for his rudeness after Lag nursed him for three days, get out government man.

        As Gauche wanders the city, he finds that no one will rent him a room or sell him any supplies. Later, Lag finds Gauche and tells him that this is an illegal port city and the residents are afraid of outsiders finding out too much. Lag brings food and supplies for Gauche and before Gauche departs he hugs Lag and says that now that the delivery is over, Lag is my friend. He tells Lag that now he’s a man, and he did well, Lag cries as he hears Gauche’s words.

       Before Gauche leaves, he tells Lag to keep his eye secret so he’s not targeted because of it, and he tells Lag that when he reaches the capital he’ll look for Lag’s mother. Gauche also tells Lag that now that a route to this city is know it won’t be long before other Letter Bees arrive carrying precious letters. As Gauche is walking away, Lag yells that someday he’ll become a Letter Bee.

       We now flash forward five years into the future and we see Lag standing outside his city saying that now he can get closer to finding his Mother, and Gauche, because he can become a Letter Bee. Well, that’s all for this episode.

       Nice episode, I was just beginning to wonder if Gauche really was a cold bastard, but he showed that while on the job, he’s all business. It was also an interesting surprise to find out that Lag’s left eye is a spirit crystal placed there by his mother as a protective charm. I also found it pretty nice seeing both Lag and Gauche sharing precious memories after Lag fires that killing shot at the Gaichuu, and I think this was a critical point for Lag because he comes to understand that he needs to go with Gauche because his mother wanted him to live more than anything else. When Lag shared in Gauche’s memories he saw the reason why Gauche takes his job so seriously, Sylvette (damn, she’s cute). I, also liked how Gauche was able to make it alright with Lag at the very end by telling him that since the job is done they’re now friends, and he also tells Lag that he’s now a man. After Lag makes his vow to Gauche that he’ll become a Letter Bee in the future I wonder if my first episode prediction that Lag will hookup with Sylvette will come true?

      This series begins with a letter carrier searching for the location of a scheduled pickup, when he finally located the right spot he finds a young sleeping child chained to a post with a delivery address placed on his arm. When the child awakens, the mail carrier introduces himself as Gauche  Suede (age 18), and his dog (Roda) to the child (Lag Seeing). The kid freaks out because Gauche knows his name and asks him if he’s part of the group that took his mother away to the light, Gauche looks towards the light and asks if they took her to the capital city (Akatsuki).

        After Gauche is sure that the kid is really Lag, he tells Lag that he’s a member of Amberground’s national postal service who are known as a Bee, or as a Letter Bee, and he’ll be ensuring his delivery since he found the proper postage on his address label. 

        After giving his introduction to Lag, Gauche is very indifferent to the child by saying that he needs to know nothing more about him, and he asks Lag to not ask him any questions. Once the time comes to leave, Lag refuses to move, so Gauche has to carry him on his shoulders. The delivery address is to an old lady (Sabrina Mary) that Lag and his mother once knew and the postage was paid by Anne Seeing (Lag’s mother). When Lag hears this, he begins to cry, saying that it had to be the bad men because his mother would never send him away.

         Well, after awhile, Lag tells Gauche that he can walk on his own, and Gauche says that he has to listen to him because their route is dangerous. Gauche tells him that giant armoured insect called Gaichuu lived in the area, and those insects are attracted to the human heart. Well, speak of the devil, soon Gauche and Lag are attacked by a Gaichuu called a Daikiri. While Roda decoys the Gaichuu’s attacks, Gauche takes Lag to a place where he can uses his shotgun-like weapon called a Shindanjuu. Lag says he thought bullets wouldn’t work against a Gaichuu’s, and Gauche says that he needs to concentrate to use his weapon. When Gauche begins to use his weapon some jewels/crystals begin to glow, and when he fires, a black energy blast leaves the gun and strikes the Gaichuu killing it. As the insect lays dying, Lags says he thinks that he can hear it crying, but Gauche claims that the Gaichuu have no heart.

         After the fight, Gauche and Lag argue, and Gauche tells him to cut him some slack since he just fired his Shindan. Gauche explains to Lag that the gun fires bullets that are made out of pieces of his own heart that interact with a piece of spirit amber located on the gun and if he fires all of his heart he’ll die. As Gauche tells Lag to call it a day, Lag picks the gun up and says that if he had a gun like this he could have protected his mother, and the gun begins to react to Lag’s desire and powers up.

          As the guns begins to overpower Lag, Gauche yells for him to drop it, and he sends Roda after the gun but it fires before Roda can get to him. The blast strikes Gauche a glancing blow, and Gauche experiences Lag’s memories of him and his mother and Gauche understands that this is the part of Lag’s heart the gun fired. When Gauche finally comes back to himself he finds Lag unconscious on the ground.

          Later, we see that Gauche has found shelter so Lag can recover. He tells Lag that he fired too much of his heart and that Gauche had to shot him with a healing shot from the Shindan to help him recover. After Lag falls back asleep Gauche says that he was affected by Lag’s heart, and he thinks to himself that this is what having a mother feels like. Then Gauche takes a picture of a young  girl out, and says that he worried, and  wishes to see Sylvette again. 

       Later, Roda starts to sense something and they both head outside to finds hundreds of Gaichuu gathered near the cave. Gauche says that because so much of Lag’s heart was released it was like fireworks drawing a crowd. He tells Roda he’s fine and this is like working overtime, as he readies his weapon for use.

         As Lag is sleeping he dreams of Gauche’s Letter Bee training, and he dreams of Gauche’s relationship with his younger sister, Sylvette (this must be an after affect of the healing shot Gauche used on him). When Lag awakens he finds the wreckage of the destroyed Gaichuu, and he sees Roda and Gauche passed out. Well, that’s all for this episode.

         Well, the first episode of Letter Bee was pretty interesting but slow in parts due to the nature of first episodes having to spend a lot of time on the setup. I felt that the backgrounds and character designs were well designed and well animated but the designs of the Gaichuu seemed clunky and out of place with the overall animated design.

         When the episode first began I really didn’t feel much connection with Gauche because of his seemly cold and impersonal manner he showed with his first interactions with Lag. While on the other hand I easily could identify with Lag’s situation, and who wouldn’t feel some affection or sympathy for someone who just had their mother snatched away from them. If this had been a typical hero’s journey/buddy tale story Lag and Gauche would have immediately bonded and set off to rescue Lag’s mother. But, as we learn later in the episode, Gauche has his own reasons for being all business when it comes to his job , and this is where the show follows a typical shonen storyline. In a typical shonen story the main characters’ motivation to fight and win is to “protect” someone, and both Lag and Gauche show these tendencies. Lag wishes that he had a gun like the one Gauche has so he would have been able to protect his mother, and Gauche risks his life for his job so that he can make enough money to be able to keep his disabled sister out of poverty and maybe earn enough to get her legs fixed. I found the memory scene of Gauche telling his sister about his promotion very interesting because she’s clearly sad about the news of his dangerous job, did Gauche ever asks Sylvette if he wants him to risk his life for her benefit, she seemed pretty happy with their current arraignment.

       Where this series sort of crosses with a magic girl type anime is with the whole you fight with a gun that is powered by your heart bit. In the magic girl genre, a  girls’  powers are related to the love they hold in their hearts, and how much power they have to expend and how much damage that can withstand is linked to strength of heart. But, in this series, it seems that unlike in the magic genre, the strength of a letter bee’s heart has a limit and once you use it up very bad things could happen.

           Well, overall I found the first episode of Letter Bee very interesting and I look forward to the upcoming episode, but I hope the doesn’t go down what I would consider to be a predictable path; Gauche uses up is heart and turns into a bad guy then Lag hooks up with Sylvette to use their love for Gauche to somehow save him (even though I think that Lag and Sylvette might be a nice match).

The Gunslinger’s Creed

I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I aim with my eye.

I do not shoot with my gun; he who shoots with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.
I shoot with my mind.

I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.
I kill with my heart.

       This episode starts off with Marika experiencing a terrible dream where she’s a little child being frightened by some weird marching stuffed bears, and in this dream she calls out for her mother and father. When Marika awakens, she goes out to her room’s balcony where she wonders how her mother and father are doing, and Gali shows up and asks Marika if somethings bothering her? After Gali tells Marika that she’s being sentimental her takes her to a ramen cart for some food.

       It just so happens that the ramen cart is run by MC JF (John Fleming from the promo episode 00), MC JF converts his ramen cart into a D.J station and Gali introduces MC JF to Marika. MC JF can tell that Marika’s not feeling the love, so MC JF starts spinning and singing his Love Coil song for Marika. As the song gets rolling, Gali joins in the singing and dancing, and they even get Marika to join in the singing and dancing. After the song finishes Gali tells Marika that since she sang and danced she must be feeling better? No, Marika tells Gali that she was having trouble sleeping and now she’s fully awake and might not be able to sleep.

       Marika comments that the song was weird, Gali takes exception to the weird comment, and he tells her that now she knows Fleming’s left hand rule of motors. MC JF tells her the middle finger stands for current, the index finger the direction of magnetic current, and at this point Marika starts to get confused, then she gets dizzy, and she finally collapses to the ground. When Gali checks on Marika he finds her fast asleep and he tells MC JF to just let her sleep. So, today’s lesson is the Fleming Left Hand rule, or as Marika puts it, if your having trouble sleeping just study Fleming’s rules. Well, that’s all for this episode.

         Well, this was a very cute little episode dealing with sleep and Fleming’s rules, also we’re beginning to see Marika show a little bit of weakness. At the start of the series Marika was portrayed as kind of a tough little goth girl with most stuff just rolling off her back, but in the last episode she got a little upset about the bridge into the city going missing, and in this episode Marika is starting to miss her parents. I wonder how long Marika’s going to have to stay in the strange town of Gali Hubble before she gets to meet the wizard, and gets told to click her black goth boot heals together three times and say that there’s no place like home?

Push (2009), DVDRIP

Audio Rating:10

Video Rating:10

Size:700MB

Download:

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        This OAV starts off in the year 19 of a new era with a thirteen year old girl named Arumi traveling by space shuttle to a space station (Pink Corral), when the space station comes under attack from an unknown force, and the attack destroys the space station and the shuttle, ejecting Arumi into space. Arumi does not die because she is an adapter (a special child born with the ability to repel physical contact and the environment) she floats in space thinking about how her abilities have keep her from touching family and friends.

        While Arumi is floating in space, a ground crew starts organizing a rescue mission to look for survivors, while the adapters can’t be killed by physical damage they can still die from lack of air eventually. Just when Arumi thinks that she’ll bounce around forever she she comes in contact with an object that she doesn’t bounce off of, she floats inside the object an encounters a girl that she sort of passes through without being repelled. Inside the object she’s told by a computer/bunny that she’s a very special adapter and that she has a repulsion allergy. Arumi finds out that the computer/bunny is called UKATAN 09023 and that they are inside a medical recovery capsule, and just as Arumi is about to start talking to the girl, the recovery capsule is attacked by an enemy ship.

        It turns out that the UFOs aren’t attacking the capsule but retrieving the debris from the destroyed space station and taking it back to a giant satellite constructed out of garbage. The other girl tells Arumi that she’s scared, and at that very moment the Earth based group sends a rescue squad after the survivors of the attack. The rescue squad arrives just in time to stop the capsule from being destroyed but in turn the rescue squad is destroyed trying to get the capsule off the satellite. After a pitched battle another girl (also an adapter) ends up in the capsule with the two other girls. Arumi finds out in a most unusual way that she can have physical contact with this girl.

        Just as many missiles approach the capsule Arumi under goes a transformation into some weird version of a space magical girl, many missile are fired at her but they are all repelled back at the attackers destroying them. It turns out that a custom spacesuit was constructed from Arumi’s DNA/powers, and just as everyone thinks that the battle is over a giant mother ship shows up and begins attacking Arumi. Arumi is constantly bombarded with attacks, even though the attacks are repelled back at the enemy the enemy uses reflectors to send the power back at Arumi. As she is under continuous attack, she thinks back to all the things that have happened to her, her mother was killed giving birth to her, she never could touch her grandmother and now she dead, and she never could do anything about the situation.

             After a while, Arumi calls on her other self to come to her aid, she asks her other self to do something that she only can do. Arumi’s spacesuit transforms again and begins to repel all the attack directed towards her, and soon she begins to overwhelm the attacking force. After Arumi destroys the mother ship she returns to the capsule to learn that it has been damaged and that their air supple is nearly zero, and without a air supple they’ll soon die. Well, that’s all for this OAV episode.

         This is a hard anime for me to review because it seems that some knowledge of the manga series is necessary to fully enjoy or understand the story. Star Ocean is based on a manga series of the same name but since the manga only got a OAV release and not a full series release, generally OAVs are targeted at the hardcore fans of the manga. So, many of the plot points that were just very briefly covered in the first OAV release would be known to the fans who brought this OAV, but I’ll give it a shot anyways.

          The first OAV of Star Ocean was a mildly interesting entry in the genre of science fiction anime. Many questions the viewers might have had about the story are not covered or very weakly covered such as; why did the sun started acting up in the first place, if Arumi repels everything how is she able to eat or wear clothes, who are the aliens attacking the Earth and what do they want, and how did a spacesuit get made from Arumi’s DNA without her knowing it, and many other minor questions?

        But the one saving grace to this show was that the adapters (Arumi, and the other girl) triggered a moe reaction in me. Poor Arumi, the girl who’s mother died giving birth to her, and who could never touch anyone,  I just wanted to give her a big hug and tell her everything would be alright. As the last two OAVs are released I hope the writers spend more time on plot and story because just having a moe feeling for the main character won’t be enough to carry the show.

       This episode begins with Naoko watching a TV debate about the consequences of the possible introduction of sex droids, her only comment is that the birthrate will decline even further. Then we see Rikuo and Masaki eating lunch in the time of eve cafe when Nagi tells them that there are other people that they can talk with inside the cafe. Masaki doesn’t care about the people that hangout there, he only wants to know what the deal is with the cafe.

         As Rikuo is scanning the cafe he seems drawn to the breasts of a woman who is hanging out at the there with a man, and immediately Masaki starts ragging on him for checking her out. Nagi comes over and tells them that four hanging out together is more fun than only two, so she calls over the couple that Rikuo was staring at. After an awkward moment of silence the woman introduces her companion (Koji) and herself as Rina. Every time Rina moves, Rikuo’s gaze is drawn to Rina’s sexy features and Masaki keeps having to slapping Rikuo around to keep his eyes to himself.

         After a few minutes, Rikuo notices that Koji has a super new camera phone and he asks to see it and as he’s playing around with it he triggers a holographic wall of pictures to appear. Upon seeing the pictures Rina stands up and asks Koji what this is? As Koji is at a loss for words Rina seems to have a problem with her leg and she excuses herself, Rikuo follows her and watches her as she is checking out her leg. To Rikuo’s surprise he finds out that she is an android and he’s still quite drawn to her sexy features.

         Rina eventually notices that Rikuo is watching her and they start talking, Rina is a protection android and got injured on the job. Rikuo asks her if she’s here at the request of her master, and she says that she her to see Koji. He then asks her if she can get repaired by her manufacturer, she tells him that she can’t have any contact with the manufacturer or else it would cause trouble for her master. She tells him that she’s with Koji because he makes her feel like a human even though she not one, Rikuo tells her she should tell Koji how she feels, but she feels that she should leave things the same. Meanwhile, Masaki is trying to convince Koji that it’s best that humans stay with humans and androids with androids so he should leave his fake lover (Rina), and to Masaki’s surprise he discovers that Koji is a android who has a female for a master and she is also his lover.

        After Masaki and Koji talk a little more, Masaki agrees to keep his knowledge of Koji’s secret from Rina, and once Rina and Rikuo return to the table Rikuo and Masaki excuses themselves leaving the couple to work out their problems. Both Masaki and Koji are shocked to learn that both Rina and Koji are both androids and that neither Rina or Koji know that the other is a android, as they are talking about the android love triangle Nagi comes over and tells them not to meddle too much. Rikuo then tells Masaki that if humans and androids can’t tell the diffrence between each other than they have to be the same and that their love has to be the same.

        When Rikuo arrives home he finds out that his mother and sister stepped out and only Sammy is at home. He notices that Sammy has done something to her hair and he asks her about it, Sammy ask him if he’s not please by it? Rikuo doesn’t answer Sammy because he’s too embarrassed by the thought of whether or not he finds it attractive on her. Well, that’s all for this episode.

        This was an interesting installment of Eve no Jikan but it did feel a little choppy at times to me. Rikuo and Masaki’s encounter with Koji and Rina left more questions unanswered than it answered, Rikuo tried to make the point to Masaki that if the androids and humans can’t tell who is human and who is an android then aren’t they the same?

           I would have to agree with Rikuo’s point, if I was at a cafe and started talking with a cute woman who I was attracted to and I asked her out on a date would my feelings of attraction still be valid if I found out that she was a android later on? I don’t know what my answer would be, and I’ll probably never know because of my age, but if your under 18 you’ll probably live long enough to have to deal with the issue.

        Now to the idea that started this episode off, sex, or the idea of sex between androids and humans. If you thought that the issues of abortion or pornography are controversial in America wait to the issue of real sex droids crops up, I can just see the god fearing masses chanting and protesting in front of the capital asking for a ban on physical relationships between humans and androids, call it ”the defense of human relationship act” or some other nonsense.

       I can actually see how humans would benefit and even welcome the possibility of sex with androids, if you had a very lonely person and a sexually attractive android that acts totally human in every way, sex would be a natural progression in a friendship/companionship relationship. But, I fail to see what the android would get out of this type of relationship other than fulfilling a programing rule to satisfy their human owners, unless some programmer manages to be able to write code enabling the android to fall in love and feel pleasure.

         If you think that this is far fetched then you haven’t seen what some of the Japanese love dolls look like, so picture the below doll bodies covering a functioning robot, below are a couple of work safe pictures of the dolls. While they are clearly not good enough to pass as human but think about what they’ll look like 20-30 years from now, click on image to view at full size.

ScienceDaily (Nov. 2, 2008) – During the time it takes you to read this article, something will happen high overhead that until recently many scientists didn’t believe in. A magnetic portal will open, linking Earth to the sun 93 million miles away. Tons of high-energy particles may flow through the opening before it closes again, around the time you reach the end of the page.

“It’s called a flux transfer event or ‘FTE,’” says space physicist David Sibeck of the Goddard Space Flight Center. “Ten years ago I was pretty sure they didn’t exist, but now the evidence is incontrovertible.”

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